觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊 2.218

2.218

大宋《高僧傳》第四云「後躬遊五臺山，登大行至西河，古佛宇中宿。夢身在半山巖下，有無量人唱苦聲。冥昧之間，初不忍聞。徒步陟彼層峯，皆瑠璃色，盡見諸國土。仰望一城，城中有聲曰：『住住。咄！基公未令到此。』斯須二天童自城出，問曰：『汝見山下罪苦眾生否？』答曰：『我聞聲而不見形。』童子遂投與劍一鐔曰：『割腹當見矣。』基自割之，腹開，有光兩道暉映山下，見無數人受其極苦。時童子入城，持紙二軸及筆投之，捧得而去。及旦驚異未已，過信夜寺中有光，久而不滅。尋視之，數軸發光者，探之，得《彌勒上生經》，乃憶前夢必慈氏令我造疏通暢厥理耳。遂投毫次，筆鋒有舍利二七粒而隕，如吳含桃許大，紅色可愛。次零然而下者，牧如黃粱粟粒（云云）。」

Fascicle 4 of the Song Gaoseng Zhuan states: 'Later, he personally travelled to Mount Wutai, climbing the Taihang Mountains to Xihe, and stayed overnight in an ancient Buddhist temple. He dreamed that his body was beneath a cliff halfway up a mountain, where immeasurable people were crying out in pain. In the gloom, he could initially not bear to listen. Climbing on foot to that layered peak, which was entirely of lapis lazuli colour, he saw all the lands completely. Looking up at a city, a voice from within the city said: "Halt, halt! Ho! Master Ji has not yet been permitted to arrive here." Presently two heavenly youths came out from the city and asked: "Do you see the sinful, suffering sentient beings below the mountain?" He answered: "I hear their voices but do not see their forms." The youths then threw down a sword hilt and said: "Cut open your belly and you will see." Ji cut it open himself; when the belly opened, two beams of light shone down upon the mountain, and he saw countless people undergoing extreme suffering. Then the youths entered the city, took two scrolls of paper and a brush, threw them to him, and he received them in his hands and left. When dawn came, his amazement had not ceased. Over a trustworthy night, there was a light in the temple that did not extinguish for a long time. Searching for it, there were several scrolls emitting light; reaching for them, he obtained the Maitreya Ascent Sūtra. He then recalled the earlier dream: Maitreya must certainly be commanding me to compose a commentary to elucidate its principles. Thereupon, as he dropped the brush, fourteen relics fell from the tip of the brush, as large as Wu cherries and delightfully red. Those that fell subsequently were as small as yellow millet grains (and so forth).'