弘明集 1.30

1.30

The questioner said: "When the Dao of the Buddha was first heard in the land of the Han, from where did it originate?" Mouzi said: "Formerly, the Filial Emperor Ming dreamed that he saw a divine man with sunlight on his body flying before the palace hall, and he was delighted by it. The next day, he questioned all his ministers extensively: 'What god is this?' A man of broad knowledge, Fu Yi, said: 'Your servant has heard that in Tianzhu there is one who attained the Dao, called the Buddha. He flies through empty space and has sunlight on his body. It was likely that deity.' Thereupon the Emperor awoke to this. He dispatched the Palace Gentleman Cai Yin, the Forest of Plumes Gentleman Qin Jing, the Doctoral Disciple Wang Zun, and others, eighteen men in all, to the Da Yuezhi, to copy the Buddhist Scripture in Forty-two Chapters and deposit it in the fourteenth chamber of the stone archive of Lantai. At that time, a Buddhist monastery was founded outside the Yong Gate to the west of Luoyang city, and on its walls was painted a thousand chariots and ten thousand horsemen encircling the stūpa three times. Furthermore, Buddha statues were made on the Qingliang Terrace of the Southern Palace and above the Kaiyang City Gate. At that time, Emperor Ming had his longevity tomb constructed in advance, called Xianjie, and had Buddhist images and portraits painted upon it as well. At that time, the state was affluent, the people were peaceful, and distant foreigners yearned for righteousness; scholars increased because of this."