高僧傳 13.14

13.14

釋僧洪，豫州人，止于京師瓦官寺。少而修身整潔。後率化有緣，造丈六金像，鎔鑄始畢，未及開模。時晉末銅禁甚嚴，犯者必死。宋武于時為相國，洪坐罪繫于相府，唯誦《觀世音經》，一心歸命佛像。夜夢所鑄像來，手摩洪頭，問：「怖不？」洪言。自念必死。像曰：「無憂。」見像胸方尺許，銅色燋沸。會當行刑，府參軍監殺，而牛奔車壞，因更剋日。續有令從彭城來云：「未殺，僧洪者可原。」遂獲免。還開模，見像胸前果有燋沸。洪後以苦行卒矣。

Shi Senghong was a man of Yuzhou who resided at Waguan Temple in the capital. From youth he cultivated his conduct with pure discipline. Later, he led and converted those with karmic affinity to cast a sixteen-foot golden image; the smelting and casting had just finished, and the mold had not yet been opened. At that time, toward the end of the Jin, the prohibition on bronze was extremely strict, and violators faced certain death. Song Wu was then the Chancellor of State, and Hong was implicated in the crime and imprisoned in the Chancellor's office. He only recited the Guanyin Sūtra, single-mindedly taking refuge in the Buddha image. At night, he dreamed that the image he had cast came, rubbed Hong's head with its hand, and asked: "Are you afraid or not?" Hong replied that in his own thoughts he was certain to die. The image said: "Have no fear." He saw that the image's chest, about a square foot in size, was scorched and boiling in bronze colour. When the execution was due to take place, the adjutant of the headquarters supervised the killing, but the ox bolted and the carriage broke, so another day was set. Subsequently, an order arrived from Pengcheng, saying: "Do not execute; Senghong may be pardoned." Thus, he gained release. Returning, he opened the mold, and indeed found that the chest of the image was scorched and boiled. Later, Hong died through ascetic practices.