南嶽總勝集 3.26

3.26

唐貞元年。南海貢盧眉娘。年十四。眉如綠且長。故有是名。眉娘幼而慧悟。工巧無比。能於一丈絹上繡法華經七卷。字如粟粒。而點畫分明。又善作飛雲蓋。以絲一絇分為三段。染成五色。結為金蓋。其中有十洲三島臺殿麟鳳之像。而執幢捧節童子亦不啻千數。順宗歎其土謂之神。度為道士。賜號逍遙。勅住南岳魏閣。久之告期而羽化。

During the Zhenyuan era of the Tang, Nanhai presented Lu Meiniang as tribute. She was fourteen years old; her eyebrows were green and long, hence she had this name. Meiniang was intelligent and perceptive from childhood, and possessed incomparable craftsmanship. She was able to embroider seven scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra upon a single zhang of silk, the characters being as small as grains of millet yet with every stroke distinct and clear. Furthermore, she was skilled at making soaring cloud canopies: taking a skein of silk, she divided it into three sections, dyed them in five colors, and wove them into a golden canopy, within which were images of the Ten Continents, the Three Islands, terraces, palaces, qilin, and phoenixes, while the youths holding banners and carrying insignia numbered no fewer than a thousand. Shunzong marveled at her skill, calling her divine. He ordained her as a Daoist priestess, conferred upon her the title Xiaoyao ('Unfettered'), and imperially decreed that she reside in the Wei Pavilion of Nanyue. After a long time, she announced her appointed time and underwent feather-transformation.