佛說造塔功德經

Thus have I heard: At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, seated upon a Dharma throne made of white jade, together with the great bhikṣus, the great bodhisattvas, the lord of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, and an immeasurable assembly who had all gathered there. At that time, the great Brahmā Heaven King, the deva-son Nārāyaṇa, the deva-son Maheśvara, and the five gandharva kings, each together with their retinues, all came to the place where the Buddha was, wishing to inquire of the World-Honored One about the method of building a stūpa and the measure of merit produced from building a stūpa.

In the Dharma assembly there was a bodhisattva named Avalokiteśvara, who, knowing their thoughts, rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee upon the ground, and with palms joined toward the Buddha said: World-Honored One, today there are devas and gandharvas who have come to this place wishing to entreat the World-Honored One to instruct them in the method of building a stūpa and the measure of merit produced from building a stūpa. I beseech the World-Honored One, for their sake and for the benefit of all immeasurable sentient beings, to expound it.

At that time the World-Honored One said to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: Good son, the devas and the great assembly present here, and all sentient beings of future ages, wherever they dwell, in whatever direction or region there is as yet no stūpa, may build a stūpa in that place. The form

of the stūpa may be tall and grand, magnificent, surpassing the three realms, or even as small as a mango (2). The mast of the stūpa (3) may rise as high as the Brahmā Heaven, or be as small as a needle. The canopy of the stūpa (4) may be vast enough to cover the great-thousandfold realm, or as small as the leaf of a jujube tree. Within the stūpa is enshrined the relics, hair, teeth, beard, or nails of the Tathāgata, or even only a single portion (of such relics), or there is established the Dharma treasury, which is the scriptures of the twelve categories (5), or even there is established a single verse of four lines. The merit of the one who builds the stūpa is equal to the merit of a Brahmā. After that person's life comes to an end, they are born in the Brahmā Heaven (6).

Having lived out the full lifespan in the Brahmā Heaven, that person is born in the Heaven of the Five Pure Abodes (7), equal and without difference from the devas of that realm (8). Good son, the Tathāgata has spoken of such matters, which are the causes and conditions and the measure of merit of building a stūpa; you and the devas and the rest should cultivate and learn them.

At that time, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara again said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, as for what the World-Honored One has taught, from the enshrining of relics to the Dharma treasury, I have received and remembered it. I respectfully inquire of the World-Honored One concerning the meaning of the verse of four lines; I humbly beg the World-Honored One to discriminate and expound it for me.

At that time, the World-Honored One spoke the following verse: All dharmas arise from causes and conditions

I declare them to be causes and conditions

When the causes and conditions end, they cease

Thus do I teach and proclaim. (9)

Good son, the meaning of this verse speaks of the Dharma-body of the Buddha. You should copy out this verse and enshrine it within the stūpa. Why is this? Because all dharmas that arise from causes and conditions are of an essential nature that is empty and still (10); therefore the Tathāgata calls this the Dharma-body. If there be sentient beings who clearly understand the meaning of the causes and conditions of dharmas, you should know that such a person sees the Buddha (11).

At that time, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, together with the devas, all the great assembly, the gandharvas and the rest, having heard what the World-Honored One proclaimed, were all greatly delighted; they believed, received, and reverently practiced it.

Preface to the Sūtra on the Merit of Building Stūpas

Stūpa is named according to the Sanskrit, rendered in meaning as a high and dry plot of ground. A stūpa may be square or round in shape, fashioned in diverse ways, ornate or simple (12), of harmonious beauty, with earth heaped up and trees planted to preserve its numinous responsiveness, its doors locking away the Dharma treasury, in the hope of transmitting merit as numerous as the sands, so as to repay the labors of kalpas of dust.

A stūpa is by no means a place that expresses everlasting admiration for those of bow, sword, cap, and robe;

like the mausoleum of Emperor Wu (13) and the wall of Confucius (14), which serve only to display burial and concealment.

A stūpa may have a measure equal to the great-thousandfold realm, covering all three realms and rising as high as the Brahmā Heaven; or it may be only the size of a mango, comparable to a jujube leaf and likened to a needle. Though a stūpa may take the two paths of high and low, its blessings are not two; though it may have a thousand variations of large and small, the purity of mind is one and the same. A stūpa is not only of pure gold and white jade vying in brilliance and beauty; with upright flames and clear waters (15), colors floating and sinking.

