The Country of Jieruojushe羯若鞠阇國

The country of Jieruojushe is more than four thousand li around. The great capital city of the country looks west upon the Qingqie river. It is more than twenty li long and four or five li wide. Its wall and moat are firm and steep, and terraces and pavilions look across at one another. Groves of flowers and ponds shine fresh and clear as a bright mirror. Rare goods from other regions gather here in plenty. The people who live here are rich and glad, and their households are well supplied. Flowers and fruits are abundant everywhere, and sowing and reaping are done in their season. The climate is mild and kindly, and the customs are simple and plain. Their faces are fair and refined, and their clothes and ornaments are fresh and finely made. They are earnest in learning and at ease in the arts, and their talk is clear and far reaching. Of the two ways, the false and the true, those who believe are half and half. There are more than a hundred monasteries and more than ten thousand monks, and they study both vehicles, the Greater and the Lesser, with equal effort. There are more than two hundred temples of the gods and more than several thousand followers of other ways.

In the time when the people of the country of Jieruojushe were long lived, its old royal city was called Jusumobuluo, and the king was called Fanshou. His blessing and his wisdom were laid up in former lives, and he was fully furnished in letters and in arms. His awe pressed down upon the continent of Shanbu, and his name shook the countries about him. He had a full thousand sons, wise and brave, great and firm, and a hundred daughters besides, fair and refined in bearing and in face. At that time a seer lived beside the Qingqie river. He lodged his spirit and entered meditation, and when several tens of thousands of years had passed his body was like a withered tree. Wandering birds nested upon him and dropped a nijulu fruit on the seer's shoulder, and as heat went and cold came it cast its shade and grew to a full armspan. Many years passed, and when he rose from his meditation he wished to be rid of the tree, but he feared to overturn the nests of the birds. The people of that time thought his virtue beautiful and called him the Great Tree Seer. The seer let his eyes rest on the riverbank and walked about looking at the thickets, and he saw the king's daughters following one another at play. The love of the world of desire arose in him, and a clinging heart was born. So he went to the Flower Palace to ask for a marriage with due rite. When the king heard that the great seer had come, he went out himself to meet him and said in greeting, "The great seer rests his heart beyond all things. How is it that he stirs so lightly?" The seer said, "I have lodged in the woods, and the years have piled up. I came out of my meditation and walked about, and I saw the king's daughters, and a clinging love was born in me. I have come from afar to ask." When the king heard his words he had no plan to offer, and he said to the seer, "Go back now to where you dwell, and wait for a good day." The seer heard his word and went back to the woods. Then the king asked all his daughters one after another, but not one would consent to the marriage. The king feared the seer's power, and he grew worn with grief. His youngest daughter watched for a time when the king was free from affairs and asked him quietly, "My father the king has a full thousand sons, and ten thousand countries long for his rule. Why then do you grieve, as though there were something you feared?" The king said, "The Great Tree Seer has been kind enough to ask for a marriage, and you and your sisters will not obey. The seer has power, and he can make disaster or good fortune. If his heart is not satisfied he will surely rise in anger, break the country and put an end to its sacrifices, and the shame will reach our forebears. When I think deeply on this disaster, there is truly something I fear." The young daughter begged his pardon and said, "That you were left with this deep grief is the fault of us, your daughters. I ask that with my small body I may lengthen the blessing of the country." The king heard her with joy and ordered a carriage to take her. When they came to the seer's hut, he thanked the seer and said, "The great seer bends the heart he keeps beyond the world and looks down upon the world of men. I dare to offer my young daughter, that she may serve in the sprinkling and the sweeping." The seer looked at her and was not pleased, and he said to the king, "You make light of an old man and match me with this one who is not fair." The king said, "I asked all my daughters one after another, and none would obey. Only this young one wished to serve in the errands." The seer held his anger and spoke an evil spell, "Let the ninety-nine daughters have their waists bent all at once. Their forms are ruined, and to the end of their lives they shall have no marriage." The king sent a man to look, and their backs were indeed already bowed. From this time on it was named the city of the Bent Women.

