集神州三寶感通錄 1.16

1.16

詔許之。因搆塔上尊嚴相顯。古老傳云。此塔一閉經三十年。一示人令生善亮聞之。以貞觀年中請開剖出舍利以示人。恐因聚眾不敢開塔。有勅並許。遂依開發深一丈餘獲二古碑。並周魏之所樹也。文不足觀。故不載錄。光相照燭同諸舍利。既出舍利通現道俗。無數千人一時同觀。有一盲人積年目冥急努眼直視忽然明淨。京邑內外崩騰同赴。屯聚塔所日有數千。舍利高出眾人同見。於方骨上見者不同。或見如玉白光映徹。或見綠色。或不見者問眾人曰。舍利何在。時有一人。以不見故感激懊惱。搥胸而哭。眾人愍之。吊問曰。汝是宿作努力懺悔。何用搥胸。此人見他燒指行供養者。即以麻纏母指燒之。遶塔而走。火盛心急來舍利所。欻然得見。歡喜踊躍跳躑不覺指痛。火滅心歇還復不見。顯慶四年九月。內山僧智琮弘靜見追入內。語及育王塔事。年歲久遠須假弘護。上曰。豈非童子施土之育王耶。若近有之。則八萬四千之一塔矣。琮曰。未詳虛實。古老傳云。名育王寺言不應虛。又傳云。三十年一度出。前貞觀初已曾出現。大有感應。今期已滿。請更出之。上曰。能得舍利深是善因可前至塔所七日行道。祈請有瑞乃可開發。即給錢五千絹五十疋。以充供養。琮與給使王長信等十月五日從京旦發。六日逼夜方到。琮即入塔內專精苦到。行道久之。未有光現。至十日三更。乃臂上安炭就而燒香。懍厲專注曾無異想。忽聞塔內像下振裂之聲。尋聲往觀乃見瑞光流溢霏霏上涌。塔內三像足各放光。赤白綠色纏繞而上。至於衡桶合成帳蓋。琮大喜踊將欲召僧。乃覩塔內畟塞僧徒合掌而立。謂是同寺須臾既久。光蓋漸歇冉冉而下。去地三尺不見群僧。方知聖隱。即召來使同覩瑞相。既至塔所餘光薄地流輝布滿赫奕潤滂。百千種光若有旋轉。久方沒盡。及旦看之。獲舍利一枚。殊大於粒光明鮮潔。更細尋視又獲七枚。總置盤水。一枚獨轉遶餘舍利。各放光明炫燿人目。琮等以所感瑞具狀上聞。勅使常侍王君德等送絹三千疋。令造朕等身阿育王像。餘者修補故塔。仍以像在塔。可即開發出佛舍利以開福慧。僧以舊材多雜朽故。遂總換以柏編石為基。莊嚴輪奐製置殊麗。又下勅僧智琮弘靜鴻臚給名住會昌寺。初開塔日。二十餘人同共下鑿。及獲舍利諸人並見。唯一不見。其人懊惱自拔頭髮。苦心邀請哀哭號呌。聲駭人畜徒自咎責。終不可見。乃置舍利於掌。雖覺其重不見如初。由是諸來謁者恐不見骨。不敢見其光瑞。寺東云龍坊人。勅使未至前數日望寺塔上。有赤色光周照遠近。或見如虹直上至天。或見光照寺城丹赤如晝。且具以聞。寺僧歎訝曰。舍利不久應開此瑞。如貞觀不異。其舍利形狀如小指。初骨長寸二分。內孔正方外楞亦爾。下平上圓內外光淨。余內小指於孔中恰受。便得勝戴以示大眾。至於光相變現不可常准。于時京邑內外道俗連接二百里間往來相慶。皆稱佛德一代光華。京師大慈恩寺僧惠滿。在塔行道。忽見綺井覆海下一雙眼睛光明。殊大通召道俗同視亦然。皆懾然喪瞻。更不敢重視。顯慶五年春三月。下

