The Country of Mojietuo — Part One摩揭陁國(上)

The country of Mojietuo is more than five thousand li around. Few people live in the walled city, but the towns have many households on the registers. The soil is rich, and planting and reaping thrive there. There is a strange kind of rice whose grains are coarse and large. Its fragrance and taste are beyond others, and its luster and color are very fine. In that country they call it the rice offered to great men. The land lies low and damp, so the towns are set on high ground. After the first month of summer and before the middle month of autumn the water runs over the level ground, and a boat may be floated on it. The customs are pure and plain, and the seasons are damp and hot. The people set their will on study and hold it high, and they honor and revere the Law of the Buddha. There are more than fifty monasteries and more than ten thousand monks, and most of them take as their school and study the Law and the teaching of the Greater Vehicle. There are several tens of temples of the gods, and followers of other ways are truly many.

South of the Qingqie river there is an old city more than seventy li around. Though it has long been waste and overgrown, its foundations are still there. Long ago, when the life of man was without measure of years, it was called the city of Jusumobuluo, for there were many flowers in the royal palace, and it was named from that. When the life of man came down to a few thousand years, it was renamed the city of Bozhalizi.

At first there was a Brahman of high talent and wide learning who had several thousand disciples, and he handed on his teaching to them one after another. The students went about together to look at the sights, and one student walked back and forth and gazed sadly. His companions said to him, "What is it that troubles you?" He said, "My prime is at its full strength, yet I have wandered as a stranger and trodden after my own shadow. The years and months are already long, and I have made nothing of my art and my work. When I look at this and speak of it, my heart is troubled the more." Then the students said to him in jest, "Now we shall ask a bride for you in marriage." So they set up two of their number as the young man's parents and two as the girl's parents, and they sat down under a Bozhali tree, which is called the son-in-law tree. They gathered the fruits of the season and drew clear water, and they laid out the beginnings of a marriage and asked for a day of happy union. Then the man who played the girl's father took hold of a flowering branch and gave it to the student, saying, "This is your fair mate. Do not refuse her." The heart of the student was glad and well content. When the sun went down and they said they would go home, he stayed behind, holding to his longing. The students said, "What we said before was only a jest. Come home with us. We fear the fierce beasts in the wood will do you harm." But the student stayed, and he walked back and forth beside the tree. After evening a strange light lit up the fields, and pipes and strings sounded clear and elegant, and curtains were spread out. Presently an old man came leaning on his staff to comfort him, and an old woman came leading a young girl, with guests and servants filling the road, dressed in fine clothes and making music. The old man pointed to the young girl and said, "This is your wife." They sang merrily and feasted happily, and seven days went by. The students thought a beast had harmed him and went to look for him, and they found him sitting alone in the shade of the tree as if he were facing a high guest. They told him to come home with them, but he refused and would not obey. Afterward he went into the city himself and called on his kinsmen and old friends and told them all that had happened from the beginning, and those who heard it were amazed. He went into the wood with his friends, and they all saw that the flowering tree was a great mansion, with boy servants and workmen running back and forth, and that the old man received them quietly, setting out dishes and making music, with all the courtesy of host and guest. The friends went back to the city and told everyone far and near. A year later a son was born. He said to his wife, "I wish now to go home, but I cannot bear to part from you. Yet if I stay on, I live like dew that drifts and clings." When his wife heard this she told her father everything, and the old man said to the student, "Where a man lives and takes his joy, must it be his old home? I shall build you a house now, and you should have no other thought." So he set the spirits to work, and the work was finished in a few days. The capital was moved from the old city of fragrant flowers to this town. Because of that son the spirits built a city, and from that time on it was named the city of Bozhalizi.

North of the king's old palace there is a stone pillar several tens of feet high. This is the place where King Wuyou made a hell. In the hundredth year after Shakya Tathagata entered nirvana there was a king named Ashujia, the great-grandson of King Pinpisuoluo. He moved the capital from the city of Wangshe to Bozhali, and he built the outer wall again so that it went round the old city. The years have gone far off, and only the old foundations are left. Of the monasteries and the temples of the gods and the stupas there are several hundred sites remaining, but only two or three still stand. Only in the small city north of the old palace, which comes down to the Qingqie river, are there more than a thousand houses.

At first, after King Wuyou had come to the throne, his acts were harsh and cruel, and he set up a hell and did harm to living things. Its wall stood high round about and the towers at its corners rose up sharply, and with fierce flames and great furnaces and keen blades and sharp knives he made ready all the instruments of pain, in the likeness of the dark road below. He picked out a cruel man and set him up as the master of the prison. At first the men of the country who broke the law were all thrown into that misery, whether their crime was light or heavy. Afterward those who merely passed by the prison were seized and put to death, and all who came there died, so that their mouths were stopped for good. At that time a shramana who had just entered the assembly of the Law was going round the village and begging for food, and he came to the gate of the prison. The cruel man who was the jailer seized him and was about to do him harm. The shramana was afraid and asked leave to make his reverence and repent. Presently he saw a man brought bound into the prison, and his hands and feet were cut off and his body was torn apart, and in the time of a glance down and up his limbs were crushed and scattered. When the shramana saw it, his grief grew deep, and he came to see that all things pass away, and he realized the fruit of one who has nothing more to learn. The jailer said, "Now you may die." But since the shramana had realized the holy fruit, his mind was level toward life and death, and though he was put into the boiling cauldron, it was as if he were in a clear pool, and a great lotus flower became his seat. The master of the prison was astonished and sent a man running to tell the king, and the king came and saw it himself, and he praised deeply the help of the holy power. The master of the prison said, "The great king too must die." The king said, "How so?" He answered, "The king first gave a command and set me over this prison of punishment, and said that all who came to the prison wall were to be killed. He did not say that the king should come in and alone escape death." The king said, "The law is already fixed, and in reason it cannot be changed again. I gave the command first. How should your own body be left out of it? That you have lived so long without right is my fault." And he ordered the jailers at once to throw him into the great furnace. When the master of the prison was dead the king was able to come out, and then he threw down the wall and filled up the moat, and did away with the prison and made the punishments lenient.

Not far south of the hell there is a stupa. Its foundation leans and has sunk, and only the shape of an upturned bowl is left. It is inlaid and adorned with jewels and has a railing made of stone, and it is one of the eighty-four thousand. King Wuyou built it within his palace by the labor of men. Within it there is one sheng of the relics of the Tathagata, and a holy brightness rises there from time to time and a divine light shines now and then. After King Wuyou had done away with the hell, he met the great arhat Jinhu, who drew him on well by skillful means and led and taught him as the occasion allowed. The king said to the arhat, "By good fortune, through the merit of my former lives, my place is high among men. But I grieve at these hindrances that bind me, for I did not meet the teaching of the Buddha. Now I wish to build again many stupas for the relics of the body the Tathagata left behind." The arhat said, "The great king, by the power of his merit and virtue, sets a hundred spirits to work, and with the heart of a wide vow he upholds and guards the Three Jewels. This is what was hoped for, and now is the time for it." Then he spoke at length of the cause of the offering of earth, and of the work of building that the Tathagata had foretold. King Wuyou heard it and was glad, and he called the spirits and demons together and commanded them, saying, "The King of the Law led men and gave them profit, and there was rejoicing among all that have feeling. I, resting on the goodness of my former lives, am highest among men. I would raise offerings again to the body the Tathagata left behind. Now, you spirits and demons, join your strength and make your hearts one. To the ends of the continent of Shanbu, till the houses are a koti, raise stupas with the relics of the Buddha. The thought arose from me, but the work shall be finished by you. I do not wish the profit of this high merit for myself alone. Each of you should build in his own place and wait for a word from me afterward." The spirits and demons took his order and set the work afoot wherever they were, and when the work was done they all came and asked for his command. King Wuyou opened the stupas that the eight countries had built and divided their relics and gave them to the spirits and demons, and then he said to the arhat, "What my heart desires is that the relics be laid down in all these places at one and the same time. My heart hopes for this, but the matter does not follow my wish." The arhat said to the king, "Command the spirits and demons that on the appointed day, when something hides the sun and its shape is like a hand, that is the time, and then they should lay down the relics." The king took this counsel and made it known to the spirits and demons. When the appointed day came, King Wuyou watched and waited upon the light and the shadow, and just as the sun stood at midday the arhat by the power of his spirit stretched out his hand and hid the sun. At every place of building they all looked up, and at that same moment the work was everywhere finished.

