律相感通傳 1.48

1.48

答曰：「迦葉佛時，有利賓菩薩，見此土人不信業報，以殺害為事。于時住處有數萬家無重佛法者，菩薩救之，為立伽藍，大梵天王手造像身。初成已後，菩薩神力能令此像如真佛不異，遊步說法，教化諸人。雖蒙此導，猶不信受。于時菩薩示行怖畏，手擎大石，可於聚落，欲下壓之。菩薩佯怖勸化，諸人便歘迴心，信敬於佛。所有殺具變成蓮華，隨有街巷，華如種植，瑞像自此方攝神力。菩薩又勸諸清信士女，令造七寺，南北一百四里，東西八十里，彌山亘谷，處處僧坊佛堂。經十三年，方得成就。同時出家有二萬人，在七寺住，經三百年。彼諸人等現業力大，昔所造惡當世輕受，不入地獄。前所害者在惡趣中，又發惡願：『彼害我者，及未成聖，我當害之；若不加害，惡業便盡，我無以報。』共吐大火，焚燒寺舍，及彼聚落一時焚蕩。縱盜得活，又以木水漂溺殺之，無一孑遺。時彼山神，寺未破前收取此像，遠在空中。寺破已後，下內石室，安置供養。年月既久，石生室滅，至劉薩訶禮山示像。其薩訶者，前身元是利賓菩薩。身首別處，更有別緣。」

He replied, "In the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there was a bodhisattva named Libin who saw that the people of this land did not believe in karmic retribution and engaged in slaughter. At that time, in the place where he dwelt, there were tens of thousands of households that did not esteem the Buddha's Dharma. To save them, the bodhisattva founded a saṅghārāma for them, and Great Brahma Heavenly King crafted the body of the image with his own hands. After it was initially completed, the bodhisattva's spiritual power could make this image indistinguishable from a true Buddha, walking about and preaching the Dharma to instruct and transform the people. Although receiving this guidance, they still did not believe and accept it. The bodhisattva then displayed an act of terror: lifting a great rock in his hand roughly the size of the village, he threatened to crush them beneath it. The bodhisattva pretended to be fearful and exhorted them to transform; the people thereupon suddenly had a change of heart and came to have faith and reverence for the Buddha. All their slaughtering tools transformed into lotus flowers, and throughout every street and lane, flowers bloomed as if planted; only then did the auspicious image withdraw its spiritual powers. The bodhisattva also exhorted the laymen and laywomen to build seven monasteries, spanning one hundred and four li north to south and eighty li east to west, filling the mountains and extending across the valleys, with monastic quarters and Buddha halls everywhere. Only after thirteen years was it completed. At that time, twenty thousand people went forth as renunciants and lived in the seven monasteries for three hundred years. Because the power of their present karma was great, the evil deeds they had done previously were experienced lightly in that lifetime without falling into hell. But those previously harmed by them, who were in the evil destinies, made an evil vow: 'Those who harmed us—before they achieve sainthood, we shall harm them; if we do not inflict harm upon them, their evil karma will be exhausted and we will have no way to exact retribution!' Together they spat forth great fire, burning down the monasteries and dwellings, and the villages were simultaneously incinerated. Even if any managed to escape with their lives, they were drowned and killed by logs and water, leaving not a single survivor. At that time, before the monasteries were destroyed, the mountain deity took up this image and held it far away in the air. After the monasteries were destroyed, he placed it inside a stone chamber to make offerings. After many months and years had passed, the stone grew and the chamber vanished, until Liu Sahe bowed to the mountain and revealed the image. That Sahe was in his previous life originally the bodhisattva Libin. As for his body and head being in separate places, that involves other circumstances."