The Country of Fulishi弗栗恃國

The country of Fulishi is more than four thousand li around. It is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. The land is rich and fat, and flowers and fruits grow thick and full. The climate is a little cold, and the people are hasty and quick of temper. They honor the other ways greatly and believe little in the Law of the Buddha. There are more than ten monasteries and the monks are fewer than a thousand, and they work at both the Greater Vehicle and the Lesser Vehicle and study them through. The temples of the gods number some tens, and the followers of other ways are indeed many. The great capital city of the country is called Zhanshuna, and much of it has already fallen and broken down. Within the old palace city there are still more than three thousand houses, and one cannot tell whether to call it a village or a town. Northeast of the great river there is a monastery. Its monks are few, but their study is pure and lofty.

Going west from here and following the bank of the river there is a stupa more than thirty feet high, and the long stream runs along it on the south. It is the place where the World Honored One in his great pity saved the fishermen. In the time when the Buddha was in the world five hundred fishermen joined in a company and went in a band and caught the creatures of the water, and in this river stream they got one great fish. It had eighteen heads, and every head had two eyes. The fishermen were about to kill it, and the Tathagata, who was in the country of Feisheli, saw it with the eye of heaven and a heart of pity rose in him. He would use the moment to teach and lead them, and follow the opening in them to break their darkness, and so he said to the great host, "In the country of Fulishi there is a great fish. I would lead it and so awaken the fishermen. You should know that the time has come." Then the great host went about him, and by the feet of spiritual power they rode the empty air to the bank of the river, and there they spread his seat as they always did. He said to the fishermen, "Do not kill the fish," and by his spiritual power he opened a door of means, and his might reached the great fish, so that it knew its former lives and could speak in the words of men and could see through the hearts of men. Then the Tathagata knew and yet asked it, "What sin did you do in a former body, that you have been turned about in the evil ways and have received this wretched body?" The fish said, "Long ago I came of a fortunate line and was born in a great house. I was the great Brahman Jiebita. I trusted in my clan and my name and I looked down upon the way of men, and I trusted in my wide knowledge and I held the sutras and the Law cheap and low. With a light and haughty heart I spoke ill of the Buddhas, and with foul and evil words I railed at the assembly of monks and shamed them. I brought in likenesses and matched their shapes, saying that they were like camels, donkeys, elephants and horses, and I set them against all manner of ugly shapes. By this evil deed I have received this wretched body. Yet by the good I did long ago my body has met the age of a Buddha, and my eyes see the holy teaching and I receive the holy teaching myself." Then it asked pardon and repented of the deeds it had done before. The Tathagata gathered it in and taught it as the opening in it allowed, and he opened the way for it as was fitting. When the fish had heard the Law its life came to an end, and by the power of this merit it was born above in a palace of heaven. There it looked upon its own body and asked by what cause it had been born there, and when it knew its former lives it was mindful to repay the kindness of the Buddha, and it came with a host of gods, shoulder by shoulder with them. When it had bowed before him it went around him to the right and drew back and stood, and it took the precious incense and flowers of heaven and made an offering of them. The World Honored One pointed it out to the fishermen and spoke the wonderful Law for them, and all at once they felt it and awoke, and they gave their hearts and bowed and repented. They tore their nets and burned their boats, and they turned back to the true and received the Law. When they had put on the dyed robe they heard the highest teaching too, and all of them came out of the dust and the stain and together gained the holy fruit.

Going more than a hundred li northeast of the place where he saved the fishermen, west of an old city there is a stupa raised by King Wuyou, and it is more than a hundred feet high. It is the place where the Buddha long ago spoke the Law here for six months and saved many gods and men. A hundred and forty or fifty paces north of this there is a small stupa. It is the place where the Tathagata long ago laid down the rules of discipline for the monks. Not far west of it there is a stupa of the hair and the nails of the Tathagata. When the Tathagata was in this place long ago the people of the towns near and far hurried to him and gathered like the spokes of a wheel, and they burned incense and scattered flowers, and the lamps and the torches were never broken off.

Going a thousand four or five hundred li northwest from here, crossing the mountains and entering the valleys, one comes to the country of Nibolo.