Not far from the side of the stupa, in a shrine, there is a great stone that the Tathagata trod upon, and the two footprints are still there. They are one foot and eight inches long and more than six inches wide. Both prints have the mark of a wheel, and all ten toes bear a flower pattern, and the shape of a fish shines out of them, and a bright light shines there at times. Long ago, when the Tathagata was about to enter quiet extinction, he went north toward the city of Jushina, and he looked back south upon the country of Mojietuo and trod upon this stone and said to Ananda, "Now I leave this footprint for the last time, and I am about to enter quiet extinction, and I look back upon Mojietuo. A hundred years from now there will be a king named Wuyou who will be called to rule the age. He will set his capital in this land, and he will uphold and guard the Three Jewels and set a hundred spirits to work." When King Wuyou came to the throne, he moved his capital and built his town and set a wall round the stone with the traces on it. Since it was near the palace city, he made offerings to it himself at all times. Afterward the kings of many countries strove to carry it away, but though the stone is not large, none of them could move it. Not long ago King Sheshangjia, who tore down and destroyed the Law of the Buddha, came to the place of the stone and wished to wipe out the holy traces. He chipped at them and made them level again, but the pattern and the color were as before. Then he threw it into the current of the Qingqie river, but it came back at once to its own place. The stupa beside it is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and walked, and their traces remain.

Not far from the side of the shrine that holds the footprints of the Buddha there is a great stone pillar more than thirty feet high. The writing on it is broken and worn, but in outline it says, "King Wuyou was firm and upright in the root of his faith. Three times he gave the continent of Shanbu to the Buddha, the Law and the Sangha, and three times he bought it back again with his many rare treasures." So the words run, and this is the outline of them.

North of the old palace there is a great stone house. Outside it is like a high mountain, and inside it is several tens of feet wide. This is what King Wuyou had the spirits and demons build for his brother who had left his home. At first King Wuyou had a younger brother by the same mother named Moxiyintuoluo. He was born of a noble house, and he wore beyond his right the robes that belong to a king, and he was extravagant and unbridled and cruel, so that the people bore a grudge against him. An old minister who helped the country came forward and admonished the king, saying, "Your proud brother works his power, and it is already too much. When the government is even the country is ruled, and when the people are in accord the ruler is at peace. This is the clear teaching of old, and it has come down a long time. I beg you to keep the law of the country and hand him over to those who hold the Law." King Wuyou wept and said to his brother, "I took up the inheritance and I cover and nourish living things. How much more you, who came from the same womb. How should I forget kindness and love? I did not set you right and guide you first, and you have already fallen into the law and its punishment. Above, I fear the spirits who went before. Below, I am pressed by the talk of the many." Moxiyintuoluo bowed his head to the ground and begged pardon, saying, "I did not walk carefully, and I dared to offend against the law of the country. I beg you to grant me life again, and to be lenient for seven days more." So he was put in a dark room and closely guarded, but rare food and fine dishes were brought to him without fail. The guard called out, "One day has passed, and six are left." When the sixth day came his sorrow and fear grew deep, and he strove the more in body and mind, and he gained the fruit. He rose into the empty sky and showed the marks of his power, and then he left the dust of the world and dwelt far off in a rocky valley. King Wuyou went to him himself and said, "In the old days I was bound by the law of the country and would have brought a heavy punishment upon you. How could I have thought that you would rise clear and realize the holy fruit? Nothing holds you back now, and you may come back to the country." His brother said, "Long ago I was caught in the net of love, and my heart ran after sound and color. Now I have come out of the perilous city, and my will delights in the mountain valleys. I would give up the world of men and follow the valleys forever." The king said, "If you wish to still the thoughts of your heart, must it be in a hidden place? I shall follow your will, and I shall raise a building for you." Then he called the spirits and demons and told them, "On a later day I shall set out rare food in plenty. Lead one another and come and gather at my feast, and let each of you bring a great stone to be his own seat." The spirits took his command, and when the day came they all assembled. When the gathering was over the king said to the spirits, "The stone seats lie this way and that. You should gather them up yourselves. Without the toil of labor, pile them into a hollow room." The spirits took his command, and in a few days it was done. King Wuyou went himself and welcomed his brother and had him stay in this mountain house.

North of the old palace and south of the hell there is a great stone trough. King Wuyou set the spirits to work with their marvelous power and made this vessel, and food was stored in it when the monks were fed.

Southwest of the old palace there is a small stone mountain, and among the rocks and valleys that ring it there are several tens of stone chambers. King Wuyou had the spirits and demons build them for Jinhu and the other arhats. Beside them stones are piled on what is left of the foundation of an old terrace, and a pond ripples there, its clear waves bright as a mirror. Men of the neighboring countries and from far away call it the holy water, and they say that if one drinks of it or washes in it, sin and defilement are wiped away.

Southwest of the mountain there are five stupas. Their high foundations have sunk, but what is left of them still stands high, and seen from afar they are thick and green like hills. Each face is several hundred paces. Men of later times built small stupas again on top of them. The Yindu ji says, "Long ago, when King Wuyou had built the eighty-four thousand stupas, five sheng of relics were still left over, and so he built five stupas apart from the rest. Their making is stranger than that of other places, and marvels rise there from time to time, showing forth the fivefold body of the Law of the Tathagata." Men of thin faith have talked among themselves in secret and said, "These are the five storehouses that King Nantuo made long ago to keep the seven treasures in." Afterward there was a king who did not believe with a whole heart. He heard the doubting talk of those before him and gave rein to his greed, and he raised an army and went himself to dig them open. The earth shook and the mountain leaned, the clouds darkened and the sun was hidden, and out of the stupas came a great sound like thunder. The soldiers fell stiff to the ground, and the elephants and horses bolted in terror. From that time on no one has dared to covet them. Some say, "Though the talk of the many is much, it is not a settled judgment." To follow what the old records say is truly the way to get at the truth of it.

Southeast of the old city there is the monastery of Ququzha'alanmo, which King Wuyou built. When King Wuyou first believed in the Law of the Buddha, he followed the right forms and built it high, and he planted and raised the good seed. He called a thousand monks together, and to the two assemblies, the common and the holy, he gave the four offerings and supplied all their goods. It has long been fallen and broken, but the foundation is still there.

Beside the monastery there is a great stupa called Amoluojia. Amoluojia is the name of a medicinal fruit of India. King Wuyou fell ill and lay long sick, and knowing that his life could not be saved, he wished to give away his rare treasures and plant high the field of merit. The ministers in power held the government and warned him not to follow his wish. Afterward, while he was eating, he left an amoluojia fruit, and as he handled it half of it grew soft. He held the fruit and sighed long, and he asked his ministers, "Who is now the master of the continent of Shanbu?" The ministers answered, "The great king alone." The king said, "It is not so. I am no master now. This half fruit alone is mine to do with as I will. Alas, the riches and honor of the world are more perilous than a candle in the wind. My seat holds all the land and my name is called high, but at the end of my life I am in want and am pressed by strong ministers. The world under heaven is not my own, and this half fruit is all there is." Then he commanded the attendant at his side, "Take this half fruit and go to the Fowl Garden and give it to the monks, and speak thus: 'He who was once the master of the continent of Shanbu is now the king of half an amoluojia fruit. He bows his head before the monks of great virtue and asks that they receive his last gift. All that he had is lost, and this half fruit alone is still a little in his power. Have pity on his poverty and want, and make the seed of his merit grow.'" The elder among the monks spoke thus: "King Wuyou vowed long ago to save men widely. Now a fever is in his body and treacherous ministers do as they please with his commands. The treasure he heaped up is not his own, and he has made his gift of half a fruit. Let us take the command he has sent and give it to all the monks alike." Then he called the one in charge of such matters and had it all boiled in the soup, and he took the stone of the fruit and raised a stupa. Having received a heavy kindness, he made known in this way the king's last command.

Northwest of the Amoluojia stupa, in an old monastery, there is a stupa. It is called the stupa of the striking of the jianchui.