In the evening, the sound of the auspicious wind blows and trembles, harmonizing with the deep, warm ringing of the bell. In the morning, sweetly and gently drifts the dew of the immortal realm, glistening and congealing upon the carved reliefs. A stūpa is the place where one is filled with the flavor of the three fruits (16), with the merit of the four dhyānas added, ascending to the heaven of the Summit of Existence, journeying to the mind-ground of No Calamity.

Such is the broad and deep meaning that the stūpa teaches and transmits.

On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month, in the winter of the first year of Yonglong (680, under Emperor Gaozong of the Tang), the Dharma master Divākara of India was respectfully invited, together with five persons from Ximing Monastery and the Hongfu practice center, namely the śramaṇas Woncheuk and the rest, who, by imperial decree, proclaimed and translated this sūtra. By the eighth day of the twelfth month of that year, these venerables completed the translation of the text and meaning of this sūtra, in the hope that this Dharma treasure might rescue the great-thousandfold realm, causing that lamp of wisdom to illuminate the three realms. The sūtra follows hereafter: (17)

Annotations:

1 Divākara (613–687): Rendered into Chinese as Rizhao (Sunlight). The master left home in his youth and once resided at the Mahābodhi and Nālandā monasteries. He had a lofty and beautiful bearing, was intelligent and keen in awakening, was thoroughly versed in the three baskets, well-acquainted with the five sciences, and exceedingly skilled in incantations.

Admiring the resolve and aspiration of the Venerable Xuanzang, in the year 676, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang, the master came to Chang'an; at that time the master was already over sixty years of age. In the year 680, the emperor issued a decree inviting the master to reside in a detached cloister and decreed that ten great virtuous ones assist the master in translating scriptures at Taiyuan Monastery in the Eastern Capital and at Taiyuan Monastery and Hongfu Monastery in the Western Capital.

Over six years, from 680 to 685, the master and the ten great virtuous ones together completed the translation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness, 18 sections, 34 fascicles. In the year 684, at Taiyuan Monastery in the Western Capital, the master transmitted to the Venerable Fazang the "Entry into the Dharma Realm" chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, by which the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in China was at last made complete.

The master often thought of repaying the kindness of his mother and wished to return to his homeland; many times he submitted memorials requesting leave to return, and in the end the emperor granted it, but it is to be lamented that the master fell ill and so was unable to return to his homeland. In the year 687, the master passed away at the age of 75. Empress Wu issued a decree to bury the master at Xiangshan Monastery at Longmen, in the capital Luoyang, China.

2 Āmra fruit (菴羅果, Āmra): The Samantapāsādikā Vinaya calls the mango the āmra fruit.

3 The emblematic mast (表剎): abbreviated as cha, derived from the word cha-da-la (剎多羅, Kṣetra), meaning a banner-pillar (a flagstaff). The banner-pillar set as an emblem upon the summit of the stūpa is called the emblematic mast: the object that symbolizes the stūpa. Cha refers to a Buddha-land, and is also used as an honorific designation for a Buddha-stūpa.

To honor a monastery, it is called a brahma-cha. Upon the stūpa is placed a pillar towering upward, having many round disks called the wheel-canopy (eight disks arranged upward make a Buddha-stūpa). The tip of the pillar is in the shape of a jewel emitting light, within which the relics of the Buddha are enshrined.

Sometimes this pillar is erected separately before the stūpa, called the emblem-pillar. Sometimes there is no stūpa but only a pillar, and this pillar is itself the stūpa (and upon the summit of the pillar hangs a wheel-canopy with precious bells attached). The tips of all such pillars are made of gold, and so they are called golden masts.

The Lotus Sūtra, chapter on the Discrimination of Merit, records: The mast of the stūpa is exceedingly tall and broad, gradually narrowing up to the Brahmā Heaven (the emblematic mast exceedingly

tall and broad, gradually narrowing up to the Brahmā Heaven: 表剎甚高廣, 漸小至梵天). The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, chapter on the Dharma Offering, records: Erecting a stūpa of the seven treasures, with a circumference equal to one human continent, as high as the Brahmā Heaven, its emblematic mast magnificent (起七寶塔，縱廣一四天下，高至梵天，表剎莊嚴: erecting a stūpa of the seven treasures, in length and breadth one of the four continents, as high as the Brahmā Heaven, the emblematic mast majestic).

