The Country of Jiebiluofasudu劫比羅伐窣堵國

The country of Jiebiluofasudu is more than four thousand li around. There are a dozen or so empty cities, and the waste is already deep. The royal city has fallen down, and its measure around is not known in full. The palace city within it is fourteen or fifteen li around. It was made of piled brick, and its foundation is high and firm. It has been empty and waste for long years. The villages of men are few and scattered, and there is no great ruler over them. Each city has set up its own master. The land is good and rich, and sowing and reaping are done in their season. The seasons do not go wrong, and the customs are mild and open. There are more than a thousand old foundations of monasteries. Beside the palace city there is one monastery, with more than thirty monks, and they practice and study the teaching of the Zhengliang school of the Lesser Vehicle. There are two temples of the gods, and men of other ways live there mixed together.

Within the palace city there is an old foundation. It was the main hall of King Jingfan. A shrine is raised upon it, and an image of the king is made within it. Not far from its side there is an old foundation. It was the sleeping hall of Lady Mahamaya. A shrine is raised upon it, and an image of the lady is made within it. The shrine beside it is the place where the bodhisattva Shakyamuni came down in spirit and entered his mother's womb, and within it there is an image of the bodhisattva coming down in spirit. The Sthavira school says that the bodhisattva came down in spirit and entered his mother's womb on the night of the thirtieth day of the month Wadaluoeshatu, which falls on the fifteenth day of the fifth month here. The other schools say that he came down in spirit and entered his mother's womb on the night of the twenty-third day of that month, which falls on the eighth day of the fifth month here.

Northeast of the place where the bodhisattva came down in spirit there is a stupa. It is the place where the seer Asiduo read the signs on the prince. On the day the bodhisattva was born in spirit, fair omens gathered like the spokes of a wheel. At that time King Jingfan called the readers of signs and said to them, "This child is born. What is good and what is ill in him? Use all your heart and answer me in clear words." They said, "By the records of the holy men of old, and by the fair omens we have weighed, if he stays at home he will become a wheel-turning holy king, and if he leaves his home he will gain right enlightenment." At that time the seer Asiduo came from far away, knocked at the gate and asked to be seen. The king was very glad. He met him himself and bowed to him, and asked him to take a seat of jewels, and said, "I did not look for so great a seer to come down and visit me today." The seer said, "I was dwelling at ease in the palace of heaven and sitting quietly, when suddenly I saw the hosts of the gods following one another and dancing. I asked them then, 'What is it that gives such joy?' They said, 'Great seer, you should know. In the continent of Shanbu the first lady of King Jingfan of the Shakya clan has now borne a prince. He shall gain perfect enlightenment and shine round with the wisdom of all kinds.' I heard these words, and so I came to look upon him. What grieves me is that I am old and worn and shall not meet his holy teaching."

At the south gate of the city there is a stupa. It is the place where the prince matched strength with the men of Shakya and threw an elephant. The prince was able in many arts and skills, and he alone stood out above his fellows. King Jingfan held his joy and was about to go back, and the driver was leading the elephant and about to go out of the city. Tipodaduo had always taken pride in his great strength. He was coming in from outside and asked the driver, "This elephant is harnessed. Who is it that will ride him?" He said, "The prince is going back, and so I go to serve him and drive." Tipodaduo grew angry and pulled the elephant to him and struck its forehead and kicked its breast, and it fell over and blocked the road, so that the way was cut off. No one could move it, and the people crowded the place full. Nantuo came afterward and asked, "Who killed this elephant?" They said, "Tipodaduo." Then he dragged it aside to the edge of the road. The prince came and asked as well, "Who has done this thing that is not good and harmed this elephant?" They said, "Tipodaduo harmed it and shut the gate with it, and Nantuo dragged it away and opened the path." Then the prince lifted the elephant and threw it high, and it passed over the moat of the city, and where the elephant fell to the ground a great deep pit was made. The people of that country hand it down as the pit where the elephant fell. In the shrine beside it an image of the prince is made. Beside that there is another shrine, which was the sleeping palace of the prince's wife. Within it an image of Yeshutuoluo is made, and there is an image of Luohuluo as well. In the shrine beside the palace an image of him receiving his lessons is made. It is the old foundation of the hall where the prince studied.

At the southeast corner of the city there is a shrine. Within it is made an image of the prince riding a white horse and passing over the air. This is the place where he went over the wall.

Outside the four gates of the city there are shrines, and in them are made images of an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a shramana. Here the prince went out to look about, and when he saw these sights his heart was stirred. He came to hate the dust of the world deeply, and here he felt and understood, and he ordered his driver to turn the carriage back.

