Śākyavana Gazetteer (釋迦方誌)

Chapter 6: The Scope of the Śākya Land

The Dharma King's compassionate gaze knows no boundaries, east or west. His teachings adapt without fixed form, never confined to mere appearances. Yet this has led listeners to understand differently, each interpreting the same words uniquely—some ascending to higher states, others remaining trapped in confusion. Manifestations of the whole body or fragmented relics, ceremonies of gathering or scattering stupas—divine light dispels false views, miraculous signs deepen faith. Such accounts are many, as detailed in previous chapters.

Since the Dharma stream flowed eastward and its radiance shone westward, its renown flourished across the eastern lands. King Ashoka’s stupas first arose in the prosperous Zhou dynasty; the Buddha’s images flourished in the Han. From then on, through successive ages, these manifestations multiplied abundantly. Divine wonders were not limited to the Western heavens alone. Thus the sutra states: "After the True Dharma, it first spreads to the north, then to the southeast, and finally perishes in the central region." This land of China, facing south toward the realm of the sages, yet with the Buddha’s nirvana posture turned northward—this very fact illustrates the teaching.

Therefore, following the records, I compile this section as the "Chapter on Universal and Particular Manifestations."

According to the *Anomalous Records of the Zhou Dynasty*, in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of Zhou's reign, on the eighth day of the fourth month in the year of Jiayin, rivers, springs, and pools suddenly swelled and overflowed. Well water surged out, and mountains and rivers trembled. A five-colored light pierced through the Taiwei constellation, spreading across the western sky, all turning into a cyan rainbow hue. The Grand Historian Su You said, "A great sage has been born in the West. A thousand years from now, his teachings will reach this land." King Zhao immediately ordered the event to be inscribed on stone and buried in front of the southern suburban temple of heaven. This marks the time of the Buddha's birth.

In the thirty-second year of his reign, King Mu of Zhou repeatedly witnessed a luminous aura in the western sky. Su You, who had earlier spoken of a sage appearing in the world, together with the Chancellor Lü Hou, mounted the eight steeds known as Hualiu and journeyed westward to seek the Buddha, hoping to avert the omen. In the fifty-third year of King Mu's reign, on the fifteenth day of the second month in the year Ren Shen, at dawn, a sudden violent storm arose, damaging houses, snapping trees, shaking the earth, and darkening the sky. Twelve white rainbows appeared in the west. The Grand Historian Hu Duo said, "The sage of the West has passed away. This is the sign of Nirvana." Some accounts say the Buddha was born during the time of King Zhuang of Zhou and Duke Zhuang of Lu. Here, I have compiled the most widely attested records.

Historical records state: The Grand Steward of the Shang state, Pi, asked Confucius, "Who can be considered a sage?" Confucius replied, "In the western regions, there is a sage. He does not govern, yet there is no disorder; he does not speak, yet he is trusted; he does not transform others, yet they follow naturally. So vast and boundless is his virtue that the people cannot find words to praise him." The *Laozi Xisheng Jing* says: "My master journeyed to the west to teach in India, skillfully entering Nirvana."

During the Yuanshou era of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing led a campaign against the Xiongnu. Reaching Gaolan and passing Mount Juyan, he captured the Kunye and Xiutu kings, among others. He also seized a golden statue, over ten feet tall, which was placed in the Ganquan Palace. The emperor regarded it as a great deity, offering incense and paying homage to it. Later, when the Western Regions were opened up, Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to Daxia. Upon his return, he reported that there was a country called Shendu—also known as Tianzhu—where he first heard of the teachings of the Buddha. This marked the gradual emergence of the Buddha's form and teachings.

In the Yuanshou era of Emperor Ai, he dispatched Jing Xian to the Great Yuezhi Kingdom. There, Jing Xian studied Buddhist scriptures and brought them back to the Han dynasty. At that time, Buddhist fasting and precepts gradually began to be practiced. During the reign of Emperor Cheng, the Grand Master of the Imperial Household and Director of Waterways, Liu Xiang, recorded in his biography: "Having extensively studied historical records, I often encountered Buddhist scriptures." In his work "Biographies of Immortals," he wrote: "I searched through the imperial library, where the Grand Historian first compiled the 'Illustrated Biographies of Immortals,' covering figures from the Yellow Emperor down to the present, verifying a total of 146 individuals. Among them, 74 had already been mentioned in Buddhist scriptures." Based on this, it is clear that Buddhism had already spread in China before the Qin and Zhou dynasties. How do we know this? The evidence lies in the records cited above.

