法苑珠林 13.28

13.28

東晉穆帝永和六年歲次丁未。依勘長曆乃三年也。二月八日夜。有像現于荊州城北。長七尺五寸。合光趺高一丈一尺。皆莫測其所從也。初永和五年。廣州商客下載欲竟恨船輕。中夜覺有人來奔船。驚共尋視了無所見。而船載自重不可更加。雖駭其異而不測也。列邁利涉常先諸舫。不久遂達渚宮。纔泊水次。夜復覺人自船登岸。船載還輕。及像現也方知其兆。時大司馬桓溫鎮牧西陝。躬事頂拜傾動邦邑。諸寺僧眾咸競迎引。鏗然不動。有長沙太守江陵滕畯（一云滕舍）以永和二年捨宅為寺。額表郡名。承道安法師襄川綜領。請一監護。安謂弟子曇翼曰荊楚士庶始欲信法。成其美者非爾誰歟。爾其行矣。翼負錫南征。締構一載。僧宇雖就。而像設弗施。每歎曰。育王寺像隨緣流布。但至誠不極。何憂不垂降乎。及聞荊城像至。欣感交懷。曰斯像余之本誓也。必歸我長沙。固可心期。難以力致。眾咸僉曰必如所言。驗之非遠。翼燒香拜請。令弟子三人捧。颯然輕舉。遂安本寺。道俗慶悅。至晉簡文咸安二年。始鑄華趺。晉孝武帝太元中。殷仲堪為刺史。於中夜出寺西門。邏者謂人問而不答。以刀擊之鎗然。視乃像也。刀擊胸處文現於外。有罽賓僧伽難陀禪師者。多識博觀。從蜀來荊。入寺禮像。歎咽久之。翼問其故。答曰。近天竺失之。如何遠降此土。便勘年月悉符同焉。看像光背梵文。曰阿育王造也。時聞此銘更倍欽重。曇翼興念致應之驗也。及病將亟。像光忽逝。翼曰。佛示此相。病必不振。光往他方復為佛事。旬日而終。後僧擬光更鑄今者。宋孝武時。像大放光。江東佛法一期甚盛。宋明帝太始末。像輒垂淚。明帝尋崩。嗣主狂勃。便有宋齊革運。荊州刺史沈悠之。初不信法。沙汰僧尼。長沙一寺千有餘僧。應還俗者將數百人。舉眾惶駭長幼悲泣。像為汗流五日不止。有聞於沈呂寺大德玄暢法師訪問所以。暢曰。聖不云遠無憂不徹。去來今佛佛佛想念。得無今佛念諸佛乎。欲諫檀越不信之心。故有斯應。問出何經。答出無量壽。悠之取經尋之殊悅。即停沙汰。齊永元二年。鎮軍蕭頴胄與梁高共荊州刺史。南康王寶融起義時。像行出殿外將欲下階。兩僧見而驚喚。乃迴入殿。三年頴胄暴亡。寶融亦廢。而慶歸高祖。梁天鑒末。寺主道岳與一白衣。淨塔邊草。次開塔戶乃見像繞龕行。道岳密禮拜不令洩言。及大開堂像亦在座。梁鄱陽王為荊州。屢請入城建大功德。及感病迎之倍掆不起。少日而薨。高祖昔在荊陝。宿著懇誠。屢遣上迎終無以致。中大通四年三月。遣白馬寺僧璡主書何思。遠齎香華供養。具申丹欵。夜即放光似隨使往。明旦承接還復留礙。重謁請祈方申從往。四眾應慕送至江津。至二十三日屆于金陵。去都十八里。帝躬出迎。竟路放光相續無絕。道俗欣慶歎未曾有。在殿三日。竭誠供養（一云停中興寺）設無遮大齋二十七日。從大通門出入同泰寺。其夜像大放光明。勅於同泰寺大殿東北起殿。三間兩廈。施七寶帳坐。以安瑞像。又造金銅菩薩二軀。築山穿池奇樹怪石。飛橋欄檻夾殿兩階。又施銅鑊一雙各容三十斛。三面重閣宛轉玲瓏。中大同二年三月。帝幸同泰設會開講。歷諸殿禮。黃昏始到瑞像殿。帝纔登階像大放光。照竹樹山水。並作金色。遂半夜不休。及同泰被焚堂房並盡。唯佛所居殿存焉。太清二年像大流汗。其年十一月侯景亂階。大寶三年賊平。長沙寺僧法敬等。迎像還江陵復止本寺。梁後大定七年像又流汗。明年二月中宋宣帝崩。天保三年長沙寺延火所及。合寺洞然煙焰四合。欲救瑞像無方可移。由來舉必百人。爾日六人便起。天保十五年明帝延像入內禮懺冥感。二十三年帝崩。嗣主蕭琮移像於仁壽宮又大流汗。廣運二年而梁國云滅。至開皇七年長沙寺僧法蒨等。復迎還寺。開皇十五年。黔洲刺史田宗顯至寺禮拜。像即放光。公發心造正北大殿。一十三間。東西夾殿九間。被運材木。在荊上流五千餘里。斫材運之至江散放。其木流至荊州自然泊岸。雖風波鼓扇終不遠去。遂引工營之。柱徑三尺。下礎闊八尺。斯亦終古無以加也。大殿以沈香帖遍。中安十三寶帳。並以金寶莊嚴。乃至榱桁藻井無非寶華間列。其東西二殿瑞像所居。並用檀帖。中有寶帳華炬。並用真金所成。窮極宏麗天下第一。大業十二年瑞像數汗。其年朱粲賊破掠諸州。來至荊邑營于寺內大殿。高臨城北。賊上殿上射城中。留守患之。夜以火箭燒之。城中道俗悲悼瑞像滅失。其夜不覺像踰城而入。至寶光寺門外立。且見像存合城欣悅。賊散看像故處一不被燒。灰炭不及。今續立殿不如前者。偽梁蕭銑鳳鳴五年。偽宋王楊道生等至寺禮拜。像大流汗。身首雨流。竟日不息。其年九月大唐兵馬從蜀江下。其月二十日寺僧法通。以唐運將統。希求一瑞繞像行道。其夜放光明滿堂。至二十五日。光彩漸滅。其日趙郡王兵馬入城。斯亦慶幸大同。故流光為其善瑞也。至於亢陽之月。宰牧致誠無不畢應。至貞觀六年六月大旱。都督應國公武[穫-禾+(尋-口+几)]。迎像建齋行道七日。官僚上下立於像前一心觀佛。良久雲氣四布甘雨滂流。其年大熟。都督乃捨黃金更度瑞像。輦輿幡華莊嚴眾具備矣。今現在江陵長沙寺。又有外國銅像高七尺許。古異不甚重之。道安法師在石城長安所送。令弟子於髻中得一舍利。有光出之。

In the Eastern Jin, in the sixth year of the Yonghe reign era of Emperor Mu, the year being dingwei—though checked against the extended calendar, it was in fact the third year—on the night of the eighth day of the second month, an image appeared north of the city wall of Jingzhou. It was seven feet five inches tall, and including its halo and pedestal, eleven feet tall. None could tell where it had come from. Earlier, in the fifth year of Yonghe, merchants from Guangzhou were finishing loading their cargo and lamented that the ship was too light. In the middle of the night, they felt that someone had rushed aboard the ship. Startled, they searched together, but saw nothing at all, yet the ship's load had naturally become so heavy that no more could be added. Though astonished at this anomaly, they could not fathom it. They sailed swiftly onward, always ahead of the other boats, and soon arrived at Zhugong. No sooner had they moored by the water than in the night they again felt someone disembarking from the ship. The ship's cargo became light once more. Only when the image appeared did they realise that this had been an omen. At that time, Grand Marshal Huan Wen was garrisoned as governor over the Western Shaanxi region. He paid homage and bowed in person, moving the whole prefecture. The monastic assemblies of the various temples vied to welcome and lead it away, but it clanged firmly and would not budge. The prefect of Changsha, Teng Jun (some say Teng She) of Jiangling, had in the second year of Yonghe given up his residence to make a temple, naming it after the commandery. Hearing that Master Dao'an was overseeing the Xiangchuan region, he requested a superintendent. Dao'an said to his disciple Tanyi, 'The gentry and commoners of the Jing and Chu regions are just beginning to believe in the Dharma. Who but you could bring this good deed to fruition? You should go.' Carrying his monk's staff, Tanyi journeyed south. He constructed it for a full year. Though the monastic halls were completed, the holy