The present king is of the Vaishya stock, and his name is Helishafatanna. He has ruled over the land for two generations and three kings. His father's name was Boluojieluofatanna, and his elder brother's name was Heluoshefatanna. Wangzeng, being the elder son, took the throne and ruled with virtue. At that time King Sheshangjia of the country of Jieluonasufalana in East India used always to say to his ministers, "A worthy lord in the country next to us is a disaster for our own." So he lured him with an invitation, met him, and killed him. The people had lost their lord, and the country too fell into disorder. At that time the great minister Poni, whose office and repute were high and weighty, said to the officers and the people, "The great plan of the country is settled this day. The son of the former king and the younger brother of the lord who is gone has kindness and mercy for his inborn nature, and filial piety and respect rise from his heart. He is near in blood and worthy, and it is right that he should take the throne. How does this seem? Let each of you speak his mind." All of them looked up to his virtue, and there was no other plan at all. Then the ministers who assist him and the officers in charge all urged him forward, saying, "May the prince give ear. The former king piled up merit and heaped up virtue, and made the blessing of the country bright. It came down to Wangzeng, and we thought he would live out his years, but his helpers were not good and he threw away his life into the hands of an enemy. This is the great shame of the country and the crime of us, his lesser servants. The talk of men and the songs of the time turn truly to your bright virtue. If you come to the land, repay the enemy of your kin, wash away the shame of the country, and make your father's work bright, what merit could be greater than this? We beg you not to refuse." The prince said, "The weight of succeeding to a country has been hard in old times and now, and the place of a lord of men must be raised and set up with care. I am truly of little virtue, and my father and my brother have gone far from me. Though you press me to take the great seat, shall I be able to bear it? Since the talk of men says it is fitting, dare I forget how empty and thin I am? Now on the bank of the Qingqie river there is an image of the bodhisattva Guanzizai, and its spiritual seeing is great. I wish to go and ask it." He came at once before the image of the bodhisattva, cut off his food, and prayed. The bodhisattva was moved by his sincere heart, showed its form, and asked, "What do you seek, that you are so earnest?" The prince said, "I have only piled up disaster. My kind father is gone, and upon this a cruel punishment has been doubled, for my good brother has been killed. I look at myself and my virtue is small, but the people of the country push me up and would have me take the great seat and make my father's work bright. I am foolish and know nothing, and so I dare to hope for the holy word." The bodhisattva said to him, "In your former body you were a monk in this forest who practiced hard austerities, and you were diligent and did not slacken. By the power of that blessing you were born this prince. The king of the country of Jin'er has broken the Law of the Buddha. When you take the royal seat you must raise it up and make it flourish again. Make mercy your will and keep pity in your heart, and before long you will be king over the borders of the five Indias. If you would lengthen the blessing of the country, follow my teaching. I shall add great blessing unseen, and there will be no strong enemy among your neighbors. Do not go up upon the lion seat, and do not call yourself by the name of Great King." So he received the teaching and withdrew. He took the royal seat, but he called himself only the prince, and his name was Shiluoadieduo. Then he commanded his ministers, "My brother's enemy is not yet repaid, and the countries about us do not submit. To the end there will be no day when I take food with my right hand. All you officers, be one in heart and join your strength." He then led out all the soldiers of the country and trained his men for war. There were five thousand elephant troops, twenty thousand horsemen and fifty thousand footmen. He went from west to east and struck those who would not be his servants. The elephants did not loose their saddles and the men did not take off their armor, and within six years he made the five Indias his servants. When he had widened his land he added more soldiers, sixty thousand elephant troops and a hundred thousand horsemen. For nearly thirty years he raised no spear or sword. His rule and his teaching were mild and peaceful, and he worked hard at thrift and plain living. He made blessing and planted goodness, and forgot sleep and food. He forbade the eating of flesh in the five Indias, and if any man cut off a life he was put to death without pardon. Beside the Qingqie river he built several thousand stupas, each more than a hundred feet high. In the cities and towns of the five Indias, in the villages, the through streets and the crossroads, he set up houses of charity, storing drink and food and keeping medicines ready, and he gave to travelers and to the poor, reaching them all and never growing slack. At every place of holy traces he built a monastery. Once in five years he held a great assembly without restriction. He emptied the storehouses and gave in kindness to all, keeping only the weapons, which he did not give away. Once a year he gathered the shramanas of the several countries, and for twenty-one days he made them offerings of the four kinds. He adorned the seat of the Law and spread wide the mat of debate, and he had them weigh and argue with one another, comparing who was better and who was worse, praising the clean and putting down the foul, casting out the dark and raising up the bright. If a man's keeping of the precepts was upright and firm and his way and virtue pure and deep, he was raised onto the lion seat and the king himself received the Law from him. If his precepts were clean but his learning did not look back to the old, he was only given greater respect, to show that he was honored. If there was no rule in his discipline and his foul conduct was already plain, he was driven out beyond the borders of the country, and the king did not wish to see him or hear of him. If a small king of a country nearby or a great minister who assists him was not slack in planting blessing, and sought goodness and forgot his labor, the king took him by the hand and sat with him and called him a good friend. With one who was otherwise he did not speak face to face, and if there was any matter to be discussed he sent messengers back and forth. He went round the regions and looked into the customs, and he did not stay long in one place. Wherever he came and stopped, he built a hut and lodged in it. Only in the three months of rain, when the rains are many, did he not travel. At his traveling palace he had rare food made ready every day and fed the men of different learning, a thousand monks and five hundred Brahmans. He divided each day into three parts. In one part he saw to the business of rule, and in two parts he made blessing and practiced goodness, diligent and never weary, so that the day was not long enough for him.

