The Country of Lanmo藍摩國

The country of Lanmo has been empty and waste for many years. There is no order along its borders, its cities and villages have become mounds and ruins, and the people who live there are few and scattered.

Southeast of the old city there is a brick stupa a little less than a hundred feet high. Long ago, when the Tathagata had entered quiet extinction, an earlier king of this country received a share of the relics and carried them back to his own country, and he raised this in due form and with reverence. Holy and strange signs arise from time to time, and a divine light shines there at times.

Beside the stupa there is a clear pond, and a dragon comes out of it always to roam. It changes its shape and puts on the dress of a snake, and it turns to the right and winds about and coils around the stupa. Wild elephants go in herds and pick flowers and scatter them, for an unseen power watches over the place, and from the beginning there has been no break in this and no change. Long ago, when King Wuyou was dividing the relics and raising stupas, those raised in seven countries had all been opened, and when he came to this country and was about to begin the work, the dragon of this pond feared that it would be taken from him. So he changed himself into a Brahman, came forward, knocked on the elephant and said, "Great king, your heart flows toward the Law of the Buddha and you plant fields of merit far and wide. I dare to ask you to turn your carriage aside and come down to my house." The king said, "Where is your house? Is it near or far?" The Brahman said, "I am the dragon king of this pond. I heard that the great king wished to raise up an excellent merit, and so I have dared to come and ask to see you." The king granted his request and went at last into the dragon's palace. When he had sat there a long while, the dragon came forward and said, "By my evil deeds alone I received this body of a dragon. I make offerings to the relics, hoping that my sin and my fault may be wiped away. I beg the king to go himself, to look, and to pay his reverence." When King Wuyou had seen it, he was afraid and said, "None of these things for the offering are of the world of men." The dragon said, "If it is so, I beg you not to break it down." King Wuyou measured his own strength and knew that he was no match for the dragon, and so in the end he did not open it. At the place where he came out of the pond a mark now stands.

Not far beside the stupa there is a monastery. Its monks are few, but it is pure and grave and bright, and a novice has charge of all the affairs of the house. When a monk comes from a far place he is met with all the more honor, and they keep him three days without fail and make him offerings of the four kinds. It is heard in the old records that long ago some monks called to one another, being of one mind, and came from far away and did reverence at the stupa. They saw herds of elephants going to and fro after one another, some cutting grass with their tusks and some sprinkling water with their trunks, each bringing a different flower and making the offering together. When the company saw it they sighed in sorrow and were moved in their hearts. One monk then gave up the full precepts and asked to stay and make offerings, and he took leave of the company and said, "I have had much good fortune, and I set my steps carelessly among the monks. The months and the years pressed on, and there was no order in my practice. In this stupa there are relics of the Buddha, and their holy power reaches out unseen, so that herds of elephants tread here and sprinkle water. If I may leave my body in this land and gladly make one herd with them, and so come to the end of the years that are left me, it will be good fortune indeed." The company said to him, "This is a noble thing. Our own defilement is heavy, and our wisdom does not plan such a thing. Take care of yourself as the times allow, and do not let this excellent work be spoiled." When he had left the company he set out his earnest vow again, and he lived alone and glad, with the mind to end his days there. So he thatched reeds for a roof, drew in a stream to make a pond, gathered the flowers of each season, and sprinkled and swept until the ground shone. Year followed year, and his heart and his work never grew idle. The kings of the neighboring countries heard of it and thought it fine, and they vied with one another in giving away their goods and treasures and built a monastery together, and then they urged and asked him to take charge of the affairs of the order. From that time it has followed on without a break, and the first merit has not been effaced, and so a novice has charge of all the affairs of the order.

Going east of the monastery of the novice more than a hundred li through a great forest, one comes to a great stupa raised by King Wuyou. This is the place where the prince, having crossed the city wall, came and took off his jeweled robe, put away his necklace, and bade the groom go back. The prince crossed the wall at midnight and came here as the day was breaking, and when he had fulfilled the wish he had long held he put it into words and said, "This is the place where I come out of the cage and the pen, where I put off halter and chain, and where I loose the yoke for the last time." He untied the mani jewel from his heavenly crown and bade the groom, "Take this jewel and go back and tell my father the king. I go far away and hide myself now, not because I would break with him lightly and leave him, but because I would cut off what does not last and put an end to all that leaks away." Chanduojia said, "With what heart could I drive an empty carriage back?" The prince comforted him and taught him with good words, and he was moved and understood and went back.

East of the stupa where he turned the carriage back there is a Shanbu tree. Its trunk and its leaves are withered, but the dry trunk still stands. Beside it there is another small stupa, the place where the prince exchanged the jeweled robe that was left him for a robe of deerskin. The prince had already cut off his hair and changed his clothes, and though he had put away his necklace he still had a heavenly robe. He said, "This dress is too rich. How shall I change it?" At that time a god of the Pure Dwelling heaven changed himself into a hunter, wearing a robe of deerskin, holding a bow and carrying arrows on his back. The prince lifted the robe and said to him, "I wish to trade with you. I beg you to consent." The hunter said, "Very well." The prince took off his upper robe and gave it to the hunter. When the hunter had received it he took his body as a god again, and holding the robe he had been given he rose into the empty air and went away.

Not far beside the place where the prince changed his robe there is a stupa raised by King Wuyou, and this is the place where the prince cut off his hair. The prince took a knife from Chanduojia and cut off his hair himself, and the god Shakra received it and carried it up to the palace of heaven and made an offering of it. At that time a young god of the Pure Dwelling heaven changed himself into a barber, and he came with slow steps, holding a sharp blade. The prince said to him, "Can you cut hair? I pray you, make me clean." The changed man took the order and cut his hair for him.

The time when he crossed the wall and left his house is not fixed either. Some say the bodhisattva was nineteen years old and some say twenty-nine. Some say that he crossed the wall and left his house on the eighth day of the second half of the month of Feishequ, which falls on the eighth day of the third month here, and some say on the fifteenth day of the second half of the month of Feishequ, which falls on the fifteenth day of the third month here.

Going southeast from the stupa where the prince cut off his hair, a hundred and eighty or ninety li through open country, one comes to the grove of Nijuhutuo, where there is a stupa more than thirty feet high. Long ago, when the Tathagata had entered quiet extinction and the relics had been divided, the Brahmans got nothing, and so they gathered the ashes and the charcoal that were left at the place of the Niediebanna and carried them to their own country, and they raised this holy foundation and made their offerings. From that time on, strange traces have followed one after another, and sick people who pray there are often healed. In an old monastery beside the stupa of the ashes and the charcoal there is the place with the traces where the four Buddhas of the past sat and walked. To the left and the right of the old monastery there are several hundred stupas. One great one among them was raised by King Wuyou, and though its high foundation has sunk it is still more than a hundred feet high.

From here one goes northeast through a great forest. The road is hard and steep and the way is dangerous, and mountain oxen, wild elephants, bands of robbers and hunters lie in wait for travelers, so that the harm they do never ceases. When one comes out of this forest, one reaches the country of Jushinajieluo.