法苑珠林 12.91

12.91

又撿釋道安朱士行等經目錄云。秦始皇之時。有外國沙門釋利防等一十八賢者。齎持佛經來化。始皇弗從遂囚禁之。夜有金剛丈六來破獄出之。始皇驚怖稽首謝焉。准此而言。則知秦漢已前有佛法也。尋道安所載十二賢者。亦在七十之數。今列仙傳見有七十二人。案文殊般泥洹經云。佛滅度後四百五十年。文殊至雪山中為仙人說法。

Furthermore, examining the scriptural catalogues of Shi Dao'an, Zhu Shixing, and others, it says: In the time of the First Emperor of Qin, eighteen worthy men including the foreign śramaṇa Śrībandhu and others came to proselytize carrying Buddhist sūtras. The First Emperor did not comply and subsequently imprisoned them. At night, a sixteen-foot vajra came, broke the prison, and released them. The First Emperor was terrified, bowed his head, and apologized to them. Judging by this, we know that before the Qin and Han there was already the Buddha's Dharma. Looking into the twelve worthy men recorded by Dao'an, they are also among the number of the seventy. The present *Liexian zhuan* contains seventy-two persons. Examining the *Mañjuśrīparinirvāṇa-sūtra*, it says: Four hundred and fifty years after the Buddha's demise, Mañjuśrī went into the Snowy Mountains to preach the Dharma to immortals.