At first, having received an invitation from King Jumoluo, he went from the country of Mojietuo to the country of Jiamolupo. At that time King Jieri was going round the regions and was in the country of Jiezhuwaqiluo, and he commanded King Jumoluo, "Come quickly to the assembly, and bring with you the shramana from afar who is a guest at Nalantuo." So he went with King Jumoluo and met him. When King Jieri had greeted him for his labors, he said, "From what country have you come, and what do you seek?" He answered, "I have come from the country of the Great Tang, and I ask to seek the Law of the Buddha." The king said, "On what side does the country of the Great Tang lie? How far does the road stretch, and is it near or far from here?" He answered, "It lies several tens of thousands of li to the northeast of this place. It is the country that India calls Mohezhina." The king said, "I have heard that in the country of Mohezhina there is a Son of Heaven, the king of Qin, who in his youth saw with a spirit's eye and when grown was godlike in arms. Long ago the age before him was broken by disorder, the whole land fell apart, spears and swords rose in strife, and the living were in bitter pain. But the Son of Heaven, the king of Qin, early held a far reaching plan and raised up a great mercy. He saved all that has consciousness and brought peace within the seas, and his manners and his teaching reached afar and his kindness soaked far and wide, so that strange regions and other lands longed for his rule and called themselves his servants. The common people, upheld and nourished by him, all sing the Qinwang pozhen yue. I have heard that noble song of praise for a long time now. Is the report of such full virtue truly so? Is the country of the Great Tang this country?" He answered, "It is so. Zhina was the name of the country under the former ruler, and the Great Tang is the name of the country under our lord. Long ago, before he took the throne, he was called the king of Qin. Now that he has taken up the line, he is called the Son of Heaven. The fortune of the age before came to its end, the living were without a master, spears and swords rose in disorder, and all that lived was harmed. The king of Qin was given breadth by heaven, and mercy rose in his heart. The wind of his awe blew and fanned, and the cruel bands were destroyed. The eight quarters became quiet, and ten thousand countries bring him tribute. He loves and rears the four kinds of birth, and he honors and holds high the three treasures. He has made the taxes light and the punishments few, and yet the use of the country is more than enough and there are no thieves in the ways of the people. His manners and his teaching have worked so great a change that it is hard to set it out in full." King Jieri said, "How full it is! The living of that land have by their blessing met a holy lord."

