佛祖統紀 53.23

53.23

Under Emperor Taizong of the Song, the King of Wuyue came to court; Monastic Regulator Zanning presented the Śākyamuni relic pagoda, bringing it in for an audience at the Zifu Hall. Emperor Gaozong personally wielded his imperial brush to bestow the title "Pagoda of the Radiance of the Buddha's Uṣṇīṣa." Emperor Xiaozong sent the palace attendant Li Yuwen to Mount King Aśoka to welcome the Buddha relic pagoda, escorting it to the provisional capital to be enshrined in the Contemplation Hall, where he burned incense, gazed upon it, and paid homage; he saw the sign of a moon-disc and crystal beads upon the pagoda. The Crown Prince requested that it be brought to the Eastern Palace to gaze upon and pay homage; he saw that the spire-rings were clustered like crystal beads. The Emperor inscribed "Hall of Wondrous Triumph" to enshrine the pagoda. The imperial son, the Prince of Wei, came to garrison Siming; he went to the monastery to gaze upon and pay homage to the precious pagoda, seeing radiant beams of blue and red dazzlingly intermingled. He therefore fashioned a gold pagoda to house the relic pagoda, composing four stanzas of eulogy inscribed on its four sides. One li east of the monastery there is a sacred eel in a holy well; whenever it is about to come out, two red crabs act as outriders. When King Wusu Qian welcomed the pagoda to Qiantang, he dreamt of a bodhisattva wearing a crowned headdress of entwined flower garlands, clutching a crab under each arm, who said: "I am the sacred eel of the holy well of King Aśoka, come to protect the pagoda." (The above accounts all appear in the Biography of the Relic Pagoda and the Biography of the Sacred Eel written by Monastic Regulator Ning).