4 The wheel-canopy (輪蓋): a canopy in the shape of a wheel, also called the disk-canopy or the dew-receiving disk, shaped like a round tray, with many layers stacked one upon another, the emblematic mast passing through its center.

5 The twelve categories of scripture (the twelve divisions of the canon): The styles of literature and the matters and principles in all the scriptures are divided into 12 categories (division

= a section, or branch = a component), such that some sections or scriptures possess all 12 categories, while some sections or scriptures contain only 1 category up to 11 categories. They are: 1. Sūtra (Sūtra = a thread-scripture, because it accords with both truth and the mind) is the prose style in the scriptures, directly stating the meaning of the Dharma; 2.

Geya (Geya = responsive verse or repeated verse) is the metrical style that corresponds to the prose and repeats the Dharma-meaning stated before; 3. Gāthā (Gāthā = chanted verse or independently arising verse) is the metrical style that does not follow the prose but states the Dharma-meaning on its own; 4. Nidāna (Nidāna = causes and conditions) recounts the reasons for seeing the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, the reasons and places where the Buddha preached the Dharma and taught and transformed beings; 5.

Itivṛttaka (Itivuttaka = past matters) is where the Buddha recounts the past causes and conditions of his disciples; 6. Jātaka (Jātaka = past births) is where the Buddha speaks of his own past causes and conditions,

7. Adbhutadharma (Adbhutadharma = marvels not previously existing) records the inconceivable matters of the Buddha's manifestation of spiritual power; 8. Avadāna (Avadāna = parables) tells parables and similes; 9.

Upadeśa (Upadeśa = doctrinal discourse) is question-and-answer discussion of the Dharma-meaning; 10. Udāna (Udāna = self-spoken teaching) is what the Buddha speaks of his own accord without anyone asking; 11. Vaipulya (Vaipulya = the broad and extensive) speaks of truth that is precise and vast; 12.

Vyākaraṇa (Vyākaraṇa = prophetic conferral) is the conferral of the prophecy of buddhahood upon bodhisattvas. Among these, the first 3 categories are divided according to literary style, and the latter 9 categories are divided according to the matters and principles of that literary style.

6 Brahmā world (梵世, brahmaloka): also called the Brahmā form-realm, the Brahmā-world heaven, the Brahmā world-realm, the Brahmā realm;

it refers to the world under the dominion of Brahmā. The term Brahmā world is also a term for the devas of the Form Realm, for those who dwell in this realm have already departed from sexual desire, and so from of old in India the conduct of departing from desire, the pure conduct, is called brahma-conduct (brahmacarya).

7 The Heaven of the Five Pure Abodes belongs to the Form Realm, also called the Five Heavens of the Non-Returners or the Five Anāgāmin Heavens. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra records: Herein, there are still five grades of Non-Returner Heavens, in which the nine grades of habitual tendencies of the lower realm have been wholly exhausted; suffering and pleasure are both ended, and they do not abide in the lower realm, and so establish their dwelling place in the mind of equanimity of beings of the same lot.

These five grades are: 1. Suffering and pleasure being extinguished, liking and disliking not arising — this class is called the Heaven of No Affliction; 2. Self-mastery in casting off, with neither subject nor object, the mind without opposition — this class is called the Heaven of No Heat; 3.

The worlds of the ten directions, beheld in pure stillness, with no further defilement of dust-objects whatsoever — this class is called the Heaven of Good Seeing; 4. Marvelous seeing manifest before them, transforming everywhere without hindrance — this class is called the Heaven of Good Manifestation; 5. The form-dust, from its restless characteristics to its ultimate unmoving point, exhausting the nature of form without bound or shore — this class is called the Heaven of the Ultimate of Form. Ānanda, with respect to these Non-Returner Heavens, only the four deva-kings of the fourth-dhyāna realm are able to hear of and know them, but cannot see and know them.

