宋高僧傳 25.4

25.4

釋明度，未知何許人也。經論涉學，三業恪勤。誦《金剛般若》資為淨分，慈濟為心。迨貞觀末，有鴿巢于屋楹，乳養二雛。度每以餘粥就窠哺之，復呪之曰：「乘我經力，羽翼速成。」忽早學飛，墮地偕殞，度乃瘞之。旬餘，夢二小兒曰：「兒等本受卵生小類，蒙上人為養育，誦持迴向，今轉生人道，距此寺東十里間某家是也。」度默誌之，至十月滿，往訪此家，男婦果㝈生二子。入視之，數日，遂呼曰：「鴿兒」，一時迴頭應諾。歲餘能言，皆得成長。度未知終所。

Śramaṇa Mingdu: it is not known where he was from. He was versed in sūtras and treatises, and diligent in the three actions. He recited the Diamond Sūtra to aid his pure karma, harboring a mind of compassionate salvation. Toward the end of the Zhenguan era, pigeons nested in the eaves of his building and reared two chicks. Du regularly took leftover porridge to the nest to feed them, and repeatedly prayed over them, saying: "Relying on the power of my sūtra-recitation, may your wings swiftly form." Suddenly, while practicing flight early, they fell to the ground and both perished, whereupon Du buried them. After a little over ten days, he dreamed of two small children saying: "We were originally small creatures born from eggs; thanks to the Venerable's rearing and recitation of sūtras with merit dedicated to us, we have now been reborn into the human realm at a certain family's house ten li east of this temple." Du kept this quietly in mind. When ten months were complete, he went to visit this family, and the wife had indeed given birth to twin boys. He went in to see them, and after a few days, he called out, "Pigeon-boys!" and both turned their heads at the same time and responded. Within a little over a year they could speak, and both grew to adulthood. Where Du ended his life is not known.