English
He came, conferred with the bricklayer, learned the dimensions of the bricks from the long and extensive work, and then went and carefully kneaded the clay with his own hands, made bricks, baked them, put them in a basket, returned, and with one hand took a brick for the king and with the other a flower, and gave the king's brick along with his own bricks. The carpenter took it and used it in the work. The elder, filled with joy and happiness, lived in the brick hall while working on the Great Shrine, and his work became known. The king asked the carpenter: "Friend, it is said that a certain venerable one has given invaluable bricks?" "It is true, Your Majesty." He said, "The brick given by one venerable is similar to our brick," and brought it into the work. When the king asked, "Do you recognize that brick again?" he replied, "Due to family favor, I do not know." The king, "If so, seize him!" and placed him in the guardhouse. He showed it to the guardhouse as before. The guard went to the monastery, sat nearby, exchanged greetings, and asked, "Venerable, are you a visitor or a resident?" "We are visitors, layperson." "From which country are you, venerable?" "From Koṭṭhivāla country, residing at Piyaṅgalla Monastery, layperson." "Do you live here or are you going?" "We do not live here, we are going on such and such a day." The guard also said, "I too will come with you. My village is also in this country, named such and such village." The elder agreed, "Good." The guard reported that matter to the king. The king ordered the guard to give the elder a pair of cloths worth a thousand, an expensive red blanket, a pair of shoes, a tube of fragrant oil, and other monastic requisites. He took the requisites, went to the monastery, spent the night with the elder, and in the morning, left together. Gradually, they arrived at a place where Piyaṅgalla Monastery was visible. He made the elder sit in a cool, shady spot, washed his feet, anointed them with fragrant oil, gave him jaggery water to drink, removed his shoes, and said, "These requisites were taken for the Kulūpaga elder, now I give them to you. This pair of cloths was taken for my son's auspicious occasion, make it into a robe and wear it." He placed them at the elder's feet. The elder put the pair of cloths into his alms bowl bag, bundled up the remaining requisites, put on the shoes, took his staff, and set out on the road. The guard walked a little with him and said, "Stop, venerable, this is my way," and in the manner previously stated, announced the king's command to the elder. The elder... Having become dejected, thinking the work done was as if undone, due to great effort, and shedding tears, he said, "Layman, take your materials yourself!" and standing there, he discarded all the materials. The strong man said, "What are you saying, venerable sir? Even if the king were to give you requisites as high as the Bavaagga, he would not be able to do it to your satisfaction. However, he is having the work done on the Great Stupa in this way, intending to make it accessible to others. But you, venerable sir, take the materials you have received yourself and gladden your heart," and having convinced the elder, he departed. In this stupa, there is no measure of beings who, having done work with devotion and gladdened their hearts, were reborn in heaven. It is said that a divine maiden, reborn in the Tavatimsa heaven, looking at her own prosperity and reflecting, "By what deed did I gain this prosperity?" knowing that it was gained by doing work with devotion on the Great Stupa, thinking, "Even the fruit of work done with devotion is like this, how great will be the fruit of work done with faith in the fruit of one's own deeds?" taking divine perfumes and garlands, she would come at night and worship and venerate the stupa. At that time, the Elder Mahasiva, a resident of Bhativanka, having gone to venerate the stupa, seeing them venerating, standing near the Mahasattapanni tree, having venerated as they pleased, at the time of departure, asked, "With the light of your bodies, the entire Tambapanni Island is one light, what work did you do?" "Venerable sir, we have no work done of our own, we did work with devotion, gladdening our minds in this stupa," they said. Thus, even work done with devotion, with a pleased mind in the Buddha's dispensation, is of great fruit. Therefore- "By mere gladdening of the mind-a supreme destiny in the Sugata is attained, Having known this, let the wise one-do homage to the stupa;" Thus, the king, while having the stupa work done, completed the three flower canopies. For the stability of the arahants, he... Making it like a wave, they caused it to sink down, thus nine times they caused the pyre to sink