弘贊法華傳 1.8

1.8

In the first year of the Jingping era of the Song, the śramaṇa Bo Huigao of Waguan Monastery built Lingjiu Monastery. There was a śramaṇa, Shi Huihao, whose wisdom and discernment were comprehensive and sharp, and whose ingenuity was unsurpassed. Within it, he fashioned a depiction of Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain, marvelously varied beyond measure and so vivid that one seemed to be gazing upon the real scene. The forms of its mountains, forests, birds, and beasts, and the appearances of the eight classes of devas and nāgas, had never existed in past dynasties and originated from this point on. After the niche was completed, the whole state came to view it. In later generations, those who carved niches all took Huihao's as their model. The niche was thirty-eight zhang deep from east to west, and forty-four zhang four chi from north to south.