At that time King Jieri was about to return to the city of the Bent Women and hold an assembly of the Law. He led several hundred thousand people and was on the south bank of the Qingqie river, and King Jumoluo led several tens of thousands and was on the north bank. They divided the stream in the middle of the river and went forward together by water and by land. The two kings led the way and the four kinds of troops guarded them closely. Some floated in boats and some rode on elephants, beating drums and blowing conches, plucking strings and playing pipes. After ninety days they came to the city of the Bent Women and settled in a great flower grove west of the Qingqie river. At this time more than twenty kings of the several countries had already received the command, and each came with the finest shramanas and Brahmans of his country, with his officers and his soldiers, and gathered for the great assembly. The king had first built a great monastery west of the river. East of the monastery he raised a jeweled terrace more than a hundred feet high, and within it was an image of the Buddha in gold, as large as the king's own body. South of the terrace he raised a jeweled altar as the place for bathing the image of the Buddha. Fourteen or fifteen li northeast of this he built a traveling palace apart. This was in the second month of spring. From the first day of the month he fed the shramanas and the Brahmans with rare and savory food, and so on to the twenty-first day. From the traveling palace all the way to the monastery, pavilions were built along both sides of the road and adorned with every shining thing, and the musicians did not move from their places but played their noble music in turn. The king brought out from the traveling palace an image in gold, hollow within and raised in relief, more than three feet high. It was carried on a great elephant and spread over with a jeweled curtain. King Jieri wore the garb of Shakra and held a jeweled canopy and attended on the left, and King Jumoluo took the bearing of Brahma and held a white whisk and attended on the right. Each had five hundred elephant troops in armor guarding all about, and before the image of the Buddha and behind it were a hundred great elephants each, carrying the musicians, who beat drums and made music. King Jieri scattered pearls and many jewels and flowers of gold and silver on every side at every step, making offerings to the three treasures. First he went to the jeweled altar and bathed the image with scented water. The king carried it on his own back and set it up on the terrace to the west, and he made offerings of many rare jewels and of several hundred thousand jiaosheye robes. At this time only some twenty shramanas went with him, and the kings of the several countries were his guard. When the eating was done, he gathered the men of different learning, and they weighed subtle words and pressed down or lifted up the highest truths. When the sun was about to set he turned his carriage back to the traveling palace. So every day he sent out the golden image, with those who led and those who followed as at the first, until the day the assembly broke up.

Suddenly a fire rose on that great terrace, and smoke and flames were fierce at the gate tower of the monastery. The king said, "I gave out all the treasure of the country and built this monastery for the former king, to make his excellent work shine. My virtue is small and I have no help, and so this disaster has come. If the sign of my fault is such as this, what use is there in living?" Then he burned incense and made his bow and his prayer, and he swore to himself, "By the goodness of my former lives I am king over all the Indias. I pray that by the power of my blessing this disaster of fire may be turned back and put out. If there is nothing that answers me, let my life end here." At once he threw his body forward and leapt over the threshold, and it was as though the fire were beaten out, for the fire was spent and the smoke was gone. When the kings saw this wonder, their reverence and their fear were doubled. Presently the color of his face had not changed and his words were as before, and he asked the kings, "This sudden disaster has burned to ashes the work that was finished. What do you hold in your hearts, and what would you say of it?" The kings bowed to the ground and wept, and they answered, "We hoped that the finished work and this excellent trace would be handed down to the ages to come, and in a single morning it is ashes. How can we hold our hearts? How much worse that the men of other ways are glad in their hearts and give one another joy of it." The king said, "Looking at it in this way, what the Tathagata said is true. The other ways and the different learnings hold fast to the view that things last, but our great teacher taught only that nothing lasts. My giving is already complete and the wish of my heart is fulfilled, and now, meeting this change and passing away, I know again the true and faithful word of the Tathagata. This is a great good, and there is nothing in it to grieve over deeply."

Then he went up with the kings to the great stupa on the east and looked out from it. As he was coming down the steps, a strange man suddenly came at the king with a blade. The king was hard pressed at that moment, and stepping backward up the stairs he bent down, seized the man, and handed him over to the officers. At this the officers were in such confusion that they did not know how to come forward and help. All the kings asked that this man be put to death, but King Jieri showed no anger at all and ordered that he not be killed. The king himself asked him, "In what have I failed you, that you do this cruel and evil thing?" He answered, "The kindness of the great king is without partiality, and within and without receive his blessing. But I am mad and foolish, and I did not weigh the great plan. I was led astray by a single word of the men of other ways, and at once I became an assassin and took the lead in plotting a treacherous murder." The king said, "Why did the men of other ways raise such an evil heart?" He answered, "The great king gathered the several countries, emptied the storehouses, made offerings to the shramanas and cast images of the Buddha. But the men of other ways were called together from afar and received no notice or question, and they were truly ashamed in their hearts. So they made me, mad and foolish, dare to do this cruel deceit." Then the followers of the other ways were questioned to the bottom. There were five hundred Brahmans, all of high talent, who had answered the call and gathered. They were jealous that the shramanas were treated with heavy honor by the king, and so they shot fire arrows and burned the jeweled terrace, hoping that while the fire was being put out the crowd would scatter in confusion and they could kill the great king at that time. But they found no opening, and so they hired this man to stab him in a narrow place. At this the kings and the great ministers asked that the men of other ways be put to death, but the king punished only the chief evildoer and did not charge the rest. He moved the five hundred Brahmans beyond the borders of India. Then he returned to his capital.