down. The king, not knowing the reason, became unhappy and assembled the community of monks. Eighty thousand monks assembled, the king honored the community of monks with garlands and so on, and after venerating them, asked, "Venerable sirs, I do not know why the flower offerings in the Great Shrine sank down nine times." The community of monks said, "Great king, there is no danger to your deeds or your life. For the sake of future stability, it was caused to sink down by those with psychic power; from now on, they will not cause it to sink down. Without changing anything, complete the Great Stupa." Hearing that, the delighted king had the work on the stupa done. The ten flower offerings came to completion with ten crore bricks; when the flower offerings were completed again, the community of monks ordered two novices, named Uttara and Sumana, who were free from defilements. "You should bring stones of chamedaka color, square, eight ratanas thick, eighty cubits in size on each side." They agreed, saying "Good," and going to Uttarakuru, they brought stones of meda color, like bundles of flowers, of the proper size. Spreading one stone on the ground of the relic chamber, arranging four stones on the four sides, they placed another stone, unseen, near the sand rampart on the eastern side, to cover the relic chamber. 22. Then the king had a Bodhi tree made in the middle of the relic chamber, made of all kinds of jewels, complete in every way, and delightful. It was established on a floor of sapphire; its roots were made of coral; the trunk, eighteen cubits high, was made of silver, adorned with auspicious symbols such as the Srivatsa, rows of flowers, rows of vines, quadrupeds, and rows of geese. The five great branches were also eighteen cubits high, the leaves were made of jewels, the yellow leaves were made of gold, and the fruits were made of coral. Likewise, he had a canopy of cloth tied over the sprout. At its edge, a net of pearl bells hung all around. Golden bell garlands and golden chains hung here and there. At the four corners of the canopy hung a pearl cluster, each worth nine hundred thousand. There, according to their likeness, various jeweled forms of the sun, moon, and stars, and lotuses were affixed. Expensive cloths of various colors, eight thousand more than a thousand, hung down. Then, around the Bodhi tree, seven jeweled platforms were made, and large, flawless pearls were strewn. Between the pearl platforms, rows of jeweled full pots filled with scented water were placed. In those golden pots were coral flowers. In the coral pots were golden flowers. In the gem pots were silver flowers, and in the silver pots were gem flowers. In the seven-jeweled pots were seven-jeweled flowers. On the eastern side of the Bodhi tree, on a jeweled couch worth a koṭi, a solid, golden Buddha image was seated. Of that image, the twenty nails and the white parts of the eyes were crystal. The palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and the coverings of the teeth, and the red parts of the eyes were coral. The hair, eyebrows, and the black parts of the eyes were made of sapphire. The ūrṇā hair was silver. Then, Sahampati Mahā Brahmā, holding a silver umbrella, stood there. Then, Sakka, the king of gods, together with the deities in two heavens, taking the Vijayuttara conch, was made to perform the consecration. Pañcasikha, the divine son, taking a veḷuva paṇḍu lute, was made to play music. Mahākāḷa, the Nāga king, surrounded by Nāga maidens, praising the Tathāgata with various kinds of laudatory sounds, was made to do so. Vasavattimāra also, having created a thousand arms, taking various weapons such as tridents and clubs, riding the elephant Girimekhala with a thousand pots, surrounding himself with the army of Māra, coming to the Bodhi-maṇḍa, was made to perform many frightening acts. In the remaining directions, the eastern On a side, like a dais, he had three couches spread, each worth a hundred million, and placed an ivory staff and a coral fan. Using the Bodhi tree trunk as a headrest, he had a silver bed, adorned with various jewels and worth a hundred million, spread out. Having attained the enlightenment of the Ten-Powered One, the place where he gazed at the Bodhi seat with unblinking eyes for seven days, the place where he walked in the jeweled cloister for seven days, the place where he entered the jeweled house and contemplated the Dhamma, the place where he went to the foot of Mucalinda and, as he sat, the Nāga Mucalinda encircled him seven times with his coils, and stood with his hood above, then the place where he went to the foot of the Ajapāla Banyan tree and sat, then the acceptance of the alms bowl offered by the four Great Kings when food was brought at Rājāyatana.