廣弘明集 11.89

11.89

We reply: The Hou Han shu says that Guangwu ended disorder and restored right governance, and Emperor Ming achieved peace and prosperity; the people had no worries beyond a hundred li, and officials had no duties that took them outside the gates. Qilin entered the royal parks, divine phoenixes roosted in the wutong trees, red sparrows, patterned tortoises, dark crows, and white deer—auspicious omens arrived in abundance, and the myriad people rejoiced together. He extended vast and boundless benevolence, and spread favors that reached heaven and seeped into springs. Works like the Lunheng all state that the auspicious omens of the Later Han were not inferior to those of the Zhou and Xia. You say that with the Buddha reigns are short: why then were these so long?