Therefore, the Buddhist tradition states: One hundred and sixteen years after the Buddha's Parinirvana, an Iron Wheel King in Eastern India ruled over Jambudvīpa. He gathered the Buddha's sacred relics and commanded spirits and deities to build one stūpa for every one hundred million households. Across the four seas, a total of eighty-four thousand stūpas were erected. Thus, within the lands of the Nine Provinces, there are also legacy stūpas said to have been built by King Aśoka, which would be during the time of King Li of Zhou. Therefore, the stūpas flourished during the Zhou dynasty, lasting through more than twenty kings. By the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shi Huang, when books and records were burned, King Aśoka's various stūpas were lost and destroyed from that time. Buddhist scriptures circulated in the world, but no one knew their whereabouts.

Furthermore, the scripture catalogs of Shi Dao'an and Zhu Shixing state that during the time of Qin Shi Huang, foreign śramaṇas such as Śrīgupta and others—eighteen wise men—came carrying Buddhist scriptures to convert the emperor. Qin Shi Huang did not accept them and had them imprisoned. That night, a sixteen-foot tall Vajra deity came and broke open the prison to free them. Qin Shi Huang was shocked and terrified, bowed his head, and apologized. Based on this account, it is known that Buddhism existed before the Qin and Han dynasties. Investigating Dao'an's record of the twelve wise men, they are also included in the number of seventy. The current *Biographies of Immortals* lists seventy-two individuals.

According to the *Mañjuśrī Parinirvāṇa Sūtra*, four hundred and fifty years after the Buddha's Parinirvana, Mañjuśrī went to the Snow Mountains and taught the Dharma to five hundred ṛṣis. Also, according to the *Geographical Records* and *Accounts of the Western Regions*, the Snow Mountains refer to the Congling Mountains (Pamirs). Below them were thirty-six states that previously submitted to the Han. The Congling range extends eastward to the Zhongnan Mountains. Mañjuśrī's conversion of the ṛṣis took place in this region. Examining this in detail, Liu Xiang's discussion can serve as evidence.

The *Later Han Treatise on Sacrifices* states: "Buddha" in Chinese means "the Awakened One," who awakens sentient beings. The essence of his teaching focuses on cultivating goodness and compassion, not killing living beings, and dedicated to purity. Those who master it are śramaṇas, meaning "those who calm the mind" in Chinese. They shave their heads, renounce adornment, leave their families, abandon worldly life, sever attachments, cleanse desires, and return to non-action. Furthermore, they believe that after a person dies, the spirit does not perish but takes on a new form according to past actions. Good and evil deeds will bring corresponding results in future lives. What is valued is practicing goodness and cultivating the Way to refine the spirit. Through continuous refinement, one attains the state of non-birth and becomes a Buddha. His body is sixteen feet tall, golden in color, with the radiance of the sun and moon around his neck. He transforms without fixed form, entering anywhere. Thus, he can transform and connect with all things, greatly aiding sentient beings. There are several thousand volumes of scriptures, taking emptiness as their foundation, encompassing both subtle and coarse teachings, unifying everything. They excel in vast and profound discourse. Their ultimate aim lies within the unity of all things; their illumination lies beyond mere sight and sound, returning to the profound and subtle, deep and far-reaching, difficult to fathom. Therefore, when kings, lords, and great men observe the workings of karma and rebirth, none fail to feel awe and lose their self-importance.(For more, see the *Han Dharma Origin Inner Transmission*.)

The *Wei Shu* records: Cai Yin obtained the *Forty-Two Chapter Scripture* and a standing image of Śākyamuni. Emperor Ming ordered artists to copy and paint them, placing them in the Qingliang Terrace and at the Xianjie Mausoleum. The scriptures were stored in the Orchid Terrace Stone Chamber. When Cai Yin returned, a white horse carried the scriptures to Han, leading to the establishment of White Horse Monastery west of the Yong Gate in Luoyang. The general meaning of the scriptures is that all living beings arise due to their karma. There are three periods: past, present, and future. The stages of cultivating the path and the levels of mental practice are not uniform; all progress from shallow to deep, from subtle to manifest. Essentially, it lies in accumulating benevolence and obedience, eliminating desires, practicing emptiness and stillness to achieve penetrating insight. When first cultivating the mind, one takes refuge in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Taking the Three Refuges is like a noble person's three reverences. There are also the Five Precepts: abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants. Their general meaning aligns with benevolence, righteousness, propriety, trustworthiness, and wisdom. It is said that upholding them leads to rebirth in favorable realms among humans and devas, avoiding the sufferings of ghosts and animals. Regarding the destinations of good and evil, there are generally six realms. The focus is on guarding the mind and rectifying body and speech, collectively called the Ten Wholesome Deeds. Those who can fulfill these will, in the near term, obtain heavenly rewards and, ultimately, attain Bodhi.

The Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month, emerging from his mother's right side. He possessed thirty-two major marks. After his passing, his disciples cremated his body with fragrant wood. His sacred bones fragmented into relics, small as grains, red and white in color, unbreakable when struck, unburned by fire. They frequently manifest light and spiritual wonders. Later, King Aśoka, using supernatural power, divided the Buddha's relics, commanding various spirits to construct eighty-four thousand precious stūpas. Present-day Luoyang, Pengcheng, Fufeng, Shu Commandery, Guzang, Linzi, and others all have such stūpas, all possessing spiritual marvels.

The *Wu Shu* records: In the fourth year of the Chiwu era (241 CE), there was a śramaṇa from Kangju named Kang Senghui, who practiced the way of conversion. When he first arrived in Wu territory, he built a thatched hut, set up images, and practiced the path. The people of Wu, seeing him for the first time, considered it strange and ominous. Officials reported it to the throne.

The ruler of Wu, Sun Quan, asked, "What miraculous signs does the Buddha possess?" Kang Senghui replied, "The Buddha's sacred traces have been manifest for over a thousand years. His relics, the śarīra, appear unpredictably and without fixed form." Sun Quan said, "If we obtain such relics, I will build a pagoda for them." After twenty-one days, they indeed obtained relics. They shone with five colors, illuminating the heavens. When struck, they grew harder; when burned, they would not ignite. Light emerged from them like fire, forming a great lotus flower that illuminated the palace halls. Sun Quan marveled at this wonder and faith arose in him. He built the Jianchu Temple and allowed people to leave home and become monastics.

Sun Quan asked his Minister of Works, Marquis of Duxiang, Kan Ze, "How many years have passed since Emperor Ming of Han? Buddhism entered the Han long ago; why has it only now reached the Jiangdong region?" Kan Ze replied, "From the tenth year of the Yongping era to the present fourth year of the Chiwu era, it totals one hundred and seventy years. However, in the fourteenth year of Yongping, when the Daoist masters of the Five Peaks competed in strength with the monk Fotucheng, the Daoists were defeated. Southern Peak masters Chu Shanxin and Fei Shucai, among others, died from shame at the assembly. Their disciples returned to bury them at Southern Peak. Since they did not leave home to become monastics, the teaching did not spread. Later, due to the decline of Han governance and incessant warfare, it is only after many years that it has now begun to flourish."

Sun Quan asked, "Can Confucius and Laozi be compared to the Buddha?" Kan Ze replied, "I consider that Lu Confucius was a man of outstanding talent and sage virtue, unparalleled in his time, known as the 'Uncrowned King.' He composed the classics, instructed and encouraged the Zhou rites, and taught future generations. The influence of his scholarly tradition has nourished both ancient and modern times. There were also recluses, such as Xu Chengzi, Yuan Yangzi, Zhuangzi, and Laozi, among the masters of the hundred schools. Their writings all focused on self-cultivation and personal refinement. They roamed freely in mountains and valleys, expanding their minds, their learning returning to simplicity and detachment. However, their ways often diverged from the human relationships and the order of respect between elder and young, and were not methods for pacifying the world and transforming the people. It was not until Emperor Jing of Han, who found the teachings of Huang-Lao particularly profound, that he changed their status from 'Masters' to 'Classics' and first established Daoist studies, ordering both court and commoners to recite them. If we compare the schools of Confucius and Laozi with the far-reaching Dharma of the Buddha, the distance is indeed vast. The reason is this: Confucius and Laozi established teachings based on modeling Heaven and regulating its functions, not daring to oppose Heaven. The Buddhas established teachings which even the heavens follow and uphold, not daring to oppose the Buddha. From this perspective, it is clear they truly cannot be compared." Sun Quan was greatly pleased and appointed Kan Ze as Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.

*Wei Shu* records: Emperor Ming of Wei once intended to destroy the pagoda west of the palace. A foreign monk then placed a golden tray filled with water before the hall and dropped a śarīra into it. A five-colored light immediately arose. The Emperor, marveling even more, then built a hundred rooms along the eastern side of the road to serve as a monastery.