images were not yet installed. He would often sigh and say, 'The images of King Aśoka's temples spread according to conditions. If one's utmost sincerity is not lacking, why worry that one will not descend?' When he heard that the image had arrived at the city of Jingzhou, joy and emotion filled his breast, and he said, 'This image embodies my original vow. It will surely come to my Changsha [Temple]. It can indeed be expected by the heart, but cannot be brought by physical force.' The assembly all agreed, saying, 'If it is as you say, the proof will not be far off.' Tanyi burned incense, bowed, and made his entreaty, ordering three disciples to lift it. Lightly and swiftly it rose, and was thereupon installed in his temple. Clergy and laity rejoiced. In the Eastern Jin, in the second year of Xian'an under Emperor Jianwen, a lotus pedestal was first cast for it. In the Taiyuan reign era of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin, Yin Zhongkan was regional inspector. In the middle of the night, the image walked out of the temple's west gate. A patrolman, thinking it was a man, questioned it, but received no answer; he struck it with a sword, which rang out sharply. Looking closely, it was indeed the image. The mark where the sword struck its chest was visible on the outside. There was a Dhyāna master from Kashmir named Saṃghananda, a man of wide learning and broad vision, who came from Shu to Jingzhou. Entering the temple to pay homage to the image, he sighed and choked with tears for a long time. Tanyi asked him the reason, and he replied, 'It was recently lost in India. How has it descended so far into this land?' Thereupon they checked the months and years, and they all matched. Looking at the Sanskrit inscription on the back of the image's halo, it read: 'Made by King Aśoka.' When they heard this inscription, their reverence and esteem doubled. This was the proof of Tanyi's thought evoking the response. When he was critically ill, the image's light suddenly vanished. Tanyi said, 'The Buddha shows this sign; my illness will surely not recover. The light has gone to other realms to perform Buddha-work again.' He passed away within ten days. Later, monks cast another halo imitating the original, which is the present one. In the time of Emperor Xiaowu of the Song, the image emitted a great light, and the Buddha-Dharma in the Jiangdong region flourished greatly for a time. At the end of the Taishi reign era of Emperor Ming of the Song, the image wept tears. Emperor Ming soon passed away, and his successor was wild and rebellious, whereupon the dynastic change from Song to Qi took place. Shen Youzhi, regional inspector of Jingzhou, at first did not believe in the Dharma and purged the monks and nuns. In Changsha Temple alone, there were over a thousand monks, and nearly several hundred were to be returned to lay life. The entire assembly was terrified, young and old weeping in sorrow. For their sake, sweat flowed from the image for five days without stopping. Hearing of this, Master Xuanchang, a venerable monk of the Shenlü Temple, came to inquire of the cause. Chang said, 'The Sage is not far; no sorrow fails to reach him. Past, future, and present Buddhas contemplate each other. Could it not be that the present Buddha is contemplating the Buddhas? Wishing to admonish the patron's unbelieving heart, there is this response.' He was asked, 'From which sutra does this come?' He replied, 'It comes from the Sukhāvatīvyūha.' Youzhi obtained the sutra and examined it with great delight, immediately halting the purge. In the second year of Yongyuan of the Qi, Xiao Yingzhou, General of the Guard, together with the founder of the Liang, joined with Xiao Baorong, Prince of Nankang and regional inspector of Jingzhou, to raise troops. At that time, the image walked outside the hall and was about to descend the steps. Two monks saw it and cried out in alarm, whereupon it turned back into the hall. In the third year, Yingzhou died suddenly, Baorong was also deposed, and the celebration accrued to Emperor Gaozu