The stupa northwest of the city was raised by King Wuyou. Long ago the Tathagata preached many wonderful teachings here for seven days. Beside it is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and left the traces of their walking back and forth. There is also a small stupa holding the hair and the nails of the Tathagata.

South of the stupa of the preaching, looking out on the Qingqie river, there are three monasteries. They share one wall but have different gates. The images of the Buddha are grave and beautiful and the monks are solemn and still, and several thousand households of lay servants do their work.

In the chamber, within a jeweled box, there is a tooth of the Buddha. It is more than an inch and a half long, and its rare light and strange color change from morning to evening. People run to it from far and near, and gentlemen and common folk all gather to gaze up at it after the rule, hundreds and thousands of them in a day. The keeper found their noise and crowding troublesome, and he set a heavy tax for a time and gave notice far and near, "Whoever wishes to see the tooth of the Buddha must hand over a great gold coin." Yet those who came to gaze and bow were many indeed, and they gladly vied with one another to pay the tax of gold. On every fast day it is brought out and set on a high seat, and several hundreds and thousands of people burn incense and scatter flowers. Though the flowers pile up full, the box of the tooth is not buried.

In front of the monastery, to the left and to the right, there is a shrine on either side, more than a hundred feet high, with a stone foundation and a brick chamber. The images of the Buddha within them are adorned with many jewels. Some are cast in gold and silver, and some are made of melted brass. In front of the two shrines there is a small monastery on either side.

Not far southeast of the monastery there is a great shrine with a stone foundation and a brick chamber, more than two hundred feet high. Within it a standing image of the Tathagata is made, more than thirty feet high, cast in brass and adorned with many wonderful jewels. On the stone walls around the four sides of the shrine are carved and painted the traces of what the Tathagata passed through while he practiced the way of a bodhisattva, and the carving is done to the utmost.

Not far south of the stone shrine there is a temple of the sun god, and not far south of that temple there is a temple of the great god Zizai. Both shine with blue stone and are carved to the utmost, and their plan and their size are the same as the shrine of the Buddha. Each has a thousand households to do the sprinkling and the sweeping, and drums and music and loud singing do not cease by day or by night.

Six or seven li southeast of the great city, south of the Qingqie river, there is a stupa more than two hundred feet high, raised by King Wuyou. Long ago the Tathagata preached here for six months that the body does not last, that it is suffering, that it is empty and that it is not clean. Beside it is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and left the traces of their walking back and forth. There is also a small stupa holding the hair and the nails of the Tathagata. When a man has fallen sick, if he walks round it with his utmost sincerity he is sure to be healed and to receive its blessing and its benefit.

Going more than a hundred li southeast of the great city, one comes to the city of Nafutipojuluo. It rests on the east bank of the Qingqie river and is more than twenty li around. Groves of flowers and clear ponds throw their reflections one upon another.

Northwest of the city of Nafutipojuluo, east of the Qingqie river, there is a temple of the gods, with storied pavilions and terraces built with rare skill in an uncommon fashion.

Five li east of the city there are three monasteries. They share one wall but have different gates. There are more than five hundred monks, and all of them study the Sarvastivada school of the Lesser Vehicle. More than two hundred paces in front of the monasteries there is a stupa raised by King Wuyou. Its foundation leans and has sunk, but it is still more than a hundred feet high. This is where the Tathagata preached the Law for seven days long ago. Within it there are relics, and at times they send out a bright light. Beside it is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and left the traces of their walking back and forth.

Three or four li north of the monasteries, on the bank of the Qingqie river, there is a stupa more than two hundred feet high, raised by King Wuyou. Long ago, when the Tathagata was preaching the Law here for seven days, five hundred hungry ghosts came to the place of the Buddha. They heard the Law and were awakened, and they left the body of a ghost and were born in heaven. Beside the stupa of the preaching is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and left the traces of their walking back and forth. Beside that there is again a stupa holding the hair and the nails of the Tathagata.

Going southeast from here more than six hundred li and crossing the Qingqie river, one goes south and comes to the country of Ayoutuo.