宋高僧傳 1.32

1.32

開元己未歲，達于廣府，勅迎就慈恩寺，尋徙薦福寺。所住之剎，必建大曼拏羅灌頂道場，度於四眾。大智、大慧二禪師、不空三藏皆行弟子之禮焉。後隨駕洛陽，其年自正月不雨迨于五月，嶽瀆靈祠，禱之無應。乃詔智結壇祈請。於是用不空鉤、依菩薩法，在所住處起壇，深四肘，躬繪七俱胝菩薩像，立期以開光，明日定隨雨焉。帝使一行禪師謹密候之。至第七日，炎氣爞爞，天無浮翳。午後，方開眉眼，即時西北風生，飛瓦拔樹，崩雲泄雨，遠近驚駭。而結壇之地，穿穴其屋，洪注道場。質明，京城士庶皆云：「智獲一龍，穿屋飛去。」求觀其處，日千萬人，斯乃壇法之神驗也。于時帝留心玄牝，未重空門，所司希旨，奏外國蕃僧遣令歸國，行有日矣。侍者聞智，智曰：「吾是梵僧，且非蕃胡，不干明勅，吾終不去。」數日，忽乘傳將之雁門，奉辭，帝大驚，下手詔留住。

In the jiwei year of the Kaiyuan era [719], he reached Guangzhou. By imperial decree he was welcomed to Ci'en Temple, and soon moved to Jianfu Temple. At whatever monastery he stayed, he invariably erected a great maṇḍala empowerment altar to liberate the four assemblies. The two Chan masters Dazhi and Dahui, as well as Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra, all practiced the etiquette of disciples toward him. Later he accompanied the imperial entourage to Luoyang. That year, there was no rain from the first month until the fifth month; prayers at the sacred shrines of the sacred peaks and waterways met with no response. An imperial edict was therefore issued ordering Vajrabodhi to construct an altar and pray. Thereupon, using the unhooked hook and relying on the Bodhisattva method, he raised an altar four cubits deep at his residence, personally painted an image of the Seven Koṭī Bodhisattvas, and set a time to consecrate it, promising that rain would definitely follow the next day. The Emperor sent Chan Master Yixing to observe closely and discreetly. When the seventh day arrived, the scorching heat was suffocating, and not a floating cloud was in the sky. Only in the afternoon did he open the eyebrows and eyes; immediately, a northwest wind arose, scattering tiles and uprooting trees, while crashing clouds poured forth rain, causing astonishment near and far. At the place where the altar had been built, a hole was pierced through the roof, and water cascaded into the bodhimaṇḍa. At daybreak, the gentry and commoners of the capital all said: 'Vajrabodhi captured a dragon, which pierced the roof and flew away!' Every day tens of thousands of people sought to view the site; such was the miraculous efficacy of the altar method. At that time, the Emperor directed his mind toward Daoism and did not esteem Buddhism; the officials in charge, seeking to flatter his wishes, memorialized that foreign barbarian monks should be ordered to return to their home countries, and the day of departure was set. When an attendant told Vajrabodhi, he said: 'I am an Indian monk, and not a Central Asian barbarian; this does not pertain to the imperial decree, and I will not leave in the end.' Several days later, he suddenly mounted a relay carriage intending to go to Yanmen, and offered his farewells; the Emperor was greatly startled, and issued a handwritten imperial rescript retaining him.