佛祖統紀 36.27

36.27

In the first year of the Taining era, the Emperor painted with his own hand an image of Śākyamuni Buddha in the Lexian Hall of the inner palace. He also went to Xinghuang Monastery, where he gathered a hundred doctrinal monks to lecture and debate on the Buddhist path. / In the third year, fishermen saw a light upon the sea; when they cast their nets, they obtained a golden statue of Mañjuśrī. An inscription on it read: 'Made by King Aśoka.' Later, a merchant found a circular halo east of the sea; holding it up to the statue, it fit seamlessly. When Tao Kan served as Inspector of Guangzhou, he obtained the statue and sent it to Hanxi Monastery. The abbot, the monk Sengzhen, once traveled to Xiakou and dreamed that the monastery was on fire, but this statue hall alone had divine protection. Zhen hurried back; the monastery had indeed burned down, and only the statue hall was preserved. When Kan was transferred to oversee Jiangzhou, he sent boats to welcome it, but on reaching the river, it sank (ni, with the initial nai and final li, means 'submerged') into the water and could not be recovered.