At first there were a hundred monasteries within this city. The monks were grave and ordered and their learning was pure and high, so that the scholars of other ways hushed their voices and sealed their mouths. Afterward the monks died away one after another, and those who came later did not carry on the work of those before them. The masters and disciples of the other ways handed down their teaching and made an art of it. Then they called their fellows and summoned their companions, by thousands and by tens of thousands, and they came and gathered at the monks' quarters and cried aloud, "Strike the jianchui hard and call the learned together!" The foolish crowd stayed there with them, and the jianchui was wrongly struck, and at last they went to the king and asked that the better and the worse be measured. The masters of the other ways were of high talent and had mastered their learning, and though the monks were many, their words and their arguments were common and shallow. Those of the other ways said, "Our argument has won. From this day on the monasteries may not strike the jianchui to gather their assemblies." The king granted their request and ruled as the debate had gone. The monks took the shame and bore the reproach and withdrew, and for twelve years the jianchui was not struck. At that time in southern India there was the bodhisattva Nagaelashuna. In his youth a fair repute was passed on of him, and when he was grown his high name was everywhere. He gave up desire and love and left his home and studied, and he searched the wonderful principle deeply and rose to the first ground. He had a great disciple named Tipo, whose wisdom was bright and quick and whose spirit was alert and awake. Tipo said to his master, "The learned men of the city of Bozhali have had their words bent by those of the other ways and have not struck the jianchui. The days and the months have moved swiftly, and it is now twelve years. I would dare to break down the mountain of false views and light the torch of the right Law." Longmeng said, "Those of the other ways in the city of Bozhali are wide in learning. You are not their match. I shall go now." Tipo said, "To break rotten grass, must one topple a mountain? I would dare to take the teaching you point out to me and drive out those other schools. Let the great master set up the meaning of the other ways, and I shall follow the text and break it apart. When we have seen closely which is the better, then I shall plan to go." So Longmeng upheld and set up the meaning of the other ways, and Tipo followed and broke down its reasoning, and after seven days Longmeng lost his ground. Then he sighed and said, "A false word is easily lost, and a wrong meaning is hard to uphold. Go, then. You will surely break them." The bodhisattva Tipo had long borne a high name, and when those of the other ways in the city of Bozhali heard of him they called one another together at once and ran to tell the king, "In the old days the great king bent his ear to us and ruled that the shramanas should not strike the jianchui. We beg you to send down a command that the gatekeepers let no strange monk from the neighboring borders come into the city. We fear that they will band together and help one another and lightly change the rule that was made before." The king granted their words and set a close watch. When Tipo came he could not enter the city. He heard of the order, so he changed his clothes and folded his sengqizhi robe and put it in a bundle of grass, and he hitched up his skirt and hurried along and carried it in on his head. When he was inside the city he threw down the grass and put on his robe, and he came to this monastery and asked for a place to rest. Few there knew him, and no one took him in, so he slept on the terrace of the jianchui. In the early morning he struck it hard. The assembly heard it and looked to see, and it was the traveling monk who had come the day before. From the other monasteries the sound was passed on and answered, and the king heard it and asked to the bottom of it, but no one could tell where it had begun. When they came to this monastery they all pointed to Tipo. Tipo said, "The jianchui is struck to gather the assembly. If it is there and is not used, why is it hung up at all?" The king's man told him, "In an earlier time the monks lost in a debate, and it was ruled that it should not be struck, and it is now twelve years." Tipo said, "Was it so? Today I shall sound the drum of the Law again." The messenger told the king, "A strange shramana wishes to wash away the shame of before." Then the king called the learned together and ruled, "Whoever loses his own ground in the debate shall answer for it with his life." So those of the other ways set up their banners and beat their drums in rivalry, and they talked loudly of their differing doctrines, each flashing the point of his words. When the bodhisattva Tipo had mounted the seat of debate, he listened to them speak first and broke down each meaning as it came, and in less than twelve days he had crushed all the other ways. The king of the country and his great ministers were all glad, and they raised this holy foundation to make his highest virtue known.

North of the stupa of the striking of the jianchui there is an old foundation. It is the place where the Brahman who had his eloquence from a demon once lived.

At first there was a Brahman in this city who thatched a house in a wild marsh and had no dealings with the ways of the world. He sacrificed to demons and sought good fortune, and goblins clung to him. He argued loftily and talked fiercely, and his elegant words answered all. If anyone pressed him hard with a question, he let down a curtain and answered from behind it. In old learning and in high talent no one stood above him, and gentlemen and common people alike looked up to him as to a sage. There was a bodhisattva named Ashifuqusha, whose wisdom went through all things and whose way had spread over the three vehicles. He said often to men, "This Brahman has no learning received from a master, and in his art there is no study of the ancients. He lives hidden in a dark and quiet place and alone bears a high name. If it is not that spirits and demons cling to him and a goblin has fastened upon him, how could he be like this? When eloquence is given by a demon, the words cannot face a man, and what has been said once cannot be said again. I shall go there now and see how he does." So he went to his house and said to him, "I have looked up to your abundant virtue for a long time now. I beg you to lift the curtain, that I may dare to speak what I have long wished to say." But the Brahman was calmly haughty, and he let down the curtain and answered from behind it and would not talk face to face to the end. Maming knew in his heart that it was a goblin, and he was well assured in himself. He finished speaking and withdrew, and he said to the people, "I know it now. I shall surely break him." Then he went and told the king, "I ask only that you permit me to measure myself in debate with that householder." The king heard it and was startled and said, "What manner of man is this? If he has not realized the three clear knowledges and is not furnished with the six powers, how can he debate with that one?" He ordered his carriage and went himself and watched the debate closely. Then Maming argued the subtle words of the three baskets and set forth the great meaning of the five knowledges. His fine eloquence ran this way and that, and his lofty argument was clear and far-reaching. When the Brahman had finished speaking, Maming said again, "You have missed my meaning. Say it over again." Then the Brahman was silent and shut his mouth. Maming rebuked him and said, "Why do you not answer the question? Let the goblin you serve give you your words quickly." And he swiftly drew back the curtain and looked at the strange thing there. The Brahman was frightened and flustered and said, "Stop, stop!" Maming withdrew and said, "This man has lost his repute this morning. An empty name does not last long, and this is what that means." The king said, "Who but a man of abundant virtue could see through a crooked way? The wisdom that knows men cuts off those who come after and outshines those who went before. The country has its standing laws, and it is right to make this rich reality known."

More than two hundred li from the southwest corner of the city there are the remains of a monastery. Beside them there is a stupa, from which a divine light shines at times and holy signs appear now and then, so that there is no one among the people far and near who does not pray there. It is the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and walked, and their traces remain.

Going southwest from the old monastery more than a hundred li, one comes to the monastery of Diluozejia. It has four courts of halls and buildings, and its pavilions are of three storeys. Its high terraces rise tier upon tier, and its double gates stand wide open. It was built by a late descendant of King Pinpisuoluo. He honored and called men of high talent and welcomed men of excellent virtue from far and wide, and scholars of other lands and the finest men of distant parts followed one another and came shoulder to shoulder. The monks number a thousand, and all of them study the Greater Vehicle. Where the middle gate meets the road there are three shrines. On top of them wheel shapes are set and bells hang in the air, and below they are built on layered foundations with railings running round them. On the doors and the windows, the ridgepoles and the beams, the outer walls and the steps, gold and copper stand out in relief, and all between is adorned. In the middle shrine there is a standing image of the Buddha thirty feet high, with an image of the bodhisattva Duoluo on the left and an image of the bodhisattva Guanzizai on the right. All three of these images are cast of brass, and their awe and power are grave, and their unseen light reaches far. In each shrine there is one sheng of relics, and a holy light shines from them at times, and strange signs rise now and then.

Going southwest from the monastery of Diluozejia more than ninety li, one comes to a great mountain, where the clouds and the rocks are deep and thick and holy immortals make their dwelling. Poisonous snakes and fierce dragons have their holes in its marshes, and savage beasts and birds of prey roost and lie hidden in its woods. On the top of the mountain there is a great flat rock, and on it a stupa has been built more than ten feet high. This is the place where the Buddha entered his trance. Long ago the Tathagata came down in spirit to this place and sat upon this flat rock and entered the trance of complete extinction, and a night passed. The gods and the holy spirits made offerings to the Tathagata, sounding the music of heaven and raining down the flowers of heaven. When the Tathagata came out of his trance the gods were moved and full of longing, and they raised a stupa of jewels and gold and silver. As the time since the holy one grew ever more distant, the jewels turned into stone. From of old until now no man has come up there. Looking from afar at the high mountain, one sees strange creatures: long snakes and savage beasts that go round it to the right in troops, and heavenly immortals and holy spirits that follow shoulder to shoulder, praising and doing reverence.

On the eastern ridge of the mountain there is a stupa. It is the place the Tathagata trod long ago when he stood and gazed upon the country of Mojietuo.

More than thirty li northwest of the mountain, in a fold of the hills, there is a monastery. Its foundation is raised high with the ridge at its back, and its pavilions stand where the cliff has been cut away. There are more than fifty monks, and all of them study the Law and the teaching of the Greater Vehicle. It is the place where the bodhisattva Gunamati subdued those of other ways.

