法苑珠林 13.26

13.26

東晉孝武寧康三年四月八日。襄陽檀溪寺沙門釋道安。盛德昭彰播聲宇內。於郭西精舍。鑄造丈八金銅無量壽佛。明年季冬嚴飾成就。晉鎮軍將軍雍州刺史郗恢之。創莅襄部贊擊福門。其像夜出西游萬山。遺示一跡。印文入石。鄉邑道俗一時奔赴。驚嗟迎接。還本供養。後以其夕出住寺門。眾咸駭異。恢乃改名金像寺。至梁普通三年四月八日。下勅於建興苑鑄金銅華趺。高五尺九寸。廣九尺八寸。莊嚴既訖。泝流送之。以承像足。立碑頌德。劉孝儀文。蕭子雲書。天下稱最。碑現在逮周武滅法。建德三年甲午之歲。太原公王秉為襄州刺史。副鎮將上開府長孫哲。志不信法。聞有靈感先欲毀除。邑中士女被廢僧尼。聞欲除滅哀號盈路。哲見道俗歎惜瞋怒彌盛。逼逐侍從速令摧碎。先令一百人以繩繫頸挽牽不動。哲謂不用心。杖監事者各一百。牽之如初。又加三百。不動如故。哲怒逾壯。又加五百。牽引方倒。聲振地動人皆悚慄。哲獨喜踴。即令融毀。揚聲唱快。便馳馬欲報刺史。纔可百步忽然落馬。失瘖直視四支不舉。至夜便卒。道俗唱快于甚。哲當毀像時。於腋下倒垂衣內銘云。晉太元十九年歲次甲午。月朔日。比丘道安。於襄陽郭西造丈八金像一軀。此像更三周甲子。百八十年當滅。後計年月。興廢悉符同焉。信知安師聖人誠無虛記。今本所住名啟法寺。所覆之石人鑿取現存焉。

On the eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Ningkang era of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin, the śramaṇa Shi Dao'an of Tanxi Temple in Xiangyang, whose abundant virtue was illustrious and whose fame spread throughout the realm, cast an eighteen-foot gilt-bronze statue of Amitāyus Buddha at the vihāra west of the outer city wall. At the end of winter of the following year, the ornamentation was completed. Xi Huizhi, General of the Army of the Pacification of the Garrison and Regional Inspector of Yongzhou under the Jin, had newly arrived to govern the Xiang region and assisted in striking open the gate of blessings. That night, the statue went out and journeyed west to Mount Wanshan, leaving behind a single footprint with the imprint pattern sinking into the stone. The monks and laypeople of the district rushed there at once, marveling with sighs, and welcomed it back to its original place for offerings. Later, that evening, it went out and stood at the temple gate, which astonished the whole assembly. Huizhi then changed the name to Golden Statue Temple. In the third year of the Putong era of the Liang, on the eighth day of the fourth month, an imperial decree ordered that a gilt-bronze lotus pedestal be cast in the Jianxing Garden, five feet nine inches in height and nine feet eight inches in width. Once the adornment was completed, it was sent upstream against the current to support the statue's feet. A stele was erected to praise its virtue, with a text by Liu Xiaoyi and calligraphy by Xiao Ziyun, acclaimed as supreme under heaven. The stele exists today. Coming to the abolition of the Dharma by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou, in the jiayin year, the third year of the Jiande era, Wang Bing, Duke of Taiyuan, was Regional Inspector of Xiangzhou. His deputy commander, Supreme Opening of the Government Changsun Zhe, lacked faith in the Dharma in his mind. Hearing of the statue's miraculous efficacy, he wished first to destroy and eliminate it. The men and women in the city and the defrocked monks and nuns, hearing that it was to be destroyed, filled the roads with lamentations and wailing. Seeing the sighing and regret of the monastics and laypeople, Zhe grew increasingly furious; he pressured and drove his attendants, ordering them to smash it quickly. First, he ordered one hundred men to tie a rope around its neck and pull it, but it did not move. Zhe thought they were not applying themselves diligently, and caned the supervisors one hundred times each. They pulled it again as before, and he added three hundred more men, but it remained motionless as before. Zhe's fury mounted even higher, and he added five hundred more; only then was it pulled down. The ground shook with a resounding roar, and all the people trembled with fear. Zhe alone leaped for joy. He immediately ordered it to be melted down and destroyed, shouting out his delight. He then galloped on horseback to inform the regional inspector, but after only about a hundred paces he suddenly fell from his horse. He lost his speech, stared straight ahead, and could not raise his four limbs. By nightfall, he died. Monastics and laypeople shouted with even greater joy. When Zhe was about to destroy the statue, an inscription under its armpit inside the hanging robe was revealed, which read: "In the nineteenth year of the Taiyuan era of the Jin, the year jiayin, on the first day of the month, the bhikṣu Dao'an made an eighteen-foot golden statue west of the outer city of Xiangyang. After three sexagenary cycles—one hundred and eighty years—this statue will be destroyed." When the months and years were later calculated, its rise and fall matched completely. It is truly known that Master Dao'an was a sage, and his inscription was certainly not in vain. The place where he originally dwelt is now called Qifa Temple, and the stone which the statue overturned has been quarried by people and still exists today.