集沙門不應拜俗等事 3.22

3.22

漢書云。武帝元狩中。關西域獲金人。率長丈餘。列之甘泉宮。帝以為大神燒香禮拜。後遣張騫往大夏尋之云有身毒國。即天竺也。彼謂浮圖。即佛陀也。此初知佛名相也。

The Book of Han states: "During the Yuanshou era of Emperor Wu, a golden figure over a zhang in height was captured beyond the Western Regions and set up in the Ganquan Palace. The Emperor took it to be a great deity, burning incense and bowing in worship to it. Later he dispatched Zhang Qian to Daxia to search for it, and [Zhang Qian] reported that there was the country of Shendu, which is Tianzhu (India). What they called fotu is the Buddha." This was when the name and appearance of the Buddha were first known.