集神州三寶感通錄 2.9

2.9

6. On the eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Ningkang era under Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin, the śramaṇa Śākya Dao'an of Tanxi Temple in Xiangyang, whose abundant virtue was illustrious and whose renown resounded through the world, cast an eighteen-foot gilt-bronze Amitāyus Buddha at a vihāra west of the city walls. In the final month of winter the following year, its ornamentation was completed. Xi Huizhi, General of the Guarding Army and Regional Inspector of Yongzhou under the Jin, newly arriving to preside over the Xiangyang region, assisted in opening the gate of merit. At night, the image went out and roamed westward to Wanshan, leaving a footprint imprinted into the stone. The monastics and laity of the local area rushed there together in excitement, gasping in admiration, and welcomed it back to its original place to make offerings. That same night, it came out again and stood at the temple gate. The assembly was all astonished and awed. Xi Huizhi thereupon changed the temple's name to Jinxiang Temple. Coming to the eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Putong era under the Liang, an imperial decree commanded that a gilt-bronze flower pedestal be cast at the Jianxing Park, five feet nine inches high and nine feet eight inches wide. After the decoration was completed, it was sent upstream to support the feet of the image. A stele was erected praising its virtue, with text by Liu Xiaoyi and calligraphy by Xiao Ziyun, acclaimed as the best in the realm; the stele is still extant. When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou eradicated the Dharma in the third year of the Jiande era, the year of jiawu, Duke of Taiyuan Wang Bing was Regional Inspector of Xiangzhou, and Deputy Garrison Commander Senior Specially Promoted Zhangsun Zhezhi did not believe in the Dharma; hearing of the miraculous responses, he wished first to destroy it. Men and women in the city, seeing that the monks and nuns were about to be disbanded and hearing of the impending destruction, wailed and cried along the roads. Seeing the lamentations of monastics and laity, Zhezhi grew all the more enraged, urging his attendants to smash it quickly. He first ordered one hundred men to bind its neck with ropes, but pulling with all their might, it did not move. Zhezhi, thinking they were not exerting their strength, caned the supervisors and added one hundred more men, but pulling it was as before. He added another three hundred, yet it remained motionless as before. Zhezhi's anger grew fiercer; he added another five hundred men to pull, and only then did it topple over. The sound shook the earth, and everyone trembled in terror. Zhezhi alone leapt with joy and immediately ordered it melted down and destroyed, shouting out in self-satisfaction, and galloped on horseback to report to the Regional Inspector. After barely a hundred paces, he abruptly fell to the ground, losing his voice, staring blankly, with his four limbs paralyzed. By nightfall he died. Monastics and laity shouted with satisfaction. When the image was being destroyed, on the inside of the downward-draped robe under its armpit was an inscription reading: "In the nineteenth year of the Taiyuan era of the Jin, in the year of jiawu, on the first day of the month, the bhikṣu Dao'an made one eighteen-foot golden image at the western suburb of Xiangyang. This image will undergo three cycles of jiawu, one hundred and eighty years, when it shall be destroyed." Calculating the years and months later, its rise and fall matched completely. Thus one truly knows that the holy man of the sealed hand genuinely made no false record. Today the original residence is named Qifa Temple; people chiseled away the stone that was trodden upon, and it still exists today. Earlier, during the disintegration at the end of the Sui when regions held firm, the Xiangyang Garrison Commander Doulu Bao held provisional control of a region belonging to Wang Shichong. There was Master Xian of Qifa Temple, who was revered by both gentry and commoners; he repeatedly admonished Master Dou to submit to the Tang state, but Dou did not listen. Xian communicated with monastics and laity within and without, and the capital region dispatched troops to Xiangyang. Dou held firm; three times the army arrived to slaughter the city, but it did not fall. Later, discovering Xian's plan, he had him killed. Facing death, Xian said to his disciple Su Foulou: "Your father and I witnessed the destruction of Master Dao'an's golden image, and since then the legacy has not been continued. After I die, you may remake it according to the original." By the fourth year of the Wude era, the government forces laid tight siege; Dou surrendered, only then regretting that he had not taken Xian's counsel, wrongfully killing him in cruelty—thus he had performed service for the state, yet there was no one to vindicate him. Once the city was pacified, Foulou resumed lay clothing. Master Xian had monastic garments and personal belongings, which Foulou collected and gave away. He then set his mind on making the image, but did not know what model to follow. He subsequently dreamed of a Brahmin monk gesturing and sketching its appearance, and inquiring among the elders, there were also drawings. He immediately cast it according to the model, and in a single smelting it was completed without any defect. When the image was being cast, the sky was overcast with clouds and rained flowers like plums throughout the temple. Foulou was skillful by nature and affluent in resources; he also crafted a gilt-bronze Maitreya image over ten feet tall in his home. Later he again dreamed of Xian instructing him to make another Buddha image, so at Fanyun Temple he made a great image fifty-nine feet high, the details of which are recorded elsewhere. In the past, at the beginning of the Sui, Prince Xiao of Qin, Yang Jun, once garrisoned the Xiangyang region. Hearing that Master Dao'an's ancient image was extraordinary in form, he sent people to draw it and made a replica at Yanxing Temple in Chang'an. On the night it was first cast, it also inspired auspicious signs such as heavenly music and heavenly flowers; it still exists today (namely, the present Yongtai Temple, renamed Wanshan Temple).