神僧傳 3.18

3.18

Shi Huida was of the Liu family, named Suhe. He was originally a Ji-Hu barbarian of Dingyang in Sancheng, northeast of Xianyang. Formerly he did not serve the Buddha and was illiterate. Later, due to illness at a drinking party, his life came to an end, and he witnessed the signs of the manifold sufferings of hell in their entirety. Thereupon, he renounced household life and became a monk, residing in Wancheng Commandery. In the first year of the Taiyan era of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei (435 CE), as his work of circulating conversion was nearly complete, he undertook his return to the west. Traveling until he reached the northeast of Fanhe Commandery in Liangzhou, he gazed toward the Imperial Valley and bowed to it from afar. None of the people understood this, so they asked him the reason. Huida said, 'An image will appear on this cliff. If the miraculous marks are complete, the world will be joyful and the era peaceful; if there are deficiencies, the world will be disordered and the people will suffer.' Eighty-seven years later, at the beginning of the Zhengguang era (520 CE), there were suddenly heavenly winds, rain, and thunderclaps, and the mountain split open; a stone image sprang forth, its entire body eighteen feet high, with upright and dignified marks, only without a head. Immediately, stone was selected and craftsmen were ordered to carve a separate head; after it was placed, it fell off again. Thereupon they ceased. The virtue of the Wei declined, proving his words verified. Reaching the first year of the Northern Zhou (557 CE), when Liangzhou was governed, a light suddenly appeared in a ravine seven li east of the city, penetrating and illuminating the dark and visible worlds; those who watched were amazed. It was the head of the image. They immediately conveyed it to the mountain cliff and installed it; it fit seamlessly like a tally. The marks and signs were complete, and great peace resided there. In the first year of the Baoding era (561 CE), it was designated Ruixiang Monastery (Auspicious Image Monastery). Those of understanding only then realized his foresight. Later, Huida traveled until he died in a ravine seven li west of the city wall of Jiuquan County in Su Prefecture; his bones were shattered into pieces the size of sunflower seeds, which could be threaded together. Now, in the ancient monastery west of the city, his sculpted image still exists.