三寶感應要略錄 3.17

3.17

In the fourth year of Daming, Grand Empress Lu Zhao of the Song made an image of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva riding a jewelled carriage on a white elephant, and installed it in the meditation hall of Zhongxing [Monastery]. A lecture was accordingly given at the monastery. On the eighth day of the tenth month of that year, when the vegetarian feast was concluded and the assembly dismissed, there were two hundred monks. At that time lectures were just beginning at the monastery. The emperor was extremely attentive, ordering the clearing of the streets for his imperial visit. Every stanza must bring forth four [lines]. Monks answered the imperial decree; the imperial guard was strict and solemn. On that day, the monks’ names had been fixed for a long time. Suddenly a monk was in the row of seats; his bearing was extraordinarily outstanding. The whole hall gazed with astonishment. The host of the vegetarian feast spoke with him, conversing back and forth more than a hundred times, and suddenly he was seen no more. All in the rows of seats witnessed it, and recognized him as a divine person.