At first there was a man of another way in this mountain named Motapo, who took as his school the teaching of Sengqu and practiced its way. His learning went to the bottom of things within and without, and his words reached to the end of the empty and the existent. His name was higher than those who had gone before him and his virtue weighed much in his time. The king prized and revered him and called him the treasure of the country, and the ministers and the people looked up to him and all called him their own master. The scholars of neighboring countries followed his manner and admired his virtue, and ranked him with the men of old, for he was truly wide and deep in learning. He had two cities as his fief, and he lived within them as a lord. At that time the bodhisattva Dehui of southern India was quick and understanding from his childhood, and early on he was known for fineness and subtlety. His learning went through the three baskets and his reasoning to the bottom of the four truths. When he heard that the arguments of Motapo reached to what was deep and hidden, he had a mind to blunt that sharpness, and he had one of his disciples write a letter for him, saying, "I ask respectfully whether Motapo is well and at ease. You should forget weariness and toil and study your old learning closely. Three years from now I shall break down your fair repute." So too in the second and the third year he sent a messenger each time with word. And when he was about to set out he wrote once more, saying, "The term of years is now at an end. How stands your learning? I am coming now, and you should know it." Motapo was much afraid, and he warned his disciples and the men of his towns, "From this day on you shall give no lodging to a shramana or to a man of another way." They passed this on from one to another, that no one should break it. Then the bodhisattva Dehui came with his staff in his hand and reached the town of Motapo, and the townsmen kept the promise and no one would take him in. The Brahmans reviled him further and said, "You with your cut hair and your strange clothes, what kind of man are you? Go quickly and in good time, and do not stay here." The bodhisattva Dehui wished to break down the other way and hoped to lodge in that town, and so with a kind heart he humbled his words and excused himself, saying, "You keep a pure practice in the truth of the world, and I keep a contending practice in the truth of the highest meaning. Since our pure practice is the same, why am I turned away?" The Brahmans would not speak with him after that, and only drove him out. They drove him outside the town, and he went into a great wood. The savage beasts in the wood went in packs and did harm, and a man of pure faith who feared he would be hurt by them bound up a torch and took a staff and came and said to the bodhisattva, "In southern India there is one called the bodhisattva Dehui, and word has come from afar that he means to come and debate. Therefore the lord of this town, fearing that his fair repute would fall, laid down a strict rule again that no shramana should be given lodging. I was afraid you would be harmed by the creatures, and so I have come to help you. Go, and be at ease, and have no other care." Dehui said, "You bring me good word, man of pure faith. Dehui is myself." When the man of pure faith heard it he revered him more deeply and said to Dehui, "If it is truly as you tell me, you should go quickly." So he came out of the deep wood and rested in an empty marsh. The man of pure faith lit a fire and held his bow and went round him on this side and on that, and when the night was through he said to Dehui, "Now you should go. I fear that men will hear of it and come to do you harm." Dehui thanked him and said, "I shall not dare to forget your kindness." So he went on and came to the royal palace and said to the gatekeeper, "There is a shramana here who has come from far away. I beg the king to permit him to debate with Motapo." The king heard it and was startled and said, "This is only a reckless man." But he ordered an envoy to go to Motapo and declare the king's will, saying, "A strange shramana has come and asks for a debate. The ground of debate has been washed and made ready, and word has gone out far and near, and we wait for your coming. Be pleased to come down to us." Motapo asked the king's envoy, "Is it not Dehui, the master of debate from southern India?" He said, "It is." When Motapo heard it his heart was much troubled, but the thing was hard to refuse, and so he came to the ground of debate. The king of the country, the great ministers, the gentry and the common people and the powerful houses all gathered to hear the lofty talk. Dehui first set up the meaning he held, and when the sun was going down Motapo excused himself, saying that his years had weakened him and his wits were too dull to answer quickly, and he asked to go home and think in quiet and answer the questions afterward. Each time he said he would go home, and each morning he mounted the seat and had nothing new to argue. On the sixth day he vomited blood and died. As he was about to die he looked to his wife and charged her, "You have high talent. Do not forget this shame." When Motapo died they hid it and held no funeral, and she put on bright and fine clothes and came to the meeting of debate. The assembly was all in an uproar and said to one another, "Motapo was proud of his high talent, and he is ashamed to face Dehui, and so he has sent his wife. Which is the better is now clear." The bodhisattva Dehui said to the wife, "The one who could hold you down I have held down already." Motapo's wife knew it was beyond her and withdrew. The king said, "What words were those, so secret that she fell silent at once?" Dehui said, "It is a pity. Motapo is dead. His wife came to debate with me in his place." The king said, "How do you know it? Be pleased to tell me." Dehui said, "When his wife came, the color of death and mourning was on her face, and her words held the sound of grief and resentment. By that I knew that Motapo was dead. The one who could hold her down is her husband." The king ordered an envoy to go and look, and it was as he had said. Then the king thanked him and said, "The Law of the Buddha is deep and wonderful, and the wise and worthy follow one another in its track. You keep the way without acting, and all that have feeling are steeped in your teaching. By the old law of this country there is a settled rule for honoring virtue." Dehui said, "In my dullness I take the way for my body and dwell in what is upright. I hold to knowing when to stop and when there is enough, and I speak of saving other beings. If I am to draw men in widely, I must first break down their pride, and now is the time to take them in and teach them by skillful means. I ask only that the great king make the households of Motapo's town, for a thousand generations of their children, serve always as the people of the monastery. Then a warning will be handed to the ages to come and the good of it will flow on without end. And let that man of pure faith who upheld and guarded me have his merit reach far in the world, and let him eat and be kept as the monks are, that pure faith may be encouraged and deep virtue honored." So this monastery was built, to set forth these high traces in due form.

At first, after Motapo had lost the debate, more than ten of those who kept the pure practice fled the trouble into a neighboring country and told the men of other ways of the shame and the disgrace, and they gathered the finest of them and came to wash away the shame of before. The king already prized and revered Dehui, and he went himself and asked him, "Now these men of other ways do not measure their own strength. They have bound themselves into bands and joined in troops, and they dare to sound the drum of debate. I ask only that the great master break down these other ways." Dehui said, "Let those who would debate be gathered." Then the scholars of the other ways comforted one another gladly, saying, "Today we shall surely win." When the men of other ways set forth their meanings and their reasons, the bodhisattva Dehui said, "These men of other ways have fled from trouble and wandered far, and by the king's earlier rule they are all low men. How should I face them now in debate?" Dehui had a servant who carried his seat, who had always heard the arguments that fell from him and was somewhat at home in subtle talk. He stood in attendance at his side and listened to the lofty talk. Dehui struck his seat and said, "Bench, you may debate." The assembly was all astonished and thought his command strange. Then the servant who carried the seat put a question at once, and deep meanings welled up like a spring and his clear eloquence answered everything. After three rounds the men of other ways lost their ground, and their sharpness was blunted again and their wings broken a second time. Since they were beaten in debate they have been the people of the monastery town.

Going southwest from the monastery of Dehui more than twenty li, one comes to a lone mountain where there is a monastery. The master of debate Shiluobatuoluo won in a debate of doctrine, and he gave up the town granted him and built it. One steep peak rises there like a stupa, and relics of the Buddha are laid in it.

