The country originally had no human inhabitants,1 but was occupied only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits did not show themselves. They simply set forth5 their precious commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the things away.
Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great nation. The (climate) is temperate6 and attractive, without any difference of summer and winter. The vegetation is always luxuriant. Cultivation7 proceeds whenever men think fit: there are no fixed8 seasons for it.
When Buddha came to this country,2 wishing to transform the wicked nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of the royal city, and the other on the top of a mountain,3 the two being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the city the king built a large tope, 400 cubits high, grandly adorned10 with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precious substances. By the side of the top he further built a monastery11, called the Abhayagiri,4 where there are (now) five thousand monks12. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid works of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless pearl. Several years had now elapsed since Fa-hien left the land of Han; the men with whom he had been in intercourse13 had all been of regions strange to him; his eyes had not rested on an old and familiar hill or river, plant or tree; his fellow-travellers, moreover, had been separated from him, some by death, and others flowing off in different directions; no face or shadow was now with him but his own, and a constant sadness was in his heart. Suddenly (one day), when by the side of this image of jade, he saw a merchant presenting as his offering a fan of white silk;5 and the tears of sorrow involuntarily filled his eyes and fell down.
A former king of the country had sent to Central India and got a slip of the patra tree,6 which he planted by the side of the hall of Buddha, where a tree grew up to the height of about 200 cubits. As it bent14 on one side towards the south-east, the king, fearing it would fall, propped16 it with a post eight or nine spans round. The tree began to grow at the very heart of the prop15, where it met (the trunk); (a shoot) pierced through the post, and went down to the ground, where it entered and formed roots, that rose (to the surface) and were about four spans round. Although the post was split in the middle, the outer portions kept hold (of the shoot), and people did not remove them. Beneath the tree there has been built a vihara, in which there is an image (of Buddha) seated, which the monks and commonalty reverence17 and look up to without ever becoming wearied. In the city there has been reared also the vihara of Buddha’s tooth, on which, as well as on the other, the seven precious substances have been employed.
The king practises the Brahmanical purifications, and the sincerity18 of the faith and reverence of the population inside the city are also great. Since the establishment of government in the kingdom there has been no famine or scarcity19, no revolution or disorder20. In the treasuries21 of the monkish22 communities there are many precious stones, and the priceless manis. One of the kings (once) entered one of those treasuries, and when he looked all round and saw the priceless pearls, his covetous23 greed was excited, and he wished to take them to himself by force. In three days, however, he came to himself, and immediately went and bowed his head to the ground in the midst of the monks, to show his repentance24 of the evil thought. As a sequel to this, he informed the monks (of what had been in his mind), and desired them to make a regulation that from that day forth the king should not be allowed to enter the treasury25 and see (what it contained), and that no bhikshu should enter it till after he had been in orders for a period of full forty years.7
In the city there are many Vaisya elders and Sabaean8 merchants, whose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are kept in good order. At the heads of the four principal streets there have been built preaching halls, where, on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the month, they spread carpets, and set forth a pulpit, while the monks and commonalty from all quarters come together to hear the Law. The people say that in the kingdom there may be altogether sixty thousand monks, who get their food from their common stores. The king, besides, prepares elsewhere in the city a common supply of food for five or six thousand more. When any want, they take their great bowls, and go (to the place of distribution), and take as much as the vessels26 will hold, all returning with them full.
The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following proclamation:—“The Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas,9 manifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up kingdom, city, wife, and son; he plucked out his eyes and gave them to another;10 he cut off a piece of his own flesh to ransom27 the life of a dove;10 he cut off his head and gave it as an alms;11 he gave his body to feed a starving tigress;11 he grudged28 not his marrow29 and his brains. In many such ways as these did he undergo pain for the sake of all living. And so it was, that, having become Buddha, he continued in the world for forty-five years, preaching his Law, teaching and transforming, so that those who had no rest found rest, and the unconverted were converted. When his connexion with the living was completed,12 he attained30 to pari-nirvana (and died). Since that event, for 1497 years, the light of the world has gone out,13 and all living beings have had long-continued sadness. Behold31! ten days after this, Buddha’s tooth will be brought forth, and taken to the Abhayagiri-vihara. Let all and each, whether monks or laics, who wish to amass32 merit for themselves, make the roads smooth and in good condition, grandly adorn9 the lanes and by-ways, and provide abundant store of flowers and incense33 to be used as offerings to it.”
When this proclamation is over, the king exhibits, so as to line both sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:— here as Sudana,14 there as Sama;15 now as the king of elephants;16 and then as a stag or a horse.16 All these figures are brightly coloured and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihara. There monks and laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night without ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is returned to the vihara within the city. On fast-days the door of that vihara is opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to the rules.
Forty le to the east of the Abhayagiri-vihara there is a hill, with a vihara on it, called the Chaitya,17 where there may be 2000 monks. Among them there is a Sramana of great virtue34, named Dharma-gupta,18 honoured and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more than forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such gentleness of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop together in the same room, without doing one another any harm.
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1
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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14
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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treasuries
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| n.（政府的）财政部( treasury的名词复数 )；国库，金库 | |
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monkish
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| adj.僧侣的，修道士的，禁欲的 | |
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covetous
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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amass
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| vt.积累，积聚 | |
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33
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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