The later ruler of Wu, Sun Hao, with his tyrannical rule, abolished excessive sacrifices, and Buddhist temples were consequently also abolished. His officials all said, "Kang Senghui elicited auspicious signs, and the Grand Emperor founded a temple. If we destroy it now, we fear future regret." Later, while digging in the palace grounds, a golden statue was unearthed. Sun Hao defiled it in a dark place and was immediately afflicted with severe pain, crying out unbearably. The chief diviner said, "You have offended a great deity." They then widely prayed to all the famous mountains and great rivers, but none could relieve him, and his pain grew worse. Someone suggested praying to the Buddha. Sun Hao said, "Is the Buddha a great deity? We can try seeking his aid." With one prayer, he was cured. He then had a carriage bring Kang Senghui, who explained the law of karma to him. Sun Hao saw the *Original Vows* text with its one hundred and twenty vows, all made for the sake of living beings, and he deeply revered it. He then received the Five Precepts from Kang Senghui. Based on this event of unearthing the statue, it is clear that Buddhism existed and left evidence even in the times of Qin and Zhou.

In the first year of the Jianxing era of Emperor Min of the Western Jin dynasty, two stone statues floated on the Wu Song River. Fishermen, suspecting they were sea gods, invited shamans to welcome them, but the wind and waves grew fiercer. Followers of the Huang-Lao tradition said they were Celestial Masters, and went to welcome them, but the wind and waves remained as before. A Buddhist layman named Zhu Ying, from Wu County, who was always sincere and faithful, together with the nun Bo from Dongling Temple and several other devotees, went to the mouth of the Hudu inlet to welcome them. Suddenly, the wind and waves calmed. From afar, they saw two figures arrive—they were the stone statues, standing seven feet tall, held up amidst the waves. They were placed in Tongxuan Temple. Inscriptions on their backs named one "Vipaśyin" and the other "Kāśyapa." Their era of origin is unknown, but the characters are clear and distinct.

In the third year of the Ningkang era during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin dynasty, on the eighth day of the second month, the monk Shi Dao'an, whose virtue was widely renowned throughout the land, cast a sixteen-foot-tall statue of Amitayus Buddha west of Xiangyang's outer wall. By the following winter, the statue was fully adorned and completed. Miraculously, the statue then moved westward and ascended to Mount Wan. At that time, the local villagers were astonished and welcomed it back to its original temple. That very evening, the statue emerged and stood at the temple gate. The provincial governor, Xi Hui, subsequently renamed the temple the Golden Statue Temple.

During the third year of the Putong era under Emperor Wu of Liang, the emperor ordered the casting of a large golden copper lotus pedestal, six feet high and about ten feet wide, in the Jianxing Garden. He commanded Liu Xiaoyi to compose an inscription and erect a stele praising its virtues.

When Emperor Wu of Zhou suppressed Buddhism in the third year of the Jiande era, Wang Kang, the Duke of Taiyuan, served as the governor of Jingzhou. His deputy general, Zhangsun Zhe, who did not believe in Buddhism, attempted to destroy the statue. He first sent over a hundred men to pull it down with ropes tied around its neck, but it remained completely immovable. Zhangsun Zhe accused them of not using enough force and had them beaten, yet the statue still did not move. He then added three hundred, and later five hundred men, but the statue remained steadfast. Finally, they managed to topple it, causing a thunderous crash that shook the earth. Zhangsun Zhe, delighted, ordered its destruction and rode off on horseback to report to the governor. However, after traveling only a hundred paces, he suddenly fell from his horse, lost his voice, stared blankly, and died shortly after. Monks and laypeople alike rejoiced at his demise.

When the statue was destroyed, an inscription was found hidden within its robes, hanging from under its arm. It read: "In the nineteenth year of the Taiyuan era of Jin, during the jiaxu year, the monk Dao'an of Xiangyang's western outer wall cast a golden statue eighteen feet tall. This statue will be destroyed after three cycles of jiaxu, one hundred and eighty years from now." A calculation of the dates showed that this prophecy matched exactly. This confirms that the saintly monk's foresight was indeed true.

Considering the events, Dao'an was captured by Fu Jian's forces in the third year of the Taiyuan era, which was the fifteenth year of Fu Jian's Jianyuan era, along with Zhu Xu and Xi Yu. He passed away in the tenth year of the Taiyuan era while in the Guanzhong region. Ten years after his death, the jiaxu year arrived. At first glance, the timeline seems inconsistent, but his prediction of the statue's destruction after three cycles of jiaxu demonstrates his profound insight into the workings of fate and his saintly foresight.