佛祖統紀 43.8

43.8

○先是民間有得梁誌公銅牌記云。有一真人起冀州。開口張弓在左邊。子子孫孫保永年。江南李主名其子曰弘冀。吳越錢王諸子。皆連弘字（弘倧弘俶弘億）期應圖讖。及上受禪。而宣祖之諱正當之（太祖皇考。上弘下殷。追諡宣祖。趙普皇朝龍飛記）○周世宗之廢佛像也（世宗自持鑿破鎮州大悲像胸）疽發於胸而殂。時太祖太宗目見之。嘗訪神僧麻衣和上曰。今毀佛法大非社稷之福。麻衣曰。豈不聞三武之禍乎。又問。天下何時定乎。曰赤氣已兆。辰申間當有真主出興。佛法亦大興矣（其後太祖受禪於庚申年正月甲辰。其應在於此也）○處士陳摶隱居華山閉門臥。屢月不起。顯德末乘白騾將入東都。中道聞太祖即位。大笑曰。天下自此定矣○上始受命默計釋氏。何道而歸敬。若是其盛。嘗微行至相國寺見一僧。醉嘔戶外。惡罵不可聞。上怒之。適從旁過。為醉僧所抱曰。莫惡發將暮矣。宜亟歸內。上心動。乃還密令小璫往覘（勅焰切窺。漢宦者冠。加金璫充耳也）。令取所吐物。至則醉僧不見。收遺吐至。上前視之則真乳香也。上嗟歎不已。益知敬佛（已上四事蔡氏叢談）○詔以二月十六日聖誕為長春節。賜百官宴於相國寺。宰相范質製祝聖齋疏云。素虹紀瑞。表覺帝之下生（佛下生有白象貫日。滅度有白虹十二道。今范公用事。恐別有所出）紺馬效靈。應輪王之出世（金輪王出時七寶自至。紺馬寶即其一也）非夫威震四天。則不足感自然之寶（金輪王統王四天下）非夫位尊三界。則孰能致希有之祥（佛為三界大師）壽命同百億須彌。德澤被三千世界。恒沙可算天祿難窮。墨海雖乾皇基益固云云。是日以慶誕恩。詔普度童行八千人（國朝會要）。

Earlier, among the common people, someone obtained a bronze tablet inscription by Master Baozhi of the Liang dynasty, which read: "A true person will arise from Jizhou; opening the mouth and drawing the bow on the left side, his sons and grandsons shall preserve the throne for eternal years." Lord Li of Jiangnan named his son Hongji, and all the sons of King Qian of Wuyue incorporated the character *Hong* in their names (Hongzong, Hongchu, Hongyi), hoping to correspond to the prophetic chart. When the Emperor received the abdication, the taboo name of Xuanzu precisely matched it. (Taizu's imperial father was named Hongyin, posthumously titled Xuanzu; from Zhao Pu's *Records of the August Dynasty's Dragon Soaring*.) When Emperor Shizong of the Zhou destroyed Buddhist images (Shizong personally held a chisel and smashed the chest of the Great Compassion icon in Zhenzhou), an ulcer erupted on his chest and he passed away. At that time, Taizu and Taizong witnessed it with their own eyes. They once visited the divine monk, the Venerable Mayi, and said, "The current destruction of the Buddha's Dharma is by no means a blessing for the altars of soil and grain." Mayi said, "Have you not heard of the calamities of the three emperors named Wu?" They further asked, "When will the realm be settled?" He replied, "A red aura has already shown its omen; between chen and shen, a true ruler will arise, and the Buddha's Dharma will also flourish greatly." (Later, Taizu accepted the abdication in the gengshen year, in the first month on the jiachen day; this was the fulfillment of that prophecy.) The recluse Chen Tuan lived in seclusion on Mount Hua, sleeping behind closed doors without rising for months at a time. At the end of the Xiande era, riding a white mule, he was about to enter the Eastern Capital. On the way, hearing that Taizu had ascended the throne, he laughed heartily and said, "From this moment on, the realm is settled!" When the Emperor first received the mandate, he silently reflected upon the Śākya clan: by what path did they command such devotion and reverence, so great as this? Once, traveling in disguise, he went to Xiangguo Temple and saw a monk drunkenly vomiting outside the gate, spouting foul curses unbearable to hear. The Emperor was angered by him. As he happened to pass by his side, he was embraced by the drunken monk, who said, "Do not lose your temper; it is almost evening, you should return to the palace at once." The Emperor was shaken in his heart. Upon returning, he secretly ordered a small eunuch to go and spy, commanding him to collect what had been vomited. When the eunuch arrived, the drunken monk was nowhere to be seen. He collected the remaining vomit and brought it back; when the Emperor inspected it before him, it was genuine frankincense. The Emperor sighed in wonder incessantly and came all the more to revere the Buddha. (The above four matters are from Cai's *Congtan*.) An edict decreed that the imperial birthday on the sixteenth day of the second month be the Festival of Eternal Spring, bestowing a banquet for the civil and military officials at Xiangguo Temple. The Chancellor Fan Zhi composed a vegetarian prayer text for the imperial celebration, which said: "A white rainbow recorded the omen, manifesting the descent of the Enlightened Sovereign into this world; (At the Buddha's birth, a white elephant penetrated the sun; at his parinirvāṇa, there were twelve white rainbows. Chancellor Fan's allusion here is likely derived from another source.) / A dark-blue horse showed its numinous response, matching the appearance of a wheel-turning king in the world. (When a Golden Wheel-Turning King appears, the seven treasures arrive spontaneously; the dark-blue horse treasure is one of them.) / Were his majesty not such as to shake the four heavens, it would not suffice to evoke spontaneous treasures; (A Golden Wheel-Turning King governs all four continents under heaven.) / Were his position not honoured in the three realms, who could bring about such rare auspicious omens? (The Buddha is the Great Teacher of the Three Realms.) / May his life span equal a hundred billion Mount Sumerus, and his virtuous benevolence cover the three-thousandfold world system. / Though the sands of the Ganges may be counted, his heavenly blessings are inexhaustible; / though the ocean of ink may dry up, the imperial foundation will remain all the firmer." On that day, by grace of the imperial birthday celebration, an edict ordered the universal ordination of eight thousand postulants. (From the *Guochao huiyao*.)