高僧傳 13.31

13.31

爾後百有餘年，阿育王遣使浮海，壞撤諸塔，分取舍利。還值風潮，頗有遺落。故今海族之中，時或遇者。是後八萬四千，因之而起。育王諸女，亦次發淨心，並鐫石鎔金，圖寫神狀。至能浮江泛海，影化東川。雖復靈迹潛通，而未彰視聽。及蔡愔、秦景自西域還至，始傳畫㲲釋迦。於是涼臺壽陵，並圖其相。自茲厥後，形像塔廟，與時競列。洎于大梁，遺光粵盛。夫法身無像，因感故形感見有參差，故形應有殊別。若乃心路蒼茫，則真儀隔化，情志慊切，則木石開心。故劉殷至孝誠感，釜庾為之生銘；丁蘭溫清竭誠，木母以之變色。魯陽迴戈而日轉，杞婦下淚而城崩。斯皆隱惻入其性情，故使徵祥照乎耳目。至如慧達招光於剎抄，慧力感瑞於塔基，慧受申誠於浮木，僧慧顯證於移燈，洪、亮並忘形於鑄像，意、獻皆盡命於伽藍。法獻專志於牙骨，竟陵為之通感，僧護蓄抱於石城，南平以之獲應。近有光宅丈九，顯曜京畿，宋帝四鑠而不成，梁皇一冶而形備。妙相踊而無虧，瑞銅少而更足。故知道藉人弘，神由物感，豈曰虛哉？是以祭神如神在，則神道交矣；敬佛像如佛身，則法身應矣。故入道必以智慧為本，智慧必以福德為基。譬猶鳥備二翼，倏舉千尋；車足兩輪，一馳千里。豈不勤哉，豈不勗哉？

More than a hundred years later, King Aśoka dispatched emissaries across the sea to dismantle the various stūpas and divide the relics. Returning, they encountered wind and tides, and quite a few were lost. Thus among the marine creatures today, they are occasionally encountered. Thereafter, the eighty-four thousand stūpas were erected because of this. King Aśoka's daughters also successively brought forth pure faith; they carved stone and cast metal, depicting his divine appearance. They could even float along rivers and drift across seas, manifesting their shadows to transform the eastern lands. Although the spiritual traces secretly communicated, they were not yet made evident to sight and hearing. When Cai Yin and Qin Jing returned from the Western Regions, they first transmitted a painting of Śākyamuni on fine cloth. Thereupon, the Liangtai Terrace and the Shouling Tomb both depicted his image. From then on, images, stūpas, and temples arose in competition with the times. Reaching the Great Liang, the transmitted light flourished all the more. Now, the Dharmakāya has no form; it takes form due to resonance. Because resonance and perception differ, the manifesting forms have distinctions. If the mind's path is indistinct and vague, the true form remains separate from transformation; but if feelings and aspirations are sincere and earnest, even wood and stone open their hearts. Thus, because Liu Yin's supreme filial piety resonated with sincerity, pots and grain measures bore inscriptions for him; because Ding Lan was utterly sincere in morning and evening care, the wooden mother changed color on account of it. Luyang whirled his spear and the sun turned back; the wife of Qi wept and the city wall collapsed. In all these cases, deep grief permeated their nature and emotions, thereby causing auspicious signs to shine before ears and eyes. As for Huida invoking light at the top of a stūpa pillar, Huili sensing an omen at a stūpa foundation, Huidhou demonstrating sincerity with floating timber, Senghui manifesting proof through the moving lamp, Hong and Liang both forgetting their bodies in casting images, and Yi and Xian both exhausting their lives for the sake of saṃghārāmas; Faxian devoted his will to the tooth relic and the Prince of Jingling was spiritually moved by it; Senghu harbored aspirations at Shicheng and the Prince of Nanping obtained a response through it. Recently, there was the nineteen-foot image of Guangzhai Temple illuminating the capital; the Song emperor smelted four times without success, but the Liang ruler had it fully formed in a single casting. The wondrous marks sprang forth without blemish; the auspicious bronze was scarce, yet proved more than sufficient. Thus one knows that the Way is broadened through humans, and the spiritual responds through things—how could this be false? Therefore, when one sacrifices to the spirits as if the spirits were present, the spiritual way intersects with them; when one reveres a Buddha image as the Buddha's body, the Dharmakāya responds. Hence entering the Way must take wisdom as its root, and wisdom must take karmic merit as its foundation. It is like a bird possessing two wings, swiftly soaring a thousand fathoms; or a chariot with two wheels, covering a thousand leagues in a single drive. How could one not be diligent, how could one not exert oneself?