SANKASYA. BUDDHA’S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIMSAS HEAVEN,
AND OTHER LEGENDS.
From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found
themselves in a kingdom called Sankasya,(1) at the place where Buddha
came down, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas heaven,(2) and there
preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother.(3)
Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power,(4) without
letting his disciples know; but seven days before the completion (of
the three months) he laid aside his invisibility,(4) and Anuruddha,(5)
with his heavenly eyes,(5) saw the World-honoured one, and immediately
said to the honoured one, the great Mugalan, “Do you go and salute the
World-honoured one.” Mugalan forthwith went, and with head and face did
homage at (Buddha’s) feet. They then saluted and questioned each other,
and when this was over, Buddha said to Mugalan, “Seven days after this
I will go down to Jambudvipa;” and thereupon Mugalan returned. At this
time the great kings of eight countries with their ministers and
people, not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all thirstily
looking up for him, and had collected in clouds in this kingdom to wait
for the World-honoured one.
Then the bhikshuni Utpala(6) thought in her heart, “To-day the kings,
with their ministers and people, will all be meeting (and welcoming)
Buddha. I am (but) a woman; how shall I succeed in being the first to
see him?”(7) Buddha immediately, by his spirit-like power, changed her
into the appearance of a holy Chakravartti(8) king, and she was the
foremost of all in doing reverence to him.
As Buddha descended from his position aloft in the Trayastrimsas
heaven, when he was coming down, there were made to appear three
flights of precious steps. Buddha was on the middle flight, the steps
of which were composed of the seven precious substances. The king of
Brahma-loka(9) also made a flight of silver steps appear on the right
side, (where he was seen) attending with a white chowry in his hand.
Sakra, Ruler of Devas, made (a flight of) steps of purple gold on the
left side, (where he was seen) attending and holding an umbrella of the
seven precious substances. An innumerable multitude of the devas
followed Buddha in his descent. When he was come down, the three
flights all disappeared in the ground, excepting seven steps, which
continued to be visible. Afterwards king Asoka, wishing to know where
their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the
yellow springs(10) without reaching the bottom of the steps, and from
this the king received an increase to his reverence and faith, and
built a vihâra over the steps, with a standing image, sixteen cubits in
height, right over the middle flight. Behind the vihâra he erected a
stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,(11) with a lion on the top of
it.(12) Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,(13) there is an
image of Buddha, inside and out(14) shining and transparent, and pure
as it were of _lapis lazuli_. Some teachers of another doctrine(15)
once disputed with the Sramanas about (the right to) this as a place of
residence, and the latter were having the worst of the argument, when
they took an oath on both sides on the condition that, if the place did
indeed belong to the Sramanas, there should be some marvellous
attestation of it. When these words had been spoken, the lion on the
top gave a great roar, thus giving the proof; on which their opponents
were frightened, bowed to the decision, and withdrew.
Through Buddha having for three months partaken of the food of heaven,
his body emitted a heavenly fragrance, unlike that of an ordinary man.
He went immediately and bathed; and afterwards, at the spot where he
did so, a bathing-house was built, which is still existing. At the
place where the bhikshuni Utpala was the first to do reverence to
Buddha, a tope has now been built.
At the places where Buddha, when he was in the world, cut his hair and
nails, topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas(16) that preceded
Sâkyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,(17) and where
images of their persons were made. At all these places topes were made,
and are still existing. At the place where Sakra, Ruler of the Devas,
and the king of the Brahma-loka followed Buddha down (from the
Trayastrimsas heaven) they have also raised a tope.
At this place the monks and nuns may be a thousand, who all receive
their food from the common store, and pursue their studies, some of the
mahayana and some of the hinayana. Where they live, there is a
white-eared dragon, which acts the part of danapati to the community of
these monks, causing abundant harvests in the country, and the
enriching rains to come in season, without the occurrence of any
calamities, so that the monks enjoy their repose and ease. In gratitude
for its kindness, they have made for it a dragon-house, with a carpet
for it to sit on, and appointed for it a diet of blessing, which they
present for its nourishment. Every day they set apart three of their
number to go to its house, and eat there. Whenever the summer retreat
is ended, the dragon straightway changes its form, and appears as a
small snake,(18) with white spots at the side of its ears. As soon as
the monks recognise it, they fill a copper vessel with cream, into
which they put the creature, and then carry it round from the one who
has the highest seat (at their tables) to him who has the lowest, when
it appears as if saluting them. When it has been taken round,
immediately it disappeared; and every year it thus comes forth once.
