佛祖統紀 53.53

53.53

Emperor Gaozu of the Tang made three life-sized Buddha images for [the emperors] from Taizu down. ○ Emperor Taizong dreamed of Yu Shinan and ordered the creation of a Buddha image to aid his post-mortem welfare. ○ Emperor Gaozong commanded that a stone niche with a Vairocana Buddha eighty-five feet high be carved at Mount Longmen in Luoyang; the monk Zhiyun chiseled fifteen thousand stone Buddhas at Mount Longmen. ○ Empress Wu collected one coin daily from all monks and nuns across the empire to construct a colossal image at the Baisimabang slope. ○ Emperor Xuanzong commanded the Kaiyuan temples of all commanderies to cast life-sized gilt-bronze Buddha images of the emperor. ○ The monk Haitong carved a Maitreya Buddha three hundred and sixty feet high out of stone along the great river in Jiazhou, covering it with a nine-story pavilion.