集神州三寶感通錄 2.17

2.17

十三東晉廬山文殊師利菩薩像者。昔有晉名臣陶侃字士衡。建旟南海有漁人每夕見海濱光。因以白侃。侃遣尋之。俄見一金像陵波而趣船側。檢其銘勒乃阿育王所造文殊師利菩薩像也。昔傳云。育王既統此州學鬼王制獄怨酷尤甚。文殊現處鑊中。火熾水清生青蓮花。王心感悟即日毀獄。造八萬四千塔。建立形像其數亦爾。此其一也。初偘未能深信因果。既見此嘉瑞遂大尊重。乃送武昌寒溪寺。後遷荊州。故遣迎之。像初在輿數人可舉。今加以壯夫數十。確不移處。更足以事力輲車牽曳。僅得上船。船復即沒。使具白偘。偘聽還本寺。兩三人便起。沙門慧遠敬伏威儀迎入廬岫。而了無艱阻。斯即聖靈感降惟其人乎。故諺曰。陶惟劍雄像以神標。雲翔泥宿邈何遙遙。是也隋末賊發眾僧四散。有一老僧失名。來辭瑞像。像曰。爾年老但住何得相捨。遂依言住。于時董道沖賊寇擾江州。其徒入寺覓財物。執僧索金。僧曰。無可得者。乃炙之。僧曰。徒受炙死屍穢伽藍。何如寺外。賊將出欲殺。僧曰。行年七十不負佛教。待正念已伸頸時可下刀。賊然之。見申頸受刀即便下斫。刀反刺賊心。刃出於背群賊奔怕東走至遠墓。于時天氣清朗。忽有雲如蓋屯黑下布雷電四繞。遂震賊九人死之。江州子女及以衣物多依山藏匿。由是賊徒不敢入山。江州郭下焚蕩略盡。像今在山東林寺重閣上。武德中石門谷風吹閣北傾。將欲射正施功無地。僧乃祈請山神風吹令正。不久復有大風從北而吹。閣還得正如舊。

Thirteenth, concerning the Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva image of Mount Lu from the Eastern Jin: formerly, the famous Jin minister Tao Kan, courtesy name Shiheng, raised his banner over the Southern Sea. A fisherman every night saw light by the seashore, and accordingly reported it to Kan. Kan sent men to seek it, and soon saw a golden image skimming over the waves and heading for the side of the boat. Examining its engraved inscription, it was indeed an image of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva made by King Aśoka. An ancient tradition says that when King Aśoka governed this continent, he imitated the ghost king in establishing a prison, which was exceedingly cruel and resentful. Mañjuśrī manifested within the boiling cauldron; the fire blazed while the water turned pure, producing blue lotus flowers. The king's heart was awakened; on that very day, he demolished the prison, built eighty-four thousand stūpas, and erected images in the same number, this being one of them. At first, Kan was unable to believe deeply in cause and effect, but upon seeing this auspicious omen, he held it in great reverence and sent it to Hanxi Temple in Wuchang. Later, when he was transferred to Jingzhou, he purposely sent men to welcome it. When the image was first in the sedan chair, a few men could lift it, but now, even with dozens of robust men added, it remained firmly unmoved from its place. Further adding porters to haul it with carts, they barely managed to get it onto the boat, but the boat immediately began to sink. The envoys fully reported this to Kan; Kan permitted it to return to its original temple, whereupon two or three men could easily lift it. The monk Huiyuan, revering and bowing before its august bearing, welcomed it into the Lu peaks without the slightest impediment. Is this not that the descent of holy numinous power responds only to the right person? Thus the proverb says: "Tao was but a hero of the sword; the image is marked by the spirit. One soars among the clouds, the other lodges in the mud—how far apart they are!" This is it. At the end of the Sui dynasty, when bandits arose and the monks scattered in all directions, there was an old monk whose name is lost, who came to take leave of the auspicious image. The image said, "You are old; just stay. How can you abandon me?" He then stayed according to its words. At that time, the bandit gang of Dong Daochong disturbed Jiangzhou; his followers entered the temple seeking valuables, seized the monk, and demanded gold. The monk said, "There is none to be had." They then roasted him with fire. The monk said, "Dying from roasting in vain, my corpse will defile the saṅghārāma; how would it be better than going outside the temple?" The bandits took him outside, intending to kill him. The monk said, "I have lived for seventy years and never betrayed the Buddha's teaching. Wait until my right mindfulness is settled; when I stretch out my neck, you may bring down the sword." The bandits agreed. Seeing him stretch out his neck to receive the blade, they struck down, but the sword turned back and stabbed into the bandit's own heart, the blade coming out through his back. The bandits fled in fear eastward to the tomb of Huiyuan. At that time, the weather was clear and bright, but suddenly clouds like a canopy gathered darkly and spread below, with thunder and lightning circling on all four sides, instantly striking down nine bandits to their death. The sons, daughters, and clothing of Jiangzhou mostly took refuge in the mountains and hid; because of this, the bandit gang did not dare enter the mountains, while beneath the outer walls of Jiangzhou was almost entirely burnt to ashes. The image is now on the upper storey of Donglin Temple on the mountain. During the Wude reign era, wind from Shimen Gorge blew the pavilion so that it tilted to the north; they wished to straighten it, but had no place to apply their efforts. The monks then prayed to the mountain deity for wind to blow it straight; before long, another great wind blew from the north, and the pavilion returned to plumb as before.