SAṄKÂŚYA. BUDDHA’S ASCENT TO AND DESCENT FROM THE TRAYASTRIṂŚAS
HEAVEN, AND OTHER LEGENDS.
From this they proceeded south-east for eighteen yojanas, and found
themselves in a kingdom called Saṅkâśya,[1] at the place where Buddha
came down, after ascending to the Trayastriṃśas 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 Jambudvîpa;’ 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 bhikshuṇî 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 Trayastriṃśas
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
Brahmâ-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.
Śakra, Ruler of Devas,[10] 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[11]
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 Aśoka, wishing to know where
their ends rested, sent men to dig and see. They went down to the
yellow springs[12] 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,[13] with a lion on the top of
it.[14] Let into the pillar, on each of its four sides,[15] there is
an image of Buddha, inside and out[16] shining and transparent,
and pure as it were of lapis lazuli. Some teachers of another
doctrine[17] once disputed with the Śramaṇas 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 Śramaṇas, 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 bhikshuṇî 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,[18] topes are erected; and where the three Buddhas[19] that
preceded Śâkyamuni Buddha and he himself sat; where they walked,[20]
and where images of their persons were made. At all these places topes
were made, and are still existing. At the place where Śakra, Ruler of
the Devas, and the king of the Brahmâ-loka followed Buddha down (from
the Trayastriṃśas 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 mahâyâna and some of the hînayâna. Where they live, there is a
white-eared dragon, which acts the part of dânapati[21] 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,[22] 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.’[23] 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,[24] 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).[25]
There is a monastery, containing perhaps 600 or 700 monks, in which
there is a place where a Pratyeka Buddha[26] used to take his food. The
nirvâṇa ground (where he was burned[27] 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 north-west of Canouge, lat. 27° 3′ N., lon. 79° 50′ E.
[2] The heaven of Indra or Śâkya, 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 Brahmânic 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 Mahârâjas, concerning the progress of good and
evil in the world,’ &c. &c.
[3] Buddha’s mother, Mâyâ and Mahâ-mâyâ, 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 Trayastriṃśas;
but was the former a part of the latter? Hardy gives a long account
of Buddha’s visit to the Trayastriṃśas (M. B., pp. 298–302), which he
calls Tawutisâ, and speaks of his mother (Mâtru) 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 Śâkyamuni, being the son of his
uncle Amṛitodana. 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 abhijñâs 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 bhikshuṇî. The Sanskrit word,
however, is explained by ‘blue lotus flowers;’ and Hsüan-chwang calls
her the nun ‘Lotus-flower colour (蓮花色);’—the same as Hardy’s
Upulwan and Uppalawarnâ.
[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 Brahmâ, the first person of the Brahmânical Trimurti,
adopted by Buddhism, but placed in an inferior position, and surpassed
by every Buddhist saint who attains to bodhi.
[10] See chap. ix, note 2.
[11] See chap. iii, note 14.
[12] A common name for the earth below, where, on digging, water is
found.
[13] The height is given as thirty chow, the chow being the distance
from the elbow to the finger-tip, which is variously estimated.
[14] A note of Mr. Beal says on this:—‘General Cunningham, who
visited the spot (1862), found a pillar, evidently of the age of
Aśoka, 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
Śrâvastî, Fâ-hien says an ox formed the capital, whilst Hsüan-chwang
calls it an elephant (P. 19, Arch. Survey).’
[15] That is, in niches on the sides. The pillar or column must have
been square.
[16] Equivalent to ‘all through.’
[17] 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 Brahmâns or of some other false doctrine, as
Fâ-hien deemed it. The Chinese term means ‘outside’ or ‘foreign;’—in
Pâli, añña-titthiyâ, = ‘those belonging to another school.’
[18] See chap. xiii para 6.
[19] These three predecessors of Śâkyamuni were the three Buddhas
of the present or Mahâ-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
Kaśyapa family. Human life reached in his time 40,000 years, and so
many persons were converted by him. (2) Kanakamuni (Pâli, Konâgamana),
‘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) Kâśyapa (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.
[20] That is, walked in meditation. Such places are called Chaṅkramaṇa
(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.
[21] See chap. i, note 10.
[22] The character in my Corean copy is 虵, which must be a mistake
for the 蛇 of the Chinese editions. Otherwise, the meaning would be
‘a small medusa.’
[23] The reading here seems to me a great improvement on that of the
Chinese editions, which means ‘Fire Limit.’ Buddha, it is said, 本
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 本 and 昔
throughout his narrative is quite marked. 本 always refers to the
doings of Śâkyamuni; 昔, ‘formerly,’ is often used of him and others
in the sense of ‘in a former age or birth.’
[24] 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.’
[25] 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.
[26] See chap. xiii note. 15.
[27] This seems to be the meaning. The bodies of the monks are all
burned. Hardy’s E. M., pp. 322–324.