道宣律師感通錄 1.24

1.24

He also asked: "It is commonly said today that the various auspicious images were made by King Aśoka's fourth daughter. This matter is obscure and distant, so it is difficult to obtain the truth of it." [The deva] replied: "King Aśoka's fourth daughter had an appearance that was far from beautiful. For a long time she remained unmarried, and she constantly lamented her ugliness. She then painted the form of the Buddha, but its primary and secondary marks were different from the Buddha's and resembled her own person instead. When it was finished, she made a vow: 'The Buddha's primary and secondary marks are vastly different from those of humans. How could they be the same as my appearance?' With this anguished petition, months and years passed. Later, she moved the Buddha to manifest, and suddenly her past appearance changed. Her father questioned her in detail, and she recounted what she had vowed. The present images at Feishan, Yuhua, Changsha in Jingzhou, Gao Kui's in the southern capital, and the present one at Chongjing Temple are all these images. Some have inscriptions on their halos or pedestals, but people rarely recognize them. King Aśoka commanded the various spirits and ghosts to carry them everywhere to awaken [beings] to the Buddha's Dharma. The faces of these images are none other than female forms. The site of Chongjing Temple was originally a battlefield. At the end of the Western Jin, the Five Hu arose in great arms and slaughtered people; here there were especially many. The human bones beneath the ground can still be seen today. Those killed were innocent, brutalized and murdered without cause. Therefore, the various spirits and ghosts carried it here to suppress [the malevolence] so that these aggrieved souls might give rise to wholesome thoughts. When the Zhou suppressed the Buddha's Dharma, the spirits also followed along [and concealed it]. When the founder of the Sui arose and flourished, the Buddha[-image] emerged once again, and so on."