廣弘明集 1.18

1.18

傳云。明帝永平三年。上夢神人。金身丈六項有日光。寤已問諸臣下。傅毅對詔。有佛出於天竺。乃遣使往求。備獲經像及僧二人。帝乃為立佛寺畫壁。千乘萬騎繞塔三匝。又於南宮清涼臺及高陽門上顯節陵。所圖佛立像并四十二章經。緘於蘭臺石室。廣如前集牟子所顯。

The account says: In the third year of the Yongping reign of Emperor Ming, His Majesty dreamt of a divine person, golden-bodied, sixteen feet tall, with the radiance of the sun at the back of his neck. Having awakened, he questioned his assembled ministers. Fu Yi replied to the edict: “There was a Buddha who appeared in India.” An envoy was then dispatched thither to seek him, and fully obtained scriptures, images, and two monks. The emperor then established a Buddhist monastery for them and painted murals. A thousand chariots and ten thousand cavalry circumambulated the stūpa three times. Furthermore, upon the Qingliang Terrace of the Southern Palace and atop the Gaoyang Gate, and at the Xianjie Tomb, standing images of the Buddha were painted, together with the Sutra of Forty-two Sections, which was enclosed in the stone chamber of the Orchid Terrace, as expounded at length in the previous collection by Mouzi.