神僧傳 7.23

7.23

The monk Jianyuan was of unknown origins. His conduct had always been pure and distinct. Later, he lectured on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, which was called a supreme gathering. Daily, he provided porridge and food for a thousand people. In his granaries and bins, there were only a few hundred bushels of rice and millet, yet it was never exhausted when taken; through summer and into autumn, a shortage was never announced. Such was the unseen resonance. Later, there were many miraculous verifications. There was Chan Master Huiguan, who saw more than three hundred monks holding lotus lamps and soaring across the empty sky, as vivid as shooting stars. During the Kaiyuan era, Cui Ning, Duke of Jiji, suspected it was demonic falsehood and personally went into the mountains to stay overnight, prohibiting in advance any flame or light within thirty li on all four sides of the mountain. By the third night, more than a hundred lamps appeared, accompanied by red light extending about a thousand feet. Duke Jiji sprang to his feet, made prostrations, and sighed at what had never been seen before. At that time, a golden hand about seven feet long emerged from among the pines, and two bodhisattvas of yellow-and-white golden hue flickered with radiance. Furthermore, atop a cypress tree in the courtyard, a single lamp appeared by day, its brightness like the sun. Crystal lay strewn across [the area]; in the mountain, an expanse of about three li featured a single round, ten-foot jewel, brilliantly shimmering and enchanting. Over the mountain gate of the western ridge hung a great rainbow bridge. On the bridge, Indian monks, old men, and boys appeared intermittently; two blazing torches appeared in midair, seemingly meeting, seeing off, and crossing paths with one another. Below, four bodhisattvas stood in pairs, emitting whole-body radiance about sixty or seventy feet high. Again, behind a great pine grove, there suddenly appeared a temple plaque inscribed with the three characters 'Three Learnings' in seal script. Also, two embroidered ribbons hung beneath the lamps. Between the eastern groves, a golden mountain appeared by night, with the moon at its zenith. Lamps of gold and silver hues stood in a row beside the tomb of Master Zhixuan. Every three months, Wei Gao, Duke of Nankang, would go to the monastery to host a great vegetarian feast for three hundred bodhisattvas, and the bodhisattvas would manifest their forms there.