An imperial decree granted permission. Thereupon a stūpa was constructed above, where the revered and dignified features were displayed. Elders have passed down the saying: "This stūpa is opened once every thirty years to be shown to the people so that they may give rise to goodness." When Zhang Liang heard this, he petitioned during the Zhenguan reign era to have it opened and unsealed, bringing out the śarīra to show to the people. Fearing that gathering a crowd would prevent them from daring to open the stūpa, an imperial decree granted full permission. Following this, they opened and excavated down more than ten feet and obtained two ancient stele inscriptions, both erected during the Zhou and Wei dynasties. Their texts were not worth reading, and thus are not recorded here. Their luminous forms radiated and shone, just like all the śarīra. Once the śarīra were brought out, they were shown openly to both monastics and laity; countless thousands of people viewed them together at the same time. There was a blind man whose eyes had been dark for many years; straining his eyes to look straight at it, his sight suddenly became clear and pure. Inside and outside the capital, crowds surged and hurried there together, gathering at the stūpa site by thousands each day. The śarīra rose high so that the multitudes saw it together. What was seen on the square bone differed among the viewers: some saw white light shining through like jade, some saw a green colour, and some could not see it at all, asking the crowd: "Where is the śarīra?" At that time, there was a man who, because he could not see it, felt deeply distressed and grieved, beating his breast and weeping. The crowd took pity on him and consoled him, asking: "This is from past deeds; strive to repent! What is the use of beating your breast?" When this man saw others burning their fingers to make offerings, he immediately wrapped his thumb in hemp and set fire to it, circumambulating the stūpa while running. As the fire blazed and his mind grew desperate, he came to the site of the śarīra; suddenly he was able to see it, and he leaped about and bounded for joy, oblivious to the pain in his finger. When the fire died out and his mind calmed, he could no longer see it again. In the ninth month of the fourth year of the Xianqing reign era, the monastics of the inner mountain Zhicong and Hongjing were summoned into the palace, and the conversation turned to the matter of the King Aśoka stūpa, which had stood for so long that it required broad protection. His Majesty said: "Is this not the King Aśoka of the boy offering earth? If there is one nearby, then it is one of the eighty-four thousand stūpas." Zhicong said: "Its reality is not yet clear. Elders have passed down the saying that its name is King Aśoka Temple, and such words ought not to be false. Furthermore, tradition says that it comes out once every thirty years; previously, in the early Zhenguan era, it had already appeared, bringing great sympathetic responses. Now the period is already complete, and we request to bring it out again." His Majesty said: "To be able to obtain the śarīra is truly a wholesome cause. You may first proceed to the stūpa site and practice the path for seven days; only when there is an auspicious sign in response to your prayers may it be opened." He immediately bestowed five thousand cash and fifty bolts of silk to cover the offerings. Zhicong set out from the capital at dawn on the fifth day of the tenth month with the attendant eunuch Wang Changxin and others, arriving only as night approached on the sixth day. Zhicong then entered the interior of the stūpa with concentrated dedication and earnest effort. After practicing the path for a long time, no light appeared. At the third watch on the tenth day, he placed charcoal on his arm and burned incense thereon, solemn and focused without any stray thoughts. Suddenly, he heard the sound of splitting under the image inside the stūpa. Tracing the sound to look, he saw an auspicious light overflowing and surging upward like mist. The feet of the three images inside the stūpa each emitted light—red, white, and green—which twined and rose upward, reaching the beams and brackets to form a canopy. Zhicong was overjoyed and was about to call the monks, when he saw the interior of the stūpa crowded with monastics standing with palms joined. He thought they were from the same monastery, but after a short while, the canopy of light gradually subsided and slowly descended; within three feet of the ground, the assembly of monks was no longer visible. Only then did he realize they were holy beings who had hidden themselves. He then summoned the imperial emissary to witness the auspicious signs together. Once they arrived at the stūpa site, the remaining light skimmed the ground and spread radiant brilliance all around, dazzling and abundant; hundreds of thousands of forms of light seemed to revolve, fading away completely only after a long while. At dawn, when they looked, they obtained one śarīra, considerably larger than a grain, its light fresh and pure. Searching more closely, they obtained another seven pieces. They placed them all in a basin of water; one piece rotated alone, circling the other śarīra, each emitting brilliant light that dazzled people's eyes. Zhicong and the others submitted a detailed report of the auspicious signs they had received. By imperial decree, the Attendant Wang Junde and others were sent with three thousand bolts of silk, ordering them to fashion a life-size King Aśoka image of Our likeness; the remainder was to be used to repair the old stūpa. Furthermore, since the image was in the stūpa, the Buddha's śarīra was to be brought out immediately to open the way for blessing and wisdom. Because the old timber was largely decayed, the monks replaced it entirely with cypress and laid dressed stone as the foundation; its ornamentation and magnificence were exceptionally splendid. Furthermore, an imperial decree appointed the monks Zhicong and Hongjing to the Honglu Temple and granted them residence at Huichang Temple. On the first day the stūpa was opened, more than twenty people chiseled downward together. When the śarīra was obtained, all the people saw it except for one man who could not see it. Distressed, that man tore out his hair, pleading earnestly with bitter wailing and loud cries, the sound terrifying humans and animals; reproaching himself in vain, in the end he still could not see it. Thereupon they placed the śarīra on his palm; although he felt its weight, he could not see it, just as before. Because of this, among all those who came to pay reverence, anyone who feared they might not see the bone did not dare look at its luminous sign. Some days before the imperial emissaries arrived, people of the Yunlong Ward east of the temple looked toward the temple stūpa and saw a reddish light shining all around near and far; some saw it like a rainbow shooting straight up to heaven; some saw light illuminating the temple town, crimson as if it were day. All this was reported in detail. The temple monks marveled and said: "The śarīra will soon be opened; this auspicious sign is no different from that of the Zhenguan era." The shape of the śarīra was like the first joint of the little finger, one inch and two tenths in length; its inner cavity was square, as were its outer ridges; flat below and round above, luminous and clean both inside and out. I inserted my little finger into the cavity and it fit snugly, whereupon I was able to carry it aloft to display it to the great assembly. As for the transformations of its luminous signs, they could not be measured by any regular standard. At that time, inside and outside the capital, monastics and laity stretched continuously across two hundred li, coming and going to congratulate each other, all praising the Buddha's virtue as the glory of an entire era. The monk Huiman of the great Cien Temple in the capital was practicing the path at the stūpa when he suddenly saw a pair of bright eyes beneath the caisson ceiling, exceptionally large; he summoned monastics and laity to look together, and it was the same for them as well. All lost their composure in fright and dared not look closely again. In the third month of spring in the fifth year of the Xianqing reign era, an imperial