The country is very productive, and the people are prosperous, and
happy beyond comparison. When people of other countries come to it,
they are exceedingly attentive to them all, and supply them with what
they need.
Fifty yojanas north-west from the monastery there is another, called
“The Great Heap.”(19) Great Heap was the name of a wicked demon, who
was converted by Buddha, and men subsequently at this place reared a
vihâra. When it was being made over to an Arhat by pouring water on his
hands,(20) some drops fell on the ground. They are still on the spot,
and however they may be brushed away and removed, they continue to be
visible, and cannot be made to disappear.
At this place there is also a tope to Buddha, where a good spirit
constantly keeps (all about it) swept and watered, without any labour
of man being required. A king of corrupt views once said, “Since you
are able to do this, I will lead a multitude of troops and reside there
till the dirt and filth has increased and accumulated, and (see)
whether you can cleanse it away or not.” The spirit thereupon raised a
great wind, which blew (the filth away), and made the place pure.
At this place there are a hundred small topes, at which a man may keep
counting a whole day without being able to know (their exact number).
If he be firmly bent on knowing it, he will place a man by the side of
each tope. When this is done, proceeding to count the number of men,
whether they be many or few, he will not get to know (the number).(21)
There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which
there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha used to take his food. The
nirvâna ground (where he was burned(22) after death) is as large as a
carriage wheel; and while grass grows all around, on this spot there is
none. The ground also where he dried his clothes produces no grass, but
the impression of them, where they lay on it, continues to the present
day.
NOTES
(1) The name is still remaining in Samkassam, a village forty-five
miles northwest of Canouge, lat. 27° 3′ N., lon. 79° 50′ E.
(2) The heaven of Indra or Sakya, meaning “the heaven of thirty-three
classes,” a name which has been explained both historically and
mythologically. “The description of it,” says Eitel, p. 148, “tallies
in all respects with the Svarga of Brahmanic mythology. It is situated
between the four peaks of the Meru, and consists of thirty-two cities
of devas, eight on each of the four corners of the mountain. Indra’s
capital of Bellevue is in the centre. There he is enthroned, with a
thousand heads and a thousand eyes, and four arms grasping the vajra,
with his wife and 119,000 concubines. There he receives the monthly
reports of the four Maharajas, concerning the progress of good and evil
in the world,” &c. &c.
(3) Buddha’s mother, Maya and Mahamaya, the _mater immaculata_ of the
Buddhists, died seven days after his birth. Eitel says, “Reborn in
Tushita, she was visited there by her son and converted.” The Tushita
heaven was a more likely place to find her than the Trayastrimsas; but
was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account of
Buddha’s visit to the Trayastrimsas (M. B., pp. 298-302), which he
calls Tawutisa, and speaks of his mother (Matru) in it, who had now
become a deva by the changing of her sex.
(4) Compare the account of the Arhat’s conveyance of the artist to the
Tushita heaven in chap. v. The first expression here is more
comprehensive.
(5) Anuruddha was a first cousin of Sâkyamuni, being the son of his
uncle Amritodana. He is often mentioned in the account we have of
Buddha’s last moments. His special gift was the divyachakshus or
“heavenly eye,” the first of the six abhijnas or “supernatural
talents,” the faculty of comprehending in one instantaneous view, or by
intuition, all beings in all worlds. “He could see,” says Hardy, M. B.,
p. 232, “all things in 100,000 sakvalas as plainly as a mustard seed
held in the hand.”
