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Thūpavaṃsa -(Stupa History)(English | 中文 | བོད་ཡིག)

English

Summon her, great king. And in this island, the Bodhi tree of the three previous Fully Enlightened Buddhas was established. Our Blessed One's Bodhi tree, emitting a network of rays, must also be established. Therefore, send a message so that Saṅghamittā may come with the Bodhi tree." The king, agreeing to the Elder's words, consulting with his ministers, said to his nephew named Ariṭṭha: "Can you, dear one, go to Pāṭaliputta and bring back the Elder Saṅghamittā along with the Great Bodhi tree?" "I can, O king, if you permit me to renounce the world." "Go, dear one, bring back the Elder, and then be ordained." He, taking the message of the king and the Elder, by the Elder's power, in one day went to Jambukolapaṭṭana, boarded a ship, crossed the sea, went to Pāṭaliputta, and declared the king's message: "Your son, O king, the Elder Mahinda, says thus: 'Your friend Devānampiyatissa's niece, Anulādevī by name, wishes to renounce the world. To ordain her, send the Elder Saṅghamittā. The Elder And thus with the Great Bodhi. Having announced the Teacher's message, and approached the Theri Sanghamitta, he spoke thus: "Reverend Sister, your brother, the Thera Mahinda, sends me to you, saying that Anuladevi, the niece of King Devanampiyatissa, desires to be ordained with five hundred maidens and five hundred women of the palace. Please come and ordain them." She, then, quickly went and informed the king of the matter, saying, "I shall go, Great King, to Tambapannidipa." "Then, Mother, take the Great Bodhi and go," he said, and after having the road prepared from Pataliputta to the Great Bodhi, he set out from Pataliputta with a great army seven yojanas long and three yojanas wide, and taking the Ariya Sangha, he approached the Great Bodhi. The army, with raised flags and banners, adorned with various jewels, decorated with various ornaments, filled with various flowers, resounding with various instruments, surrounded the Great Bodhi. Then the king, having worshipped with flowers, incense, garlands, and the like, circumambulated it three times, worshipped it in eight places, and rising up, holding his hands in reverence, desiring to take the Bodhi by an act of truth, ascended the jeweled platform, and taking a brush, drew a line with red arsenic, saying, "If the Great Bodhi is to be established in the island of Lanka, and if I am to be without doubt in the Buddha's dispensation, may the Great Bodhi itself be established in this golden bowl!" With the act of truth, the Bodhi branch, severed at the places marked by the red arsenic, stood above the golden bowl filled with perfumed water. Then the king, having brought the Great Bodhi from the Bodhi-mandala to Pataliputta with great honor, and having given all the requisites, and having placed the Great Bodhi in a ship on the Ganges, and having himself set out from the city, and having crossed the Vindhya forest, gradually arrived at Tamalitti in seven days. On the way, gods, nagas, and humans paid great homage to the Great Bodhi. Then. The king, too, having kept the Great Bodhi on the seashore for seven days, having made great honor, having placed the Bodhi and the Saṅghamittā Theri with her retinue on the ship, as he went, seeing the Great Bodhi tree emitting fresh rays of the Ten-Powered One, crying out, raising his joined hands, shedding tears, he stood. That Great Bodhi, too, in the ship that had grown together, as the great king looked on, plunged into the great ocean. In the great ocean, too, for a league around, the waves subsided, lotuses of five colors blossomed, divine instruments sounded in the sky, a very grand offering was made, brought about by deities dwelling in the sky, on land, and in the water. With such a great offering, that ship entered Jambukola Port. Devānampiyatissa the Great King, too, having had the road cleaned and decorated from the northern gate to Jambukola Port, on the day of departure from the city, standing near the Saddasala garden near the northern gate, seeing the Great Bodhi coming in the great ocean with that glory, by the power of the Theri, with a delighted mind, having gone out, strewing the entire road with flowers of five colors, placing flower offerings in between, in one day having gone to Jambukola Port, surrounded by all the Tālāvacara attendants, worshiping with flowers, incense, perfumes, and so on, having descended into the water up to his neck, "The Bodhi tree emitting fresh rays of the Ten-Powered One has come!" with a pleased mind, having lifted up the Great Bodhi, having placed it on his head, together with the sixteen families of noble birth who had come surrounding the Great Bodhi, having emerged from the ocean, having placed the Bodhi on the seashore, for three days he honored the entire island of Tambapaṇṇi. Then, on the fourth day, taking the Great Bodhi, making a grand offering, gradually having arrived at Anurādhapura, in