The master of debate was of the royal house of the country of Sanmodazha and of the lineage of the Brahmans. In his youth he loved study and had a fine bearing and firm principle, and he traveled through the countries of India seeking out the wise and the clear-minded. He came to the monastery of Nalantuo in this country and met the bodhisattva Hufa, and he heard the Law and believed and awoke, and he asked to put on the dyed robe. He asked him about the final end and questioned him about the road of release. When he had gone to the bottom of the highest reasoning and searched out the subtle words as well, his name stood out in his time and his repute was high in other lands. In southern India there was a man of another way who probed what was deep and sought what was hidden, who went to the bottom of the obscure and pierced the subtle. When he heard the high name of Hufa, pride and deep envy rose in him, and he counted mountains and rivers no hindrance but beat the drum and asked for a debate, saying, "I am a man of southern India. I hear that there is a great master of debate within the king's country. Though I am not quick, I wish to argue the matter out with him." The king said, "There is such a man, and it is truly as you say." Then he ordered an envoy to ask Hufa, saying, "There is a man of another way from southern India who has counted a thousand li no distance and has come seeking a debate. I ask only that you come down to us and go to the ground of debate." When Hufa heard it he gathered his robe and was about to go. His disciple Jiexian, who was the finest of the younger men, came forward and asked him, "Why go in such haste?" Hufa said, "Since the sun of wisdom hid its light, the lamp has been handed on and shines quietly, but the men of other ways swarm like ants and the other schools fly like bees. Therefore I now go to break down their argument." Jiexian said, "I have listened respectfully to the arguments that fall from you. Let me dare to break down that other way." Hufa knew that he was excellent, and so he allowed it. At that time Jiexian was barely thirty, and the assembly made light of his youth and feared that he could hardly bear it alone. Hufa knew that the hearts of the assembly were uneasy, and he set them at rest, saying, "What is to be valued is high clarity. Do not speak of a man's years. As I see it now, he will surely break that man down." When the day of the debate came, men hurried to it from far and near, and young and old all gathered. The man of another way spoke widely of the great principles he had heard and set out his deepest meaning to the end, but Jiexian followed the reasoning and demanded the reality of it, and went deep into what was dark and far. The man of another way came to the end of his words and withdrew in shame. To repay his virtue the king granted him this town and city, but the master of debate declined, saying, "A man in the dyed robe makes knowing when there is enough his stock in trade, and he keeps himself pure and clean. What should he do with a town?" The king said, "The King of the Law has hidden his traces and the boat of wisdom has sunk. If there is no honor and no distinction, those who study later will not be spurred on. For the spreading of the right Law, I beg you to take pity on us and accept." The master of debate could not refuse and took the town. Then he built a monastery, following every rule of it to the end, and he gave over the households of the town to it and kept up the offerings in due form.

Going southwest from the monastery of Jiexian forty or fifty li and crossing the Nilianchan river, one comes to the city of Jiaye. It is very steep and strong, and few people live there. Only the Brahmans have more than a thousand houses, and they are the descendants of a great immortal. The king does not treat them as his subjects, and everyone honors them as their own.

More than thirty li north of the city there is a clear spring. It is handed down in India that this is the holy water, and that if one drinks of it or washes in it, sin and defilement are wiped away.

Five or six li southwest of the city one comes to Mount Jiaye. Its streams and valleys are dark and deep and its peaks and rocks are steep and dangerous, and by the custom of the country of India it is called the holy mountain. From of old, whenever a king ruled the land and took up the succession, if his teaching reached even to distant men and his virtue rose higher than the ages before him, there was none who did not climb it and offer sacrifice and announce that his work was accomplished. On the top of the mountain there is a stone stupa more than a hundred feet high, which King Wuyou built. A holy brightness reaches men unseen, and a divine light shines there at times. Long ago the Tathagata set forth the Baoyun and other sutras here.

Southeast of Mount Jiaye there is a stupa. It is the village where Jiashebo was born. South of it there are two stupas, the places where Jiaye Jiashebo and Nadi Jiashebo served the fire.

East of the place where Jiaye Jiashebo served the fire one crosses a great river and comes to Boluojiputi. The Tathagata had sought diligently for six years and had not yet gained the right enlightenment. Afterward he gave up his hard practice and showed that he would take the milk gruel, and he went northeast, and as he looked about him at this mountain he had a longing for what was deep and quiet and wished to realize the right enlightenment. He climbed up from the northeastern ridge to the top, and then the earth shook and the mountain leaned and swayed. The god of the mountain was afraid and said to the bodhisattva, "This mountain is not the ground of merit where the right enlightenment is gained. If you stay here and enter the diamond trance, the earth will shake and sink and the mountain too will topple over." The bodhisattva went down to the southwest and stopped halfway up the cliff, where there was a great stone chamber with the rock at its back and a valley stream before it. The bodhisattva went into it and sat down cross-legged, and again the earth shook and the mountain leaned and swayed. Then the god of the Pure Abode called out from the sky, "This is not the place where the Tathagata gains the right enlightenment. Fourteen or fifteen li southwest of here, not far from the place of the hard practice, there is a Beiboluo tree, and beneath it is the diamond seat. All the Buddhas who come and go have gained the right enlightenment on that seat. Go there, we beg you." As the bodhisattva was rising, the dragon of the chamber said, "This chamber is clear and excellent and holiness may be realized in it. I ask only that in your mercy you do not cast it aside." The bodhisattva knew already that it was not the place of his realizing, but to grant the dragon's wish he left his shadow there and went away. The gods went before him and led him to the bodhi tree. When King Wuyou arose, he set up a marker at every trace of the bodhisattva's going up and down the mountain and built stupas there. Their size is not the same, but their holy answering does not differ, and now flowers rain down from the sky and now a light shines into the dark valleys. Every year on the day the retreat is broken, monks and laymen from other parts climb up there and make offerings, and they stay two nights before they go back.

Going southwest from the mountain of before the right enlightenment fourteen or fifteen li, one comes to the bodhi tree. The wall around it is built of brick, high and steep and strong. It is long from east to west and narrow from north to south, and it is more than five hundred paces around. Strange trees and famous flowers join their shade and link their shadows, and fine sedge and rare grasses spread wide and cover the ground. The main gate opens to the east and faces the Nilianchan river. The south gate touches a great pond of flowers. On the west it is closed in by steep and strong ground, and the north gate leads to a great monastery. On the ground within the wall the holy traces lie side by side, some of them stupas and some shrines. All were built and set down as a record by the kings and the great ministers and the powerful houses of the countries of the continent of Shanbu, who received the teaching he left with reverence.

In the very middle of the wall of the bodhi tree there is the diamond seat. Long ago, when the fortunate kalpa was first formed, it rose together with the great earth, and it lies at the center of the three thousand great thousand lands. Below it reaches down to the golden wheel and above it comes up to the face of the earth. It is made of diamond and is more than a hundred paces around. The thousand Buddhas of the fortunate kalpa sit upon it and enter the diamond trance, and so it is called the diamond seat. Since it is the place where the holy way is realized, it is also called the place of the way. When the great earth shakes, this alone does not lean or sway. Therefore, when the Tathagata was about to realize the right enlightenment, he passed by these four corners and the earth leaned and moved at each of them, but when he came at last to this place it was calm and still and did not lean. Since the last kalpa began the right Law has grown faint little by little, and sand and earth have covered it over, so that it can no longer be seen. After the Buddha entered nirvana the kings of many countries heard by tradition the measure of the diamond seat that the Buddha had spoken of, and so they marked its bounds north and south with two images of the bodhisattva Guanzizai, seated and facing east. It is heard from the old men, "When the bodies of these images of the bodhisattva have sunk out of sight, the Law of the Buddha will come to its end." The bodhisattva at the southern corner has now sunk past his breast.

The bodhi tree above the diamond seat is the Biboluo tree. Long ago, when the Buddha was in the world, it was several hundred feet high, and though it has been cut down again and again it is still forty or fifty feet high. The Buddha sat beneath it and gained the full right enlightenment, and so it is called the bodhi tree. Its trunk and its branches are yellow and white and its leaves are green and deep, and they do not wither in winter or in summer, and their brightness and freshness do not change. On the day the Tathagata entered nirvana, every year the leaves wither and fall, and after a while they are as they were. On that day the kings of many countries and monks and laymen from other parts, a multitude of many thousands and tens of thousands, gather without being called, and they water the tree and wash it with scented water and scented milk, and then they play music and set out incense and flowers, and their lamps and torches carry on through the day while they vie with one another in making offerings. After the Tathagata entered quiet extinction, when King Wuyou had first come to the throne, he believed in a crooked way and destroyed the traces the Buddha had left, and he raised troops and came himself to cut the tree down. He cut the root and the trunk and the branches and the leaves into inches and piled them up several tens of paces to the west, and he had a Brahman who served the fire burn them as a sacrifice to heaven. The smoke and the flames had not yet died down when suddenly two trees grew up, and in the midst of the fierce fire their thick leaves were green. From this they are called the ash bodhi trees. When King Wuyou saw the marvel he repented of his fault and watered what was left of the root with scented milk, and by daybreak the tree had grown up as before. When the king saw this holy wonder his joy grew deeper still, and he made offerings himself and was so glad that he forgot to go home. The queen had always believed in the other ways, and she secretly sent a man to cut the tree down again after the middle of the night. When King Wuyou came in the morning to make his reverence, he saw only the stump, and his grief and lament grew deep. He prayed with the utmost sincerity and watered it with scented milk, and in a few days it grew again. The king revered it deeply and thought it a marvel, and he piled up stones for a wall around it more than ten feet high, and it is still to be seen today. Not long ago King Sheshangjia, who believed in the other ways and destroyed the Law of the Buddha out of envy, tore down the monasteries and cut the bodhi tree, and he dug down until the water came, but he could not get to the end of the roots. Then he set fire to it and burned it and poured sugar cane juice over it, wishing to scorch and rot it and to wipe out the shoots that were left. Some months later King Bulanafamo of the country of Mojietuo, a late descendant of King Wuyou, heard of it and sighed and said, "The sun of wisdom has already gone down, and only the tree of the Buddha was left, and now it too is broken. What are living beings to look upon?" He threw his whole body to the ground, and his grief moved all things. He had the milk of several thousand cows drawn and watered it, and in one night the tree grew up more than ten feet high. Fearing that it would be cut again, he set a stone wall about it twenty-four feet high. So the bodhi tree today is hidden by the stone wall and rises more than twenty feet above it.

