佛祖統紀 36.9

36.9

In the second year of the Taikang reign period, Liu Saha of Bingzhou, whose livelihood was hunting, died suddenly. Two men directed him to go northwest. Reaching hell, he saw a golden holy being. Those beside him said: 'This is the Great Being Guanyin.' [Guanyin] said to Saha: 'Your sins warrant entering hell. You may go to the five places where King Aśoka stupas exist—Luoyang, Linzi, Jianye, Maoyin, and Chengdu—to prostrate, repent, and reform. Furthermore, there are two stone statues in Wuzhong made by ghosts and spirits dispatched by King Aśoka; if you are able to go and worship them, you will not fall into hell.' [Guanyin] also said: 'Whenever generating merit on behalf of the deceased, the full moon of the seventh month is when the śramaṇas conclude the summer retreat; offering provisions at this time is extraordinarily superior. If preparing offering requisites and vessels, explicitly write on a label: "Offered to the Three Jewels on behalf of so-and-so"; the merit will be all the greater. When śramaṇas and white-robed laity notice their sins and past transgressions, if they can reveal them themselves, not missing any particular detail, and diligently and sincerely repent, their sins will be extinguished. If ashamed to set them forth before the assembly, one may silently confess and state them before an image; if no particulars are missed, the sins will also be eradicated. If anything is omitted without intentional concealment, the retribution received will still be light. When a good person recites scriptures, the ground becomes diamond, though people with physical eyes cannot see it.' (The Biographies of Monks contain a great deal about this, which is not fully recorded here.) Having revived, he then left home, taking the name Huida. He searched everywhere in the mountains and marshes of Kuaiji. Reaching Mount Wushi in Mao County, at night he heard the sound of an underground bell. After three days, there were seven Indian monks circumambulating in mid-air, and a square platform welled up from the ground. Chopping the earth to seek it, he obtained a jewelled stupa containing relics. Six monks soared into the air and vanished, while one monk transformed into a black stone, which was why the mountain was so named. The stupa's colour was like green stone, one foot four inches high and seven inches wide, with prominent four corners and five layers of dew-collecting discs; suspended in the centre was a jewelled chime containing Buddha relics. Later, that stupa flew to a mountain, stopping there three times in all. Huida then built an aranya on that site to enshrine the stupa (these are the upper and lower stupas and the relic hall at the present King Aśoka Monastery in Siming).