集神州三寶感通錄 2.39

2.39

35. The processional image of Huayan Temple on Mount Xian in Xiangzhou during the Zhou dynasty: it was an ancient wooden image whose origins are unknown, but its face and head were exceptionally beautiful, drawing endless gaze and reverence; it was about fifty feet tall. Its signs of response in antiquity will not be set forth in full. When the Zhou eradicated the Dharma, people hid its head. When the Sui dynasty opened up [the Dharma], it was brought forth and adorned as before to serve as a holy image, called Rocana Buddha. Every year people prayed for blessings there, making it a place of refuge. When Emperor Wen of the Sui was about to pass away, mucus flowed from both nostrils of the image and stained its breast; the gold foil peeled off, and the flowing mucus gleamed. When wiped, there was no dust, yet when viewed from afar it still looked like mucus. In the fourth month of the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era, mucus again flowed continuously, smearing over its breast for an area one foot across; at first this was not understood. When Emperor Taizong later passed away, they realized it had been an omen. In the sixth month, the mucus flowed out again; the entire prefecture was terrified, not knowing what disaster was coming. In the seventh month, the Han River surged and flooded into the city walls, over ten feet deep, drowning many people. The image is now in the temple, where prayers are fervently made. When the gentry and commoners of Xiangyang have few offspring, they all go to pray to it; in accordance with their wishes, whether for sons or daughters, all prayers are answered.