Just as now in the world, in deep mountains and remote forests, the practice-grounds of the sages all have arhats who maintain and uphold them, yet worldly people cannot see them.

8 The Heaven of the Five Pure Abodes is the dwelling place of the anāgāmins. These beings will here continue their cultivation in order to realize the fruit of arhatship. The bodies of the devas in the Heaven of the Five Pure Abodes are of an exceedingly subtle material substance, far surpassing all the heavens below in the Form Realm.

9 This verse expounds the non-arising and non-ceasing of the Dharma-body, and so is called the Dharma-body verse, the Dharma-body relic verse, or the Dharma-verse relic. The Sūtra on the Merit of Bathing the Image records: Good son, the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, possess

three bodies, namely the Dharma-body, the enjoyment-body, and the transformation-body. After the Tathāgata enters nirvāṇa, if anyone wishes to

make offerings to these three bodies, they should make offerings to the relics. Now relics are of two kinds: the first is bodily-bone relics,

the second is Dharma-verse relics. The Buddha then spoke a Dharma-verse: All dharmas arise from conditions / The Tathāgata

declares them the cause / When the causes and conditions of those dharmas are exhausted / Thus the great śramaṇa declares.

(諸法從緣起, 如來說是因, 彼法因緣儘, 是大沙門說: All dharmas arise from conditions / The Tathāgata declares this the

cause / When the causes and conditions of those dharmas are exhausted / Thus the great śramaṇa declares).

10 The true essential nature of all dharmas, whether of mind or of form, is the nature that is empty and still. Because dharmas are empty and still, there is not a single thing and there is not a single characteristic, yet for this very reason, in accordance with conditions, there are all things and all dharmas. As the Madhyamaka Treatise records: "Because there is the principle of emptiness, all dharmas come to be" (以有空義故,一切法得成: Because there is the meaning of emptiness, all dharmas are accomplished).

11 The Venerable Vakkali was at the potter's house, gravely ill and about to pass away, but in his heart he greatly wished to behold

the countenance of the World-Honored One and to pay his final homage to Him before closing his eyes and departing from life, yet he could

not in any way reach the dwelling place of the World-Honored One; therefore the Venerable Vakkali sent his attendant to respectfully invite the World-Honored One to come to the place where he dwelt. Out of compassion, the World-Honored One went in person to visit the bhikṣu Vakkali. After arriving, the World-Honored One asked: — Vakkali, if you have nothing to reproach yourself for concerning the precepts, then is there anything that troubles you or causes you remorse?

The Venerable Vakkali replied: — For a long time, World-Honored One, I have wished to come to see the World-Honored One, but my body did not have strength enough to come and see the World-Honored One. The World-Honored One taught: — Enough now, Vakkali, what is there worth seeing in this foul-smelling body? Vakkali, whoever sees the Dharma sees Me; whoever sees Me sees the Dharma. (Translated by Most Venerable Thích Minh Châu, Saṃyutta Nikāya, volume 3)

12 The original text reads "rough-hewn and lightly worked." The ornate is like jade already polished and refined; the simple is like jade not yet polished

and refined.

13 Referring to King Yu of the Xia dynasty, 2205 BCE.

14 The wall of Confucius: The Book of Han, treatise on Arts and Letters, records: "The ancient-script Book of Documents was taken from within the wall of the house of the Kong clan. At the end of Emperor Wu's reign, Prince Gong of Lu demolished the dwelling of Confucius, wishing to enlarge his own palace chambers, and discovered the ancient-script Book of Documents, together with the Book of Rites, the Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety, in all more than 10 chapters, all in ancient script.

As Prince Gong went in and out of that house, he heard the sounds of the se and qin zithers, of bells and chimes; in fear he then ceased the work and demolished the wall no further. Kong Anguo was a descendant of Confucius; devoting himself wholeheartedly, he was able to study these books, examining and annotating 29 chapters and obtaining more than 16 chapters. Anguo presented them to the court, but on account of the witchcraft calamity, they were not yet ranked among the academic offices."

15 Referring to the decorative patterns of fire and water.

16 The three fruits refer to the holy fruit of anāgāmin, the third of the four fruits of the śrāvaka.

17 In the great canon of scriptures, this preface is placed above the scriptural text; here it is moved below as an appendix.