Anurādhapura, too, having made great honor, on the fourteenth day, as the shadow increased, having brought the Great Bodhi through the northern gate, into the city. Having passed neither too far nor too near, Having exited through the southern gate, From the southern gate, at a place five bow-lengths away, Where our Sammāsambuddha, Having entered into cessation, sat. And the three previous Sammāsambuddhas, Having entered into cessation, sat. Where Kakusandha Bhagavat's Sirisa Bodhi, Konāgamana Bhagavat's Udumbara Bodhi, Kassapa Bhagavat's Nigrodha Bodhi, Were established - In that Mahāmeghavana Park, The ornament of the Katabhūmi area, At the gate-chamber of the royal compound, The Mahābodhi was established. Thus, for the benefit of Lanka, And for the growth of the Sāsana, In the lovely Mahāmeghavana, The Mahābodhi is established. The story of the Bodhi's arrival. 14. Anulādevī, with five hundred maidens, And five hundred palace attendants, Thus, with a thousand women, Having gone forth near Sanghamittā Therī, Not long after, with her retinue, Was established in Arahantship. Ariṭṭha, the king's nephew, With five hundred men, Having gone forth near the Thera, Not long after, with his retinue, Was established in Arahantship. Then, one day, the king, Having venerated the Bodhi, Went with the Thera to Thūpārāma. Having arrived at the Lohapāsāda site, Men brought flowers, The king gave the flowers to the Thera. The Thera honored the Lohapāsāda site with flowers, When the flowers fell on the ground, A great earthquake occurred. The king asked, "Why, Bhante, did the earth quake?" "In this place, Mahārāja, In the future, there will be an Uposatha hall for the Sangha. This is its preliminary sign," he said. Again, having arrived at the Mahācetiya site, Campaka flowers were brought. The king gave those too to the Thera. The Thera, having honored the Mahācetiya site with flowers, And having venerated it, At that very moment, the great earth trembled. The king asked, "Bhante, why did the earth quake?" "Mahārāja, in this place, In the future, a great Thūpa, Unrivaled to the Buddha Bhagavat, will be. This is its preliminary sign." He said, "As a sign." "I myself will do it, venerable sir." "Enough, great king, you have much other work to do. But your descendant, Duṭṭhagāmaṇī Abhaya by name, will have it done." Then the king, "If, venerable sir, my descendant will do it, It is as good as done by me," And having had a twelve-cubit stone pillar brought, And having had letters written, "The grandson of King Devānampiyatissa, Duṭṭhagāmaṇī Abhaya by name, Will build a thūpa in this place," He had it set up. Then King Devānampiyatissa, Having had the relics brought, That filled the bowl used by the Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, Which were deposited on Cetiyapabbata, And having had them carried by an elephant, And having had thūpas built, At every yojana in the whole island of Tambapaṇṇi, He deposited the relics. But the bowl of the Blessed One, Having kept it in the royal palace, He made offerings to it. Having deposited the relics of the Buddha, Just a bowlful, The great king had thūpas built, At every yojana. The story of the Yojana-thūpa. Then the king, having done many other meritorious deeds, reigned for forty years. At his death, his younger brother Uttiya reigned for ten years. At his death, his younger brother Mahāsīva reigned for only ten years. At his death, his younger brother Sūratissa reigned for only ten years. Then two Damila horse traders, having killed Sūratissa, reigned righteously for twenty-two years. Having killed them, Asela by name, the son of King Muṭasīva, reigned for ten years. Then, having come from the Coḷa country, a Damila named Eḷāra, having killed King Asela, reigned for forty-four years. Having killed Eḷāra, Duṭṭhagāmaṇī Abhaya became king. To explain that meaning, this sequential story. 15. It is said that King Devānampiyatissa had a second brother, the sub-king Mahānāga by name. Then the queen of the king, wishing the kingdom for her son, having poisoned a mango, and placing it on top of the mango tree, sent it to the sub-king who was building a tank, by her son. The sub-king went with Parājana to an open vessel, took an mango himself, ate it, and died. The sub-king, knowing that reason, fearing the queen, from there, taking his queen and a strong army, went to Rohana. His chief queen, on the way, at a place called Yaṭṭhālavihāra, gave birth to a son. They named him Tissa, after his brother. He, going from there, living in Mahāgāma, ruled in Rohana. At his death, his son, Yaṭṭhālatissa, ruled in Mahāgāma itself. At his death, his son, Goṭhābhaya by name, ruled there itself. Goṭhābhaya's son, Kāka vaṇṇa Tissa by name, ruled there itself. King Kāka vaṇṇa Tissa, it is said, had as his chief queen, Vihāramahādevī by name, the daughter of King Kalyāṇitissa. She was dear and pleasing to the king. The king, living in harmony with her, doing meritorious deeds, lived happily. Then one day, the queen, in the royal palace itself,