(6) Eitel gives the name Utpala with the same Chinese phonetisation as
in the text, but not as the name of any bhikshuni. The Sanskrit word,
however, is explained by “blue lotus flowers;” and Hsuan-chwang calls
her the nun “Lotus-flower colour ({.} {.} {.});”—the same as Hardy’s
Upulwan and Uppalawarna.
(7) Perhaps we should read here “to see Buddha,” and then ascribe the
transformation to the nun herself. It depends on the punctuation which
view we adopt; and in the structure of the passage, there is nothing to
indicate that the stop should be made before or after “Buddha.” And the
one view is as reasonable, or rather as unreasonable, as the other.
(8) “A holy king who turns the wheel;” that is, the military conqueror
and monarch of the whole or part of a universe. “The symbol,” says
Eitel (p. 142) “of such a king is the chakra or wheel, for when he
ascends the throne, a chakra falls from heaven, indicating by its
material (gold, silver, copper, or iron) the extent and character of
his reign. The office, however, of the highest Chakravartti, who hurls
his wheel among his enemies, is inferior to the peaceful mission of a
Buddha, who meekly turns the wheel of the Law, and conquers every
universe by his teaching.”
(9) This was Brahma, the first person of the Brahmanical Trimurti,
adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed
by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi.
(10) A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is
found.
(11) The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance
from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated.
(12) A note of Mr. Beal says on this:—“General Cunningham, who visited
the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of Asoka, with a
well-carved elephant on the top, which, however, was minus trunk and
tail. He supposes this to be the pillar seen by Fâ-Hien, who mistook
the top of it for a lion. It is possible such a mistake may have been
made, as in the account of one of the pillars at Sravasti, Fâ-Hien says
an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsuan-chwang calls it an elephant (P.
19, Arch. Survey).”
(13) That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have
been square.
(14) Equivalent to “all through.”
(15) Has always been translated “heretical teachers;” but I eschew the
terms _heresy_ and _heretical_. The parties would not be Buddhists of
any creed or school, but Brahmans or of some other false doctrine, as
Fâ-Hien deemed it. The Chinese term means “outside” or “foreign;”—in
Pâli, anna-titthiya,=“those belonging to another school.”
(16) These three predecessors of Sâkyamuni were the three Buddhas of
the present or Maha-bhadra Kalpa, of which he was the fourth, and
Maitreya is to be the fifth and last. They were: (1) Krakuchanda (Pâli,
Kakusanda), “he who readily solves all doubts;” a scion of the Kasyapa
family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so many
persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pâli, Konagamana), “body
radiant with the colour of pure gold;” of the same family. Human life
reached in his time 30,000 years, and so many persons were converted by
him. (3) Kasyapa (Pâli, Kassapa), “swallower of light.” Human life
reached in his time 20,000 years, and so many persons were converted by
him. See Eitel, under the several names; Hardy’s M. B., pp. 95-97; and
Davids’ “Buddhist Birth Stories,” p. 51.
(17) That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chankramana
(Pâli, Chankama); promenades or corridors connected with a monastery,
made sometimes with costly stones, for the purpose of peripatetic
meditation. The “sitting” would be not because of weariness or for
rest, but for meditation. E. H., p. 144.
(18) The character in my Corean copy is {.}, which must be a mistake
for the {.} of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be “a
small medusa.”
(19) The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the
Chinese editions, which means “Fire Limit.” Buddha, it is said, {.}
converted this demon, which Chinese character Beal rendered at first by
“in one of his incarnations;” and in his revised version he has
“himself.” The difference between Fâ-Hien’s usage of {.} and {.}
throughout his narrative is quite marked. {.} always refers to the
doings of Sâkyamuni; {.}, “formerly,” is often used of him and others
in the sense of “in a former age or birth.”
(20) See Hardy, M. B., p. 194:—“As a token of the giving over of the
garden, the king poured water upon the hands of Buddha; and from this
time it became one of the principal residences of the sage.”
(21) This would seem to be absurd; but the writer evidently intended to
convey the idea that there was something mysterious about the number of
the topes.
(22) This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all
burned. Hardy’s E. M., pp. 322-324.