律相感通傳 1.85

1.85

答云：「育王第四女，厥貌非妍，久而不出。常恨其醜，乃圖佛形，相好異佛，還如自身。成已發願：『佛之相好挺異於人，如何同我之形儀也？』以此苦邀，彌經年月，後感佛現，忽異昔形。父具問之，述其所願。今北山玉華、荊州長沙、楊都高悝及今崇敬寺，並是其像。或書光趺，人罕識者。育王令諸神鬼所在，將往開悟佛法。今諸像面，莫匪女形。崇敬寺地本是戰場，西晉將末，五胡大起，兵戈殺害，此地極多，地下人骨今猶見在。所殺無辜，殘害酷濫，故諸鬼神携以鎮之，令諸冤魂得生善念。周朝滅法，神亦徙之。隋主載隆，佛還重起。」

He replied, "King Aśoka's fourth daughter was not attractive in appearance and remained secluded indoors for a long time. Constantly distressed by her ugliness, she drew the Buddha's form, yet the marks and features were unlike the Buddha's and resembled her own body instead. Once it was completed, she made a vow: 'The Buddha's marks and features are preeminent and different from mortals; how could they resemble my own form and appearance?' With this, she prayed earnestly, enduring months and years, after which she had a spiritual resonance wherein the Buddha appeared, suddenly transforming her former appearance. Her father questioned her thoroughly, and she recounted what she had vowed. The images now at Yuhua on North Mountain, Changsha in Jing Prefecture, Gao Kui's in the capital of Yang, and the present Chongjing Monastery are all this image. Some have inscriptions on their halos or pedestals, but few people recognise them. King Aśoka commanded various spirits and ghosts to transport them to various places to open beings up to the Buddha Dharma. The faces of these various images are none other than female forms. The site of Chongjing Monastery was originally a battlefield; toward the end of the Western Jin, when the Five Barbarians arose in force, killings by weapons and armor were extremely numerous here, and human bones beneath the ground can still be seen today. Those killed were innocent, having suffered cruel and excessive slaughter; therefore, the spirits and ghosts brought [the image] to subdue the area, enabling the wronged souls to give rise to wholesome thoughts. When the Zhou dynasty extinguished the Dharma, the spirits also removed it. When the Sui ruler ascended and flourished, the Buddha [image] was erected once again."