Going fifty li and more south of the city one comes to an old city, where there is a stupa. It is the city where the Buddha Jialuojiacuntuo was born, in the worthy kalpa, in the time when the life of men was sixty thousand years. Not far south of the city there is a stupa, the place where he saw his father after he had gained right enlightenment. In the stupa southeast of the city there are relics of the body that Tathagata left behind. Before it a stone pillar is raised, more than thirty feet high, and the shape of a lion is carved on the top of it, and beside it his passing into stillness is set down. King Wuyou raised it.

Going more than thirty li northeast of the city of the Buddha Jialuojiacuntuo one comes to an old great city, and in it there is a stupa. It is the city where the Buddha Jianuojiamouni was born, in the worthy kalpa, in the time when the life of men was forty thousand years. Not far to the northeast there is a stupa, the place where he saved his father after he had gained right enlightenment. In the stupa next to the north there are relics of the body that Tathagata left behind. Before it a stone pillar is raised, more than twenty feet high, and the shape of a lion is carved on the top of it, and beside it his passing into stillness is set down. It was raised by King Wuyou.

More than forty li northeast of the city there is a stupa. It is the place where the prince sat in the shade of a tree and watched the plowing of the fields, and here practiced meditation and came to be free of desire. King Jingfan saw the prince sitting in the shade of the tree and entered into still meditation, and though the light of the sun turned and shone, the shadow of the tree did not move. In his heart he knew that this was holy and of the spirit, and he held him dear and revered him more deeply than before.

Northwest of the great city there are several hundreds and thousands of stupas. It is the place where the seed of Shakya was put to death. When King Piluzheji had overcome the Shakya, he took their kinsfolk captive and got ninety-nine million nine hundred thousand people, and he killed them all. The bodies were heaped like thickets, and the blood that ran made a pool. Heaven woke the hearts of men, and they gathered the bones and buried them.

Southwest of the place of the killing of the Shakya there are four small stupas. They are the place where four men of the Shakya seed withstood an army. At first, when King Shengjun came to the throne, he asked for a marriage with the Shakya seed. The Shakya seed looked down on him as not of their kind, and they deceived him and sent the daughter of a household servant with heavy gifts. King Shengjun set her up as his true queen, and she bore a son, and this was King Piluzheji. King Piluzheji wished to go to his mother's house to ask for teaching and receive his lessons, and he came to the south of this city. He saw a newly built lecture hall and rested his carriage within it. The men of Shakya heard of it and drove him out and cursed him, saying, "Low and mean son of a slave girl, do you dare to stay in this room? This room was built by the men of Shakya, and it was made ready for the Buddha to dwell in." After Piluzheji came to the throne he paid back the insult of former days. He raised troops and came here and camped his army. Four men of the Shakya seed were plowing the fields with their own hands, and they withstood him at once. The soldiers and robbers drew back and scattered, and afterward the four entered the city. Their clansmen held that they were the heirs of a wheel-turning king's blessing and the chief sons of the king of the Law, and yet had dared to work cruelty and violence and had borne to kill and harm, and so had stained the gate of their line. They cut off their kinship and drove them far away. The four men were driven out and went north to the Snow Mountains. One became king of the country of Wuzhangna, one king of the country of Fanyanna, one king of the country of Ximodaluo, and one king of the country of Shangmi, and age after age they handed down their work, and their offspring did not fail.

Three or four li south of the city, in a grove of Nijulu trees, there is a stupa, raised by King Wuyou. It is the place where Shakyamuni Tathagata, after he had gained right enlightenment, went back to his country and saw his father the king and spoke the Law. King Jingfan knew that the Tathagata had brought down the armies of Mara and was going about teaching and leading, and his heart thirsted for him and he longed to bow before him. So he sent a messenger to ask the Tathagata and say, "Long ago you said that when you became a Buddha you would return to the place of your birth. Those words are still in my ears. The time has come, so let your steps come down here." The messenger reached the place where the Buddha was and told him all the king's mind. The Tathagata said, "Seven days from now I shall return to the place of my birth." The messenger went back and told the king, and King Jingfan then ordered his officers and his people to sweep and sprinkle the streets and to lay up incense and flowers, and with his many officers he waited for the carriage forty li outside the city and welcomed him. At that time the Tathagata came with a great host. Eight adamantine guardians watched round about him, the four heavenly kings led the way before him, Shakra with the gods of the world of desire attended on the left and the king of Brahma with the gods of the world of form attended on the right, and the many monks of the order stood in ranks behind him. The Buddha alone was in the midst of the host, like the moon shining among the stars. His power and spirit moved the three worlds, and his light went beyond the seven stars, and he walked on the empty air and came to the country of his birth. When the king and the officers who followed him had finished their bows, they all went back to the country together and stayed at the monastery of Nijulutuo. Not far from its side there is a stupa. It is the place where the Tathagata sat beneath a great tree, facing east, and received a robe of golden thread from his aunt. Next to this stupa is the place where the Tathagata here saved the eight princes and five hundred of the Shakya seed.

