高僧傳 13.23

13.23

Śramaṇa Senghu was originally a man of Shan in Kuaiji. He left home in his youth and resolved always to maintain austere discipline, his precepts and conduct being strict and pure. Later he resided at Yinyue Temple on Mount Shicheng. To the north of the temple there was a blue cliff rising straight up several tens of zhang, and right in the middle it had a shape like the flame halo of a Buddha. Above were clusters of trees, their bent trunks casting shade. Whenever Hu walked in contemplation to the cliff, he would see bright light radiating brilliantly, and hear the sounds of stringed instruments, pipes, and songs of praise. Thereupon he lifted an incense burner and made a vow to carve out of the mountain a hundred-foot stone Buddha, reverently modeled after the thousand-foot form of Maitreya, so that all who had karmic ties might together behold the three assemblies. During the Jianwu era of the Northern Qi, he gathered monastics and laity and initially began carving. Quarrying and chiseling for over a year, he had only completed the rough form of the face. Soon after, Hu fell ill and died. On his deathbed he vowed: "What I have undertaken was never expected to be accomplished in a single lifetime. In my second life, this vow will certainly be fulfilled." Later, the śramaṇa Sengshu took up and continued his legacy, but lacking the necessary funds and resources, he could not bring it to completion.