East of the bodhi tree there is a shrine a hundred and sixty or seventy feet high. The face of its lower foundation is more than twenty paces wide. It is built of blue brick and plastered with lime. In every tier of niches there is a golden image, and the four walls are carved with strange work, here in the shape of linked pearls and there in the images of the immortals of heaven. On the top is set a fruit of amoluojia made of gold and copper. On the east side a storeyed pavilion is joined to it, and its eaves rise in three tiers. The rafters and the pillars, the ridgepoles and the beams, the doors and the windows are carved and adorned with gold and silver, and pearls and jade are set here and there to fill them. Within are inner rooms and deep halls, with three sets of doors passing through. To the right and the left of the outer gate there are niches, with an image of the bodhisattva Guanzizai on the right and an image of the bodhisattva Cishi on the left. They are cast of white silver and are more than ten feet high.

On the old ground of the shrine King Wuyou built a small shrine first, and afterward a Brahman built it wider. At first there was a Brahman who did not believe in the Law of the Buddha and served the great god Zizai. He heard it said that the god was in the Snow Mountains, and so he went with his younger brother to ask a wish of him. The god said, "All that men wish and ask for bears fruit only where there is merit. What you ask is not for you to ask, and it is not for me to grant." The Brahman said, "What merit must I make to have my heart's wish?" The god said, "If you wish to plant a good seed and seek an excellent field of merit, the bodhi tree is the place where the fruit of Buddhahood was realized. Go back quickly and in good time, and go to the bodhi tree and build a great shrine there and dig a great pond, and raise up many offerings. Then what you wish for will be granted." The Brahman took the god's command and raised up a great heart of faith, and they went back together, and the elder brother built the shrine and the younger dug the pond. Then they made offerings widely and sought their heart's wish diligently, and afterward it was all granted and they became great ministers of the king. Whatever they received of salary and reward they all gave away in alms.

When the shrine was finished, they called for workmen, wishing to make an image of the Tathagata as he first became a Buddha. The months and the years went by and no one answered the call. After a long time a Brahman came and told the assembly, "I can portray the wonderful features of the Tathagata well." The assembly said, "You are now to make the image. What do you need?" He said, "Scented clay, and nothing else. Set it inside the shrine with one lamp to light me, and when I have gone in, shut the door fast. It may not be opened until six months have passed." Then all the monks did as he commanded. Four days were still left and the six months were not yet full, and the assembly, all wondering and amazed, opened it and looked. They saw within the shrine the image of the Buddha, grave and still, sitting cross-legged with the right foot above, the left hand drawn in and the right hand hanging down, seated facing east, solemn as if he were alive. The seat is four feet and two inches high and twelve feet and five inches wide, and the image is eleven feet and five inches high. From knee to knee is eight feet and eight inches, and from shoulder to shoulder six feet and two inches. All the marks and the fine signs are complete and the kindly face seems real. Only above the right breast the smoothing was not finished. Since no man was to be seen, they knew at last that it was a holy sign, and the assembly all grieved and sighed and asked earnestly to know the truth. There was a shramana whose heart had always been simple and plain, and in a dream he saw the Brahman of before, who told him, "I am the bodhisattva Cishi. I feared that the thought of a workman could not reach the holy face, and so I came myself to portray the image of the Buddha. As for the right hand hanging down: long ago, when the Tathagata was about to realize the fruit of Buddhahood, the demon of heaven came to trouble him, and the gods of the earth came to tell him of it. One of them came out first to help the Buddha and subdue the demon, and the Tathagata said to him, 'Do not be anxious or afraid. By the power of my patience I shall surely subdue him.' The king of the demons said, 'Who will be your clear witness?' Then the Tathagata let his hand down and pointed at the earth and said, 'Here is my witness.' At that moment a second god of the earth sprang up and bore witness. Therefore the hand of the image now hangs down, after the manner of that day." The assembly knew that it was a holy sign, and there was none who did not grieve and feel it. Then where the work above the breast was not finished they filled it in with many jewels, and they adorned it with pearl strings and a jeweled crown and rare treasures set among them. When King Sheshangjia had cut down the bodhi tree he wished to destroy this image, but when he saw the kindly face his heart could not bear it, and he turned his carriage to go back and ordered his chief minister, "Take away this image of the Buddha and set up a figure of the great god Zizai." The chief minister took the order and was afraid, and he sighed and said, "To destroy an image of the Buddha is to call down disaster through the kalpas, and to disobey the king's command is to lose my body and wipe out my clan. Since it stands so both ways, what is the right thing to do?" Then he called men of faith to do the work, and they built a brick wall across in front of the image. He was ashamed that his heart had made it dark, and so he set a bright lamp there as well, and he painted the god Zizai on the front of the brick wall. When the work was done he reported it, and the king heard and was afraid in his heart, and sores broke out over all his body and his skin split and tore, and before long he died. The chief minister hurried back and tore the covering wall down, and though many days had passed the lamp had still not gone out. The image is there to this day, and the marvelous work is unspoiled. Since it stands in a deep chamber where lamps and torches follow one another, those who wish to look on the kindly face have no way to see it closely. One must take a great mirror in the early morning and draw the light inside, and then the holy features can be seen. Whoever sees them feels his own grief grow.

The Tathagata gained the full right enlightenment on the eighth day of the second half of the month of Feishequ in India, which falls on the eighth day of the third month here. The Sthavira school says that he gained the full right enlightenment on the fifteenth day of the second half of the month of Feishequ, which falls on the fifteenth day of the third month here. At that time the Tathagata was thirty years old. Some say he was thirty-five.

North of the bodhi tree there is the place where the Buddha walked. When the Tathagata had gained the full right enlightenment, he did not rise from his seat but stayed seven days in quiet trance. When he rose he came to the north of the bodhi tree and walked for seven days, going east and west, and his walk was more than ten paces. Strange flowers followed his steps, and there were eighteen patterns of them. Men of later times piled up brick here for a foundation more than three feet high. It is heard from the records of earlier times, "This foundation of the holy traces shows how long or how short a man's life will be. First one makes a sincere vow and then measures it, and the number grows or shrinks according to the length of one's life."

North of the foundation where he walked, on a flat rock to the left of the road, there is a great shrine with an image of the Buddha in it, lifting its eyes and looking upward. Long ago the Tathagata looked upon the bodhi tree here for seven days and did not take his eyes from it for a moment. He gazed upon it in this way to repay the kindness of the tree.

Not far west of the bodhi tree, in a great shrine, there is an image of the Buddha in brass, adorned with rare treasures and standing facing east. Before it there is a blue stone with strange markings and rare colors. Long ago, when the Tathagata had first gained the right enlightenment, Brahma raised a hall of the seven treasures and Shakra set up a seat of the seven treasures, and the Buddha sat upon it in thought for seven days and sent forth a strange bright light that shone upon the bodhi tree. As the age of the holy one grew far off, the treasure turned into stone.

Not far south of the bodhi tree there is a stupa more than a hundred feet high, which King Wuyou built. When the bodhisattva had washed in the Nilian river and was about to go to the bodhi tree, he thought within himself what he should make his seat, and then he saw of himself that it must be clean grass. Shakra, the lord of the gods, changed his body into a man cutting grass, and he carried it on his back and followed the road. The bodhisattva said to him, "Would you be kind enough to give me the grass you carry?" The changed man heard his word and offered the grass respectfully, and the bodhisattva took it and held it and went on his way.

Not far northeast of the place where he received the grass there is a stupa. It is the place where blue sparrows and a herd of deer showed a good omen when the bodhisattva was about to realize the fruit of Buddhahood. Among the good omens of India this is held to be a fair answering, and so the gods of the Pure Abode, following the way of the world, flew round him in flocks and made their holiness manifest.