of the Liang. At the end of the Tianjian reign era of the Liang, the abbot Daoyue and a layman were clearing grass beside the pagoda. Opening the pagoda door, they saw the image circumambulating the shrine. Daoyue bowed in secret and did not let the matter leak out. When the hall was fully opened, the image was back on its seat. When the Prince of Poyang of the Liang was in Jingzhou, he repeatedly requested to bring it into the city to establish great merit. When he fell ill, he sent for it, but though they doubled the bearers, it could not be lifted; in a few days he passed away. When Emperor Gaozu was formerly in the Jing and Shaanxi region, his sincere devotion was long established. He repeatedly sent for it to be welcomed, but it could never be brought. In the third month of the fourth year of Zhongdatong, he sent the monk Jin of the Baima Temple and Shu-shu He Si from afar carrying incense and flowers for offerings, fully presenting his sincere plea. That night it emitted light, appearing to follow the envoys. The next morning, when they went to receive it, it was obstructed once more. Only after they paid repeated homage and prayed did it deign to follow them. The fourfold assembly, longing and admiring, escorted it to the river ferry. On the twenty-third day it reached Jinling, eighteen li from the capital. The Emperor came out in person to welcome it. All along the way, light shone continuously without interruption. Clergy and laity rejoiced, praising it as unprecedented. It stayed in the palace for three days, receiving wholehearted offerings (some say it stayed at the Zhongxing Temple), and an unobstructed grand feast was held for twenty-seven days. It entered Tongtai Temple through the Datong Gate. That night, the image emitted a great blaze of light. An imperial edict ordered a hall to be built northeast of the main hall of Tongtai Temple, with three bays and two side wings, and a seat with a seven-jeweled canopy was installed to house the auspicious image. Two gilt-bronze bodhisattva statues were also made. Mountains were built, ponds were excavated, rare trees and strange stones were placed, and flying bridges with balustrades flanked both flights of stairs of the hall. A pair of bronze cauldrons were also provided, each holding thirty hu, and on three sides were multi-storeyed pavilions, winding and exquisite. In the third month of the second year of Zhongdatong, the Emperor visited Tongtai Temple to hold an assembly and lecture on the scriptures. He visited various halls to pay homage. Only at dusk did he arrive at the Auspicious Image Hall. Just as the Emperor stepped onto the stairs, the image emitted a great light, illuminating the bamboos, trees, mountains, and water, all turning them golden, which did not cease until midnight. When Tongtai Temple was burned, the halls and chambers were all destroyed, and only the hall where the Buddha resided survived. In the second year of Taiqing, the image sweated profusely. In the eleventh month of that year, Hou Jing staged a rebellion. In the third year of Dabaocheng, the rebels were pacified, and the monks of Changsha Temple, Fajing and others, welcomed the image back to Jiangling to rest once again in its original temple. In the seventh year of Dading of the Later Liang, the image sweated again. In the second month of the following year, Emperor Xuan of the Western Liang passed away. In the third year of Tianbao, fire spread to Changsha Temple, and the entire temple was ablaze with smoke and flames on all sides. Wishing to rescue the auspicious image, there was no way to move it. Traditionally, a hundred men were always needed to lift it, but on that day six men were able to raise it. In the fifteenth year of Tianbao, Emperor Ming invited the image into the inner palace to perform repentance, receiving unseen response. In the twenty-third year, the Emperor passed away, and his successor Xiao Cong moved the image to the Renshou Palace, where it again sweated profusely. In the second year of Guangyun, the Liang state was extinguished. In the seventh