Inside the east gate of the city, on the left of the road, there is a stupa. Long ago the prince Yiqieyicheng practiced the many arts and skills here. Outside the gate there is a temple of the god Zizai, and in the temple there is an image of the god in stone, in the posture of rising up high. This is the temple that the prince entered when he was still in swaddling clothes. When King Jingfan was bringing the prince back from the garden of Lafani, there was a temple of the gods on the road. The king said, "This temple of the gods has much spiritual sight, and when the Shakya children ask its help they always have an answer. Let the prince be taken there to pay his respects." At that time his nurse carried him in her arms and entered the temple, and that image of the god in stone rose and welcomed the prince, and when the prince had gone out the image sat down again.

Outside the south gate of the city, on the left of the road, there is a stupa. It is the place where the prince matched his skill with the men of Shakya and shot an iron drum. Thirty li and more southeast of here there is a small stupa, and beside it there is a spring, and the flow of the spring is clear as a mirror. Here the prince drew a strong bow and measured his skill against the men of Shakya, and when the string and the arrow parted, the arrow pierced the drum and passed the mark and reached the ground and sank to its feathers, and from that a clear stream welled up. The people of that time hand it down and call it the arrow spring. Those who have an illness and drink of it and wash in it are often healed. People from far places take the mud home, and as their pain may be, they wet it and rub it on their brow, and the spirits keep them unseen and many of them are healed.

Going eighty or ninety li northeast of the arrow spring one comes to the grove of Lafani, where there is a pool in which the Shakya seed used to bathe. It is clear and pure as a bright mirror, and flowers of many kinds spread over it. Twenty-four or twenty-five paces north of it there is a wuyou flower tree, now withered and faded. It is the place where the bodhisattva was born in spirit. The bodhisattva was born on the eighth day of the latter half of the month Feishequ, which falls on the eighth day of the third month here. The Sthavira school says it was the fifteenth day of the latter half of the month Feishequ, which falls on the fifteenth day of the third month here. The stupa next to the east was raised by King Wuyou, and it is the place where two dragons bathed the prince. When the bodhisattva was born, he walked seven steps in each of the four directions without being held, and he said of himself, "Above heaven and under heaven I alone am honored. From this time on, my share of birth and death is already ended." Where his feet trod, great lotus flowers came up. Two dragons rose out and stayed in the empty air, and each of them spouted water, one cold and one warm, and they bathed the prince. East of the stupa of the bathing of the prince there are two clear springs, and two stupas are raised beside them. This is the place where the two dragons came up out of the ground. When the bodhisattva was born, there was none of the kin and the clan who did not run to seek water to wash him, and two springs welled up before the lady, one cold and one warm, and they washed him with these at last. The stupa to the south of them is the place where Shakra held the bodhisattva in his arms. When the bodhisattva first came out of the womb, Shakra knelt and received him in a fine robe of heaven. Next there are four stupas. They are the place where the four heavenly kings held the bodhisattva. When the bodhisattva was born from the right side of his mother, the four great heavenly kings received him in a fine cloth of golden color and set him on a golden stand, and they came before his mother and said, "The lady has borne this blessed son. Truly it is a thing to rejoice at and to give thanks for. Even the gods are glad of it. How much more the people of the world."

Not far from the side of the stupa where the four heavenly kings held the prince there is a great stone pillar, with the shape of a horse made on top of it, and it was raised by King Wuyou (the base text has King Tianyou, which is an error for King Wuyou). Afterward it was struck by the thunderbolt of a fierce dragon, and the pillar broke in the middle and fell to the ground. Beside it there is a small river, flowing southeast, and the people of that country call it the oil river. When Lady Maya had borne her child, heaven made this pool for her and made it bright and smooth and clear and pure, so that the lady might take of it and bathe and drive away wind and weakness. Now it has turned to water, but its flow is still smooth to the touch.

From here one goes east more than two hundred li through open fields and wild forest and comes to the country of Lanmo.