On the great road east of the bodhi tree there is a stupa on either side. These are the places where the king of demons troubled the bodhisattva. When the bodhisattva was about to realize the fruit of Buddhahood, the king of demons urged him to take the seat of a wheel-turning king, and when his urging did not prevail he went back in deep distress. The daughters of the king of demons asked leave to go and tempt him, but before the awe and the power of the bodhisattva their fair faces grew old and changed, and they held up their weak bodies and leaned on staffs and went away together.

In the shrine northwest of the bodhi tree there is an image of the Buddha Jiashebo. It is already called holy and divine, and a bright light shines from it at times. It is heard from the records of earlier times, "If a man walks round it seven times with the utmost sincerity, then wherever he is born he will gain the knowledge of his former lives."

Northwest of the shrine of the Buddha Jiashebo there are two brick chambers, and in each there is an image of a god of the earth. Long ago, when the Tathagata was about to gain the right enlightenment, one of them told him that the demon had come and the other bore witness for the Buddha. Men of later times remembered their service and made their figures to show forth their virtue.

Not far northwest of the wall of the bodhi tree there is a stupa called the Saffron, more than forty feet high. It was built by the head of a merchant company of the country of Caojuzha. Long ago in the country of Caojuzha there was the head of a great merchant company who served the gods of heaven as his own and sacrificed to them to seek good fortune and profit, and who made light of the Law of the Buddha and did not believe in cause and effect. Afterward he took his fellow merchants to trade what they had for what they had not, and they put out in a ship upon the southern sea. They met with a wind and lost their way, and they drifted upon the waves for three years, till their provisions were spent and there was not enough to feed them. The men in the ship could not plan at morning for the evening, and they joined their strength and made their hearts one and thought upon the god they served, but their hearts were already worn with care and no unseen power came to save them. Presently they saw a great mountain, with a high cliff and steep ridges, and two suns shining side by side and lighting all with a doubled brightness. Then the merchants comforted one another and said, "We have good fortune to have met this great mountain. We should stop there, and we shall be at ease." The head of the company said, "It is no mountain. It is a mojie fish. The high cliff and the steep ridges are its whiskers and its mane, and the two suns shining side by side are the light of its eyes." His words had not yet died away when the sail of the ship blew them toward it. Then the head of the company told his fellows, "I have heard that the bodhisattva Guanzizai can turn every danger and hardship into ease and joy. Let each of you with the utmost sincerity call upon his name." So with one voice they gave up their lives to him and called upon him and thought of him. The high mountain sank from sight and the two suns went out as well. Presently they saw a shramana, orderly and grave in his bearing, who came through the empty air with his staff in his hand to save the drowning, and in no time at all they were in their own country. From this their faith became firm and upright, and they sought merit and did not turn back. They built a stupa and kept up the offerings in due form, and they plastered it above and below with a paste of saffron. Having raised up a heart of faith, the head of the company led those of the same mind and came himself to do reverence at the holy traces and to look upon the bodhi tree. Before he had had leisure to speak of going home, a month had already passed. The merchants went about together and said to one another, "Mountains and rivers lie long between us and our home country is far away. Who will sprinkle and sweep the stupa we built long ago while we are here?" When they had spoken they walked round and came to this place, and suddenly they saw a stupa there. They were startled and wondered how it came, and when they went forward and looked closely it was the very stupa they had built in their own country. Therefore in India it is named the Saffron to this day.

At the southeast corner of the wall of the bodhi tree there is a stupa beside a Nijulu tree, and next to it is a shrine with a seated image of the Buddha made in it. Long ago, when the Tathagata had first realized the fruit of Buddhahood, the great Brahma king asked him here to turn the wonderful wheel of the Law.

Within the wall of the bodhi tree there is a great stupa at each of the four corners. Long ago, when the Tathagata had received the auspicious grass and was going to the bodhi tree, he passed first by the four corners and the great earth shook, and only when he came to the diamond seat was it calm and still.

Within the wall of the tree the holy traces lie close as the scales of a fish, and it is hard to name them all.

Outside the wall of the bodhi tree, the stupa to the southwest is the old house of the two herdgirls who offered the milk gruel. The stupa beside it is the place where the herdgirls boiled the gruel. The stupa next to that is the place where the Tathagata received the gruel.

Outside the south gate of the wall of the bodhi tree there is a great pond more than seven hundred paces around. Its clear waves are bright as a mirror, and dragons and fish have their hidden dwelling in it. Two Brahman brothers dug it at the command of the great god Zizai. The pond next to it on the south was made for the Buddha by Shakra, the lord of the gods, when the Tathagata had first gained the right enlightenment and was about to wash his clothes. West of the pond there is a great stone, which Shakra brought from the Great Snow Mountains when the Buddha had washed his clothes and was about to dry them in the sun. The stupa beside it is where the Tathagata took up his old robe. The stupa in the wood to the south of it is the place where the Tathagata received an old robe given him by a poor old woman.

In the wood east of the pond that Shakra made there is the pond of the dragon king Muzhilintuo. Its water is clear and dark, and its taste is sweet and good. On the western bank there is a small shrine with an image of the Buddha made in it. Long ago, when the Tathagata had first gained the right enlightenment, he sat here quietly and stayed seven days in trance. At that time this dragon king kept watch over the Tathagata, and he wound his body seven times round the Buddha and put forth many heads and bent them down to make a canopy. Therefore his chamber is on the eastern bank of the pond.

East of the pond of the dragon Muzhilintuo, in a shrine in the wood, there is an image of the Buddha thin and wasted. Beside it is the place where he walked, more than seventy paces long, with a Beiboluo tree at the north end and another at the south. So it is the custom of that country today that those who fall ill rub scented oil on the image, and many of them are cured. This is the place where the bodhisattva practiced his hard discipline. The Tathagata, to subdue those of other ways and because he had also accepted the demon's challenge, practiced hard discipline here for six years, eating one hemp seed and one grain of barley a day, until his face was worn and his skin and his body were wasted, and when he walked back and forth he had to hold to a tree before he could rise.

Beside the Beiboluo tree where the bodhisattva practiced his hard discipline there is a stupa. It is the place where Aruojiaochenru and four others stayed. At first, when the prince had left his house, he wandered among the mountains and the marshes and rested in the woods and by the springs, and at that time King Jingfan ordered five men to follow him and wait upon him. When the prince took up his hard discipline, Jiaochenru and the others sought diligently as well.

Southeast of the place where Jiaochenru and the others stayed there is a stupa, the place where the bodhisattva went into the Nilianchanna river and bathed. Not far from the bank of the river the bodhisattva received the milk gruel here. The stupa beside it is the place where two elders offered parched meal and honey. The Buddha sat cross-legged beneath a tree, still and silent, and enjoyed the happiness of release, and only after seven days had passed did he rise from his trance. At that time two heads of merchant companies were passing outside the wood, and the god of that wood told them, "The prince of the house of Shakya is here within. He has just realized the fruit of Buddhahood, and his mind is gathered in still trance. For forty-nine days he has eaten nothing. If you offer him what you have, you will gain a great and good profit." Then the two heads of the companies each took the parched meal and honey they carried for the road and offered them, and the World Honored One received them.

Beside the place where the elders offered the parched meal there is a stupa, the place where the four heavenly kings offered the bowl. When the heads of the companies had offered the parched meal and honey, the World Honored One thought in what vessel he should receive them. Then the four heavenly kings came from the four quarters, each holding a bowl of gold, and offered them. The World Honored One was silent and did not receive them, for he held that such a vessel was not fitting for one who has left his home. The four heavenly kings put away the golden bowls and offered bowls of silver, and then bowls of crystal and of lapis and of agate and of mother-of-pearl and of pearl, and the World Honored One in the same way received none of them. The four heavenly kings went back each to his palace and brought bowls of stone, dark blue and clear through and through, and offered them again. The World Honored One, to cut off all making of this and that, received them all, and he laid them one upon another in order and pressed them into a single bowl. Therefore there are four rims on the outside of it.

Not far from the place where the four heavenly kings offered the bowl there is a stupa, the place where the Tathagata spoke the Law for his mother. When the Tathagata had gained the right enlightenment and was called the teacher of gods and men, his mother Maya came down to this place from the palace of heaven, and the World Honored One taught her as the occasion allowed and gave her profit and joy. On the bank of a dried-up pond beside it there is a stupa, the place where the Tathagata long ago showed forth many changes of his divine power and taught those who had the bond with him.