year of Kaihuang, the monk Faqian and others of Changsha Temple welcomed it back to the temple again. In the fifteenth year of Kaihuang, Tian Zongxian, regional inspector of Qianzhou, came to the temple to pay homage, and the image immediately emitted light. The lord resolved to build a main north hall of thirteen bays, with east and west flanking halls of nine bays. Timber was transported from more than five thousand li upriver from Jingzhou; the timber was cut and transported to the river and released freely. The timber floated down to Jingzhou and moored itself naturally at the bank; even though wind and waves whipped it up, it never drifted far away. Workers were then engaged to construct it. The pillars were three feet in diameter, and the base stones below were eight feet wide. This too was unsurpassed through all antiquity. The main hall was paneled entirely with agarwood, within which thirteen jeweled canopies were placed, all adorned with gold and jewels, down to the rafters, purlins, and caisson ceilings, which were all interspersed with jeweled flowers. The east and west halls where the auspicious image resided were paneled with sandalwood, with jeweled canopies and flower-shaped torches inside, all fashioned of pure gold, reaching the peak of magnificence, the foremost under heaven. In the twelfth year of Daye, the auspicious image sweated repeatedly. In that year, the rebel Zhu Can sacked and plundered various prefectures, coming to the city of Jingzhou and encamping inside the main hall of the temple. Overlooking the north of the city from on high, the rebels mounted the hall and shot arrows into the city. The garrison commander was distressed by this and burned it at night with fire-arrows. The clergy and laity in the city grieved that the auspicious image was destroyed and lost. That night, without anyone noticing, the image crossed the city wall and entered, standing outside the gate of the Baoguang Temple. Seeing that the image had survived, the whole city rejoiced. When the rebels dispersed, they looked at the image's former site; it had not been burned at all, untouched by ashes or charcoal. The hall that was subsequently rebuilt was not equal to the previous one. In the fifth year of Fengming of the pseudo-Liang under Xiao Xian, the pseudo-Song King Yang Daosheng and others came to the temple to pay homage; the image sweated profusely, flowing like rain from its body and head, not ceasing all day. In the ninth month of that year, the soldiers and horses of the Great Tang descended from the Shu River. On the twentieth day of that month, the temple monk Fatong, seeing that the Tang destiny was about to unite the realm, wished for an omen and circumambulated the image practicing the Path. That night it emitted light that filled the hall. By the twenty-fifth day, the radiant luster gradually faded. On that day, the soldiers and horses of the Prince of Zhao Commandery entered the city. This was also a fortunate unification, so the flowing light served as an auspicious omen for it. As for months of drought, whenever the governors presented their utmost sincerity, there was none that did not receive a complete response. In the sixth month of the sixth year of Zhenguan, there was a great drought. The Area Commander, Duke of Ying State, Wu Shihuo, welcomed the image, established a vegetarian feast, and circumambulated the image practicing the Path for seven days. Officials high and low stood before the image, contemplating the Buddha single-mindedly. After a good while, clouds gathered on all sides and sweet rain poured down. That year saw an abundant harvest. The Area Commander then donated gold to regild the auspicious image, and carriages, banners, flowers, and all accoutrements of adornment were fully provided. It is now at the Changsha Temple in Jiangling. There is also a foreign bronze image about seven feet tall, which was ancient and strange and not much valued. Master Dao'an sent it when he was at Shicheng in Chang'an; he had a disciple find a śarīra in its topknot, which emitted light.