高僧傳 13.9

13.9

釋慧力，未知何人。晉永和中，來遊京師。常乞食蔬苦頭陀修福。至晉興寧中，啟乞陶處以為瓦官寺。初標塔基，是今塔之西。每夕標輒東移十餘步，旦取還，已復隨徙，潛共伺之，見一人著朱衣武冠，拔標置東方，仍於其處起塔，今之塔處是也。記者云：「寺立後三十年，當為天火所燒。」至晉孝武太元二十一年七月夜，自然火起。寺僧數十，都無知者，明旦見塔已成灰聚。帝曰：「此國不祥之相也。」即勅楊法尚、李緒等速令修復。至九月帝崩。有戴安道所製五像，及戴顒所治丈六金像。昔鑄像初成，而面首殊瘦，諸工無如之何，乃迎顒看之。顒曰：「非面瘦也，乃臂胛肥耳。」既鑢減臂胛，而面相自滿，諸工無不歎息。又有師子國四尺二寸玉像，並皆在焉。昔師子國王聞晉孝武精於奉法，故遣沙門曇摩抑遠獻此佛。在道十餘年，至義熙中乃達晉。司徒王謐嘗入臺，見東掖門口有寺人擲樗，戲樗所著處輒有光出，怪令掘之，得一金像，合光趺長七尺二寸。謐即啟聞，宋高祖迎入臺供養，宋景平末，送出瓦官寺，今移龍光寺。

Shi Huili: it is not known who he was. During the Yonghe era of the Jin, he came to visit the capital. He constantly begged for food, endured the austerities of a dhūta, and cultivated merit. In the Xingning era of the Jin, he petitioned for a potter's field to make it Waguan Temple. When he first marked the stupa's foundation, it was to the west of the present stupa. Every evening, the markers would move more than ten paces to the east; when he brought them back in the morning, they would move again. Secretly keeping watch together, they saw a person wearing red robes and a martial cap pull up the markers and place them to the east. Consequently, they erected the stupa at that spot, which is the site of the present stupa. Chroniclers said: "Thirty years after the temple is established, it will be burned by heavenly fire." On a night in the seventh month of the twenty-first year of the Taiyuan era of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin, a fire arose spontaneously. The several dozen monks of the temple were completely unaware of it, and the next morning they saw that the stupa had already become a heap of ashes. The emperor said: "This is an ominous sign for the state." He immediately ordered Yang Fashang, Li Xu, and others to have it repaired swiftly. In the ninth month, the emperor passed away. There were five images made by Dai Andao, and a sixteen-foot golden image cast by Dai Yong. Formerly, when the cast image was first completed, its face and head were extraordinarily thin, and the artisans did not know what to do about it; so they invited Yong to view it. Yong said: "It is not that the face is thin, but that the arms and shoulders are fat." After filing down the arms and shoulders, the facial features naturally became full and rounded, and none of the artisans failed to sigh in admiration. There was also a jade image of four feet two inches from the Lion Country (Siṃhala), and all were present there. Formerly, the King of the Lion Country heard that Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin was dedicated to venerating the Dharma, and therefore dispatched the śramaṇa Dharmoddhāra to travel from afar and offer this Buddha. It was on the road for more than ten years, and only reached the Jin in the Yixi era. Wang Mi, the Minister over the Masses, once entered the palace and saw palace attendants casting wooden dice at the East Wing Gate. Wherever the dice landed, light would burst forth. Wondering at this, he ordered an excavation and obtained a golden image; together with its halo and pedestal, it was seven feet two inches tall. Mi immediately reported it to the throne, and Emperor Gaozu of the Song welcomed it into the court for offerings. At the end of the Jingping era of the Song, it was sent out to Waguan Temple, and has now been moved to Longguang Temple.