Beside the place where he showed forth the changes of his divine power there is a stupa, the place where the Tathagata saved the three brothers Youloupinluo Jiashebo and their thousand disciples. When the Tathagata was bending his good guidance upon them and subduing them as befitted each, the five hundred disciples of Youloupinluo Jiashebo asked the Buddha for his teaching, and Jiashebo said, "I too shall turn back with you from the road where we went astray." So they followed one another and came to where the Buddha was. The Tathagata said to them, "Throw away your deerskin clothes and put down the vessels for the fire sacrifice." Then the Brahmans received the holy teaching with reverence and threw their clothes and their utensils into the Nilian river. When Nadi Jiashebo saw the vessels of sacrifice drifting down with the stream, he and his disciples watched to see what his brother was doing, and when he saw that he had changed his course he too put on the dyed robe and followed. When Jiaye Jiashebo and his two hundred disciples heard that his brother had given up his teaching, they too came to where the Buddha was and asked to practice the pure life.

The stupa northwest of the place where he saved the Jiashebo brothers is the place where the Tathagata subdued the fire dragon that Jiashebo served. When the Tathagata was about to teach the man, he wished first to subdue what the man held highest, and so he came to the chamber of the Brahmans' fire dragon. After the middle of the night the dragon breathed out smoke and flame, and the Buddha, who had entered his trance, also sent forth a light of fire, so that the chamber was all aglow and the fierce flames blazed. The teachers of the Brahmans feared that the fire would harm the Buddha, and there was none who did not run to it, crying out in grief and pity. Youloupinluo Jiashebo said to his followers, "As I see it now, this is surely not a fire. It must be the shramana subduing the fire dragon." Then the Tathagata put the fire dragon into his bowl, and in the clear morning he held it out and showed it to the disciples of the other way. The stupa beside it is the place where five hundred who awakened alone entered nirvana together.

The stupa south of the pond of the dragon Muzhilintuo is the place where Jiashebo came to save the Tathagata, thinking that he had been drowned. At that time the Jiashe brothers made much of their divine powers, and men far and near looked up to their virtue and the people gave their hearts to them. The World Honored One, who was then leading the crowd that had gone astray and taking them in and teaching them by great skillful means, raised thick clouds and spread them and poured down a violent rain, but round the place where the Buddha was he let there be no water at all. When Jiashe saw these clouds and this rain, he said to his disciples, "Will the place where the shramana stays not be washed away and drowned?" He put out in a boat to save him, and he saw the World Honored One treading on the water as on the ground, and treading on the midstream of the river so that the water parted and the sand showed. When Jiashe saw it, his heart was subdued and he withdrew.

Two or three li outside the east gate of the wall of the bodhi tree there is the chamber of a blind dragon. This dragon had heaped up disaster and fault in a former life, and in requital he was born blind. When the Tathagata was going from the mountain of before the right enlightenment toward the bodhi tree, his road passed by the chamber, and the eyes of the dragon suddenly grew bright. Then he saw the bodhisattva going toward the tree of the Buddha, and he said to the bodhisattva, "You, kind one, will gain the right enlightenment before long. My eyes have been blind and dark for a long time now, but whenever a Buddha rises in the world my eyes have grown bright at once. In this fortunate kalpa, when the three Buddhas of the past came forth into the world, I could already see clearly. Now that you, kind one, have come here, my eyes have suddenly opened, and by that I know that you will become a Buddha."

Beside the east gate of the wall of the bodhi tree there is a stupa, the place where the king of demons set out to frighten the bodhisattva. At first, when the king of demons knew that the bodhisattva was about to gain the right enlightenment and his luring and troubling had not prevailed, he was anxious and afraid and at his wits' end, and he gathered his hosts of spirits and drew up the army of demons and made his weapons ready and roused his troops, meaning to threaten the bodhisattva. Then wind and rain blew and poured down, thunder and lightning made all dark, they set fires and sent up smoke and flung sand and hurled stones, and they made ready their spears and shields and used their bows and arrows to the utmost. The bodhisattva thereupon entered the trance of great kindness, and every weapon of theirs turned into a lotus flower. The army of demons was struck with terror and fled and scattered. Not far beside it there are two stupas, which Shakra and Brahma built.

Outside the north gate of the bodhi tree is the Mahabodhi monastery, which a former king of the country of Sengjialuo built. It has six courts of halls and buildings and pavilions of three storeys, and the wall that runs round it is thirty or forty feet high. It carries the skill of the workmen to its height and the adorning of red and blue to its end. As for the images of the Buddha, they are cast in gold and silver, and all their ornament is set with rare treasures. The stupas are high and wide and wonderfully adorned, and within them are relics of the Tathagata. The bone relics are as large as the joint of a finger, bright and smooth and fresh and white, and clear through within and without. The flesh relics are like great pearls, and their color is red and pale blue. Every year, on the day of the full moon in the month of the great divine changes of the Tathagata, they are brought out and shown to the people. At that time a light shines from them at whiles, and at whiles flowers rain down. The monks are fewer than a thousand, and they study the teaching of the Sthavira school of the Greater Vehicle. Their discipline and their bearing are pure and grave, and their keeping of the precepts is upright and clear.

Long ago the king of the country of Sengjialuo in the southern sea believed in the Law of the Buddha with a whole heart, and it came to him from his own nature. A younger kinsman of his left his home, and longing for the holy traces of the Buddha he traveled far to India and lodged in the monasteries there, and they all made light of him as a man from the border. So he turned back to his own country, and the king went far out to meet him himself. The shramana was grieved and choked with tears and seemed unable to speak. The king said, "What weighs upon you that your sorrow is so deep?" The shramana said, "I leaned upon the majesty of my country and traveled abroad to ask after the way, but as a stranger in foreign parts I met cold and heat again and again, and at every turn I was slighted and at every word I was mocked. Bearing this sorrow and this shame, how should I have a glad heart?" The king said, "If it is so, what would you have me do?" He said, "I wish truly that the great king would set his mind upon the field of merit and build a monastery in the countries of India. It would both make the holy traces known and win a high name, and the merit of it would serve the kings before you and the kindness of it would reach those who come after." The king said, "This is a very fair thing. Why did I hear of it so late?" So he sent the weighty treasures of his country to the king of India as tribute. When that king had received the tribute, he thought it right to cherish those from afar and said to the envoy, "With what shall I now repay the message you have brought?" The envoy said, "The king of Sengjialuo bows his head before the great and auspicious king of India. The majesty and the virtue of the great king are felt far off, and his kindness and his bounty reach to distant parts. A shramana of our lower land, in reverence for your manner and longing for your teaching, dared to travel to your high country to pay his respect at the holy traces. But though he lodged at the monasteries, none of them gave him a room, and when his hardship and bitterness were at their worst he came home in shame. We plan in secret for what is far off and would leave a pattern to the ages to come. We would build one monastery in the countries of India, so that the wandering mendicants may have a place to rest their shoulders, and that the two countries may rejoice together and travelers may never be turned away." The king said, "The Tathagata has hidden his traces, but the manner he left is here with us. Choose any one you please among the places of the holy traces." The messenger received his word and carried the answer back, and the ministers bowed and gave their congratulations. Then the shramanas were gathered and the building was talked over and weighed, and the shramanas said, "The bodhi tree is where all the Buddhas who come and go have realized their holiness. Look at every other proposal, and none is better than this plan." So the rare treasures of the country were given out and this monastery was built, and monks of that country were set to keep up the offerings. Then a record was cut in copper, saying, "To give to all alike without partiality is the highest teaching of the Buddhas, and to save with kindness those who have the bond is the clear instruction of the holy ones before us. Now I, a small man, have succeeded to the great work of kings, and I build a monastery in due form to make the holy traces known, that the merit of it may serve my fathers and its kindness be spread over the people. Only the monks of our country shall have it at their free disposal, and if there are men of our country here, they shall be counted with the monks. Let this be handed to those who come after, forever and without end." Therefore there are many monks of the country of Zhishizi in this monastery.

More than ten li south of the bodhi tree the holy traces lie side by side, and it is hard to name them all. Every year, when the monks break the retreat, monks and laymen from the four quarters, a multitude of hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands, carry incense and flowers and sound their music for seven days and seven nights, and they go all through the wood and make their reverence and their offerings. The monks of India, following the holy teaching of the Buddha, all enter the rainy season retreat on the first day of the first half of the month of Shiluofana, which falls on the sixteenth day of the fifth month here, and they break the rainy season retreat on the fifteenth day of the second half of the month of Eshifuyushe, which falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth month here. The names of the months in India are set by the stars, and they have not changed from of old until now, and there is no difference among the schools. It is truly because the speech of one region has not been made one with another and there have been mistakes in translation that this difference has arisen in dividing the seasons and counting the months. That is why it is said that they enter the retreat on the sixteenth day of the fourth month and break the retreat on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.