宋高僧傳 1.32

1.32

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.