Chinese literature : $b Comprising the Analects of Confucius, the Sayings of Mencius, the Shi-King, the Travels of Fâ-Hien, and the Sorrows of HanFaxian
Philosophy
Chinese literature : $b Comprising the Analects of Confucius, the Sayings of Mencius, the Shi-King, the Travels of Fâ-Hien, and the Sorrows of Han
Faxian
China -- Literary collections; Chinese literature; Chinese literature -- Translations into English
Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the southeast,
after ascending fifteen li, the travellers came to mount Gridhra-kûta.
Three li before you reach the top, there is a cavern in the rocks,
facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation. Thirty paces to the
northwest there is another, where Ânanda was sitting in meditation, when
the deva Mâra Pisuna, having assumed the form of a large vulture, took
his place in front of the cavern, and frightened the disciple. Then
Buddha, by his mysterious, supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock,
introduced his hand, and stroked Ânanda's shoulder, so that his fear
immediately passed away. The footprints of the bird and the cleft for
Buddha's hand are still there, and hence comes the name of "The Hill of
the Vulture Cavern."
In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas sat.
There are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and meditated,
amounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in front of his
rocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west in meditation, and
Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the north of the mountain,
threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha's toes, the rock is still there.
The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only the
foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is
beautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the
five hills. In the New City Fâ-hien bought incense-sticks, flowers, oil
and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident at the place, to carry
them to the peak. When he himself got to it, he made his offerings with
the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when the darkness began
to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his tears and said, "Here
Buddha delivered the Sûrângama Sûtra. I, Fâ-hien, was born when I could
not meet with Buddha; and now I only see the footprints which he has
left, and the place where he lived, and nothing more." With this, in
front of the rock cavern, he chanted the Sûrângama Sûtra, remained there
over the night, and then returned towards the New City.
CHAPTER XXX
~Srataparna Cave, or Cave of the First Council~
Out from the old city, after walking over three hundred paces, on the
west of the road, the travellers found the Karanda Bamboo garden, where
the old vihâra is still in existence, with a company of monks, who keep
the ground about it swept and watered.
North of the vihâra two or three li there was the Smasânam, which name
means in Chinese "the field of graves into which the dead are thrown."
As they kept along the mountain on the south, and went west for three
hundred paces, they found a dwelling among the rocks, named the Pippala
cave, in which Buddha regularly sat in meditation after taking his
mid-day meal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account