佛祖統紀 33.47

33.47

述曰唐以前無紙錢為用者。自王璵盛行此法。於是冥中藏積緡鏹金銀繒綵。與世間所用無少異。由心法之能變造故。天府冥關亦隨人心而轉。世有用紙鏹寄庫者。有鬼神用紙鏹入人間買物者。有見泰山堆積蠟錢無用云人間化財用油注度火為污者。此等顯驗不一。心生則種種法生。不特紙錢一法而已也。

I state: Prior to the Tang, there was no custom of employing paper money. From the time Wang Yu popularized this method, strings of coins, gold, silver, and dyed silks were accumulated and stored in the underworld, not the least bit different from what is used in the mundane world. Because of the mind-dharma's ability to transform and create, the heavenly halls and the underworld gates also turn according to the minds of humans. In the world, there are those who use paper coins to deposit in banks [for the afterlife], and there are spirits and ghosts who take paper coins into the human world to buy goods. Some have seen wax coins piled up uselessly on Mount Tai, because those burning worldly wealth used oil to facilitate the fire and thus defiled it. Manifest verifications such as these are varied. When the mind arises, diverse dharmas arise; it is not merely the single practice of paper money alone.