華嚴經傳記 4.24

4.24

In the first year of the Wenming era, the Indian Sanskrit monk and Tripiṭaka Master Divākara was translating sūtras at the West Taiyuansi in the capital. On that occasion, he said: "When I reached South India, near the city of Campā, there was a monastery named Viṣṇu (a personal name). Within it were various dhūta monks, all students of the Hīnayāna. Later, a Mahāyāna Dharma master suddenly arrived there holding a case of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. As the Hīnayāna masters did not show respect to him, that Mahāyāna master left the case and departed, no one knowing where he went. The Hīnayāna students were entirely unbelieving, so they took this scripture case and threw it into a well. Afterward, they repeatedly saw within the well a brilliant radiance blazing intensely and surging upward out of it, like a fierce fire. When they dredged it out with a hook, they indeed retrieved the Avataṃsaka. Although it had been in the water for a long time, it was not wet at all. The Hīnayāna students then believed that this sūtra was preached by the Buddha, but still thought it inferior to the Hīnayāna; consequently, they placed it beneath the Hīnayāna sūtras and Vinaya texts. When the next morning came, it was always found on top. They then reprimanded the junior disciples, asking, 'Who moved it without permission?' They answered, 'No one touched it from the start.' They then placed it beneath again, and the next morning it was as before, once more on top. After this happened several times, the Hīnayāna masters were all greatly astonished and sighed, only then knowing that this sūtra surpassed their own study. Throwing themselves to the ground, they rolled and wailed, repenting, apologizing, and turning their minds, focusing together on receiving and upholding it. The single sūtra of the Avataṃsaka flourished in this country, and those of the Hīnayāna, as an entire tradition, turned their allegiance in reverence and shared in deep faith."