The Country of Jiebita劫比他國

The country of Jiebita is more than two thousand li around. The great capital city of the country is more than twenty li around. The climate and what the soil is fit for are the same as in the country of Piluoshanna. The customs are simple and mild, and many of the people study the arts. There are four monasteries and more than a thousand monks, and all of them study the teaching of the Zhengliang school of the Lesser Vehicle. There are ten temples of the gods, where followers of other ways live mixed together, and all alike revere and serve the great god Zizai.

More than twenty li east of the city there is a great monastery. Its plan and building are lofty and splendid, and the workmanship is carved to the utmost. The holy figures and honored images are adorned with the greatest gravity. There are several hundred monks, and they study the teaching of the Zhengliang school. Several tens of thousands of lay servants have their homes beside it.

Within the great wall of the monastery there are three precious stairways. They stand in a row from north to south and come down toward the east. This is the place where the Tathagata came down and returned from the heaven of the thirty-three. Long ago the Tathagata rose from the Shenglin grove, went up to the palace of heaven, dwelt in the hall of the good Law, and preached the Law for his mother. When three months had passed and he was about to come down, the god Shakra let out his spiritual power and set up precious stairways. The middle stairway was of yellow gold, the left of crystal, and the right of white silver. The Tathagata rose from the hall of the good Law and, with the hosts of heaven following him, came down treading the middle stairway. The great king Brahma held a white whisk and attended on the right, treading the silver stairway. The god Shakra held a jeweled canopy and attended on the left, treading the crystal stairway. The hosts of heaven rode the empty air, scattering flowers and praising his virtue. Several hundred years ago the steps were still there, but by this time they have sunk away and are all gone. The kings of the several countries grieved that they had not seen them. They piled up brick and stone and adorned it with rare jewels, and on the old foundation they made a copy of the precious stairways of old. It is more than seventy feet high, and a shrine is raised on top of it. Within the shrine there is an image of the Buddha in stone, and on the stairways to the left and right there are images of Shakra and Brahma, made after the likeness of the first ones and still in the posture of coming down. Beside them there is a stone pillar more than seventy feet high, raised by King Wuyou. Its color is dark blue and glossy, and its substance is hard with a close grain. On the top a lion is made crouching and facing the stairway, and strange shapes are carved around its four sides. According to a man's sin or blessing, his shadow appears within the pillar.

Not far from the side of the precious stairways there is a stupa. It is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and left the traces of their walking back and forth. The stupa beside it is where the Tathagata bathed long ago. The shrine beside that is the place where the Tathagata entered meditation. Beside the shrine there is a great stone foundation, more than fifty paces long and seven feet high. This is where the Tathagata walked back and forth. Wherever his foot trod there is the mark of a lotus flower. To the left and right of the foundation there is each a small stupa, raised by Shakra and by Brahma.

In front of the stupas of Shakra and Brahma is the place where the nun Lianhuase, wishing to be the first to see the Buddha, changed herself into a wheel-turning king. When the Tathagata was returning from the palace of heaven to the continent of Shanbu, Subudi was sitting quietly in a stone chamber, and he thought within himself, "Now the Buddha comes down again, and men and gods lead him and follow him. For one such as I, what is it fitting to do? I once heard the Buddha say that to know that all things are empty and to grasp the nature of all things is to behold the body of the Law with the eye of wisdom." At that time the nun Lianhuase wished to be the first to see the Buddha. She changed into a wheel-turning king, with the seven treasures leading and following and the four kinds of troops guarding her, and she came to the place of the World Honored One and became a nun again. The Tathagata said to her, "You are not the first to see me. Shanxian beheld that all things are empty, and this is to have seen the body of the Law."

Within the wall where the holy traces are, spiritual wonders follow one after another. Southeast of the great stupa there is a dragon pool, and it guards the holy traces without ceasing. Since there is a hidden guard, they are hard to violate lightly. With the long years they fall of themselves, but no man is able to destroy them.

Going southeast from here a little less than two hundred li, one comes to the country of Jieruojushe.