集神州三寶感通錄 2.6

2.6

3. In the first year of the Jianxing era under Emperor Min of the Western Jin, fishermen gathered at the mouth of Hudu on the Songjiang River in Lou County, Wu Commandery. Looking out into the distance, they saw two men floating on the waters in the sea. The fishermen suspected them to be sea deities and invited shamans and priests, preparing sacrificial animals to welcome them. The wind and waves surged even more violently, so they retreated in terror. Then there were followers of Huang-Lao who practiced the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, who said, "These are Celestial Masters!" Together they went again to receive them, but the wind and waves remained as before. There was a Buddhist lay devotee, Zhu Ying of Huali in Wu County. Hearing of this, he sighed and said, "Could this not be the Great Awakened One condescending to descend?" He thereupon undertook pure fasting and, together with the nun Bo of Dongyun Temple and several faithful Buddhists, proceeded to the mouth of the waterway. They bowed their heads and invited them; thereupon the wind and waves grew calm. The two men floating on the river followed the tide into the inlet. As they drew nearer, they became clearer, and it was discovered that they were stone images. Just as the people were about to lift and receive them, human strength proved insufficient. Then, merely attempting to raise them lightly, the statues rose briskly into the air. They were immediately carried back to Tongxuan Temple. Looking at the inscriptions on the backs of the images, one was named Vipasyin and the other was named Kāśyapa. The imperial reign eras could not be determined, but the writing was distinct. Raised up, they were seven feet high. When dharma thrones were prepared with the intention of installing the two images, though there were several dozen men, they could not be moved at all. After supplicating and praying again, they suddenly were able to be lifted. When the matter was reported to the court, nine out of ten households among the court officials and commoners turned their hearts [to the Dharma]. The śramaṇa Śākya Fayuan came from the Western Regions and stated that sutras record that in the east there are two stone images and a King Aśoka stūpa, and that whoever makes offerings and bows to them will eliminate the transgressions accumulated over eons. Another biography also states that twelve Indian monks escorted the images to the commandery, and the images then stood upon the water, neither sinking nor proceeding. The situation was memorialized to the throne, and an imperial decree granted permission to keep them in Wu Commandery (see the Gaoseng zhuan, Jingyi ji, and other works). Recently, the Senior Princess of Xianyang in the capital heard of these miraculous traces and specially sent people to Tongxuan Temple to make drawings of them, making molds in the capital with the intention of fashioning images.