廣弘明集 2.28

2.28

熙平元年詔遣沙門慧生。使西域採經律涉七載。正光三年冬還。所獲經論一百七十部。景明初世宗詔大長秋卿。准代京靈巖寺石窟。於洛南伊闕山為高祖文昭皇太后營石窟二所。去地三百一十尺。後以斬山太高費功難就。奏移就下平。去地一百尺。南北一百四十尺。永平中為世宗造石窟一凡三所。從景明元年至正光四年二十四載方成。用功八十萬二千三百六十六。

In the first year of the Xiping reign era, an edict dispatched the monk Huisheng as an envoy to the Western Regions to collect sūtras and vinayas. Traveling for seven years, he returned in the winter of the third year of the Zhengguang reign era, having obtained one hundred and seventy works of sūtras and śāstras. In the beginning of the Jingming reign era, Emperor Shizong ordered the Director of the Palace Domestic Service (Dachangqiu qing) to model on the stone caves of Lingyan Temple in the northern capital and excavate two stone caves at Mount Yique south of Luoyang for the deceased Emperor Gaozu and Empress Dowager Wenzhao. They were three hundred and ten feet above the ground. Later, because cutting into the mountain was too high and the labor and expenditure difficult to complete, a memorial was submitted to move them down to a level area, one hundred feet above the ground and one hundred and forty feet from north to south. During the Yongping reign era, one stone cave was made for Emperor Shizong, making three in all. From the first year of the Jingming reign era to the fourth year of the Zhengguang reign era, it took twenty-four years to complete, consuming eight hundred and two thousand three hundred and sixty-six work-units.