The Country of Jiaoshangmi憍賞彌國

The country of Jiaoshangmi is more than six thousand li around. The great capital city of the country is more than thirty li around. The soil is called fat and rich, and the land is good for planting and yields much, with much rice and thick stands of sugar cane. The climate is hot, and the customs are hard and fierce. The people like to study the books and the arts, and they set up merit and goodness on high. There are more than ten monasteries, but they lean and have fallen and are grown over with weeds. There are more than three hundred monks, and they study the teaching of the Lesser Vehicle. There are more than fifty temples of the gods, and followers of other ways are truly many.

Within the old palace inside the city there is a great shrine more than sixty feet high. In it there is an image of the Buddha carved in sandalwood, and a canopy of stone hangs above it. It was made by King Wutuoyanna. Signs of its spirit rise from time to time, and a holy light shines from it now and again. The kings of the various countries have trusted in their strength and wished to carry it off, but though their men were many none could move it. So in the end they made paintings of it and offered worship, and all of them say that they have the true one; but if one speaks of the source and the trace, it is this image. When the Tathagata had first accomplished right awakening, he rose to the palace of heaven to speak the Law for his mother, and he did not return for three months. The king longed for him and wished to have his form drawn. So he asked the venerable Motejialuozi to take a craftsman up to the palace of heaven by his spiritual power, that he might see the wondrous marks himself and carve them in sandalwood. When the Tathagata came back from the palace of heaven, the image carved in sandalwood rose and welcomed the World Honored One. The World Honored One comforted it, saying, "You have labored in teaching and changing them. It is in you indeed that I place my hope for the opening and leading of the last age."

More than a hundred paces east of the shrine is the place where the four Buddhas of the past left the traces where they sat and walked. Not far beside it are the well of the Tathagata and his bath house. The well can still be drawn from, but the house has fallen in ruins.

In the southeast corner inside the city are the remaining traces of an old house. This is the old house of the elder Jushiluo. Within it are a shrine of the Buddha and a stupa of the hair and nails. There is also an old foundation. It is the bath house of the Tathagata.

Not far southeast of the city there is an old monastery. It was the old garden of the elder Jushiluo. Within it is a stupa raised by King Wuyou, more than two hundred feet high. The Tathagata spoke the Law here for several years. Beside it is the place where the four Buddhas of the past left the traces where they sat and walked. There is also a stupa of the hair and nails of the Tathagata. Southeast of the monastery, on the upper floor of a tiered building, there is an old brick room. The bodhisattva Shiqin once stayed within it and composed the Weishi lun, breaking down the Lesser Vehicle and putting hard questions to the various other ways. East of the monastery, in an anmoluo grove, there is an old foundation. This is the place where the bodhisattva Wuzhu composed the Xianyang shengjiao lun.

Eight or nine li southwest of the city is the stone cave of a poison dragon. Long ago the Tathagata subdued this poison dragon and left his shadow within the cave. There is a record handed down of it, but nothing is to be seen now. Beside it is a stupa raised by King Wuyou, more than two hundred feet high. Beside it are the traces where the Tathagata walked and a stupa of the hair and nails. Those who are sick and in pain and who come to make their prayer are often healed.

When the Law of Shakya comes to its end, this country will be the last. And so from the king above down to the common people below, there is none who enters the borders of this country and does not grieve of himself, swallowing his tears, sighing in sorrow, and turning back.

Going northeast from the dragon's cave through a great forest for more than seven hundred li, then crossing the Qingqie river and going north, one comes to the city of Jiashebuluo. It is more than ten li around, and those who live there are rich and content. Beside the city there is an old monastery, but only the foundation remains. This is the place where long ago the bodhisattva Hufa subdued a follower of another way. A former king of this country leaned toward crooked words and wished to destroy the Law of the Buddha and to honor and revere the other ways. From among the followers of the other ways he called one master of treatises, a man clever and quick, of high talent, who saw clearly into what is dark and fine, and had him compose a false and crooked book of a thousand verses, thirty-two thousand words in all, that slandered the Law of the Buddha and upheld his own root school. Then he called the monks together and had them weigh the matter and dispute it. If the follower of the other way won, the Law of the Buddha was to be destroyed; if the host of monks were not beaten, he was to cut off his tongue in apology. At this the monks feared that they would fall back and be beaten, and they gathered and spoke together, saying, "The sun of wisdom has already sunk and the bridge of the Law is about to fall. The king takes the side of the other ways. Can we stand against him? Since the matter stands so, what plan shall we make?" They were all silent, and none stood up to speak. The bodhisattva Hufa was young in years, but he was clear in speech and in wisdom, he had heard much, and his bearing and his measure were great and far-reaching. From among the assembly he raised his voice and said, "Foolish and slow though I am, let me set out my thought in brief. It is right that I should be the one to answer the king's command quickly. If I argue on high and win, it is the help of the spirits; if I am called to dispute and am beaten, it is because of my young years. In that way there is something to say whether we go forward or back, and no blame falls upon the Law or upon the order." All of them said, "This is truly fitting." As they had planned, he answered the king's command and took his seat at the disputation. The follower of the other way then set up the net of his argument, pressed down his words and raised up his meaning, recited what he held, and waited for the other side to differ. The bodhisattva Hufa took in his words and laughed, saying, "I have won. Shall I recite it turned back to front, or shall I recite it with the words mixed?" The follower of the other way was taken aback and said, "Do not raise yourself so high. If you can carry over all the words, that is a win. Take the text as it stands, and afterward explain its meaning." Hufa then followed the sound and the measure of it and set out its text and its meaning, and his words and reasoning were not wrong and his breath and rhythm did not slip. When the follower of the other way had heard him, he was about to cut off his own tongue. Hufa said, "Cutting off the tongue is not an apology. To change what you hold is repentance." Then he spoke the Law for him, and he believed in his heart and awoke in his mind. The king cast away the crooked way and followed and honored the right Law.

Beside the place where Hufa subdued the follower of another way there is a stupa raised by King Wuyou. Its foundation leans and has sunk, but it is still more than two hundred feet high. This is the place where the Tathagata long ago spoke the Law here for six months. Beside it are the traces where he walked and a stupa of the hair and nails.

Going north from here a hundred and seventy or eighty li, one comes to the country of Pisuojia.