法苑珠林 14.30

14.30

唐隴西李大安。工部尚書大亮之兄也。武德中大亮任越州總管。大安自京往省之。大亮遣奴婢數人從兄。歸至穀州鹿橋宿於逆旅。其奴有謀殺大安者。候其眠熟夜已過半。奴以小劍刺大安項洞之。刃著于床。奴因不拔而逃。大安驚覺呼奴。其不叛者奴婢欲拔刃。大安曰。拔刃便死。可先取紙筆作書畢。縣官亦至。因為拔刃洗瘡加藥。大安遂絕。忽如夢者。見一物。長尺餘。闊厚四五寸。形似猪肉。去地二尺許。從戶入來至床前。其中有語曰。急還我猪肉。大安曰。我不食猪肉。何緣負汝。即聞戶外有言曰。錯非也。此物即還從戶出。大安仍見庭前有池水。清淺可愛池西岸上有金像。可高五寸。須臾漸大而化成為僧被袈裟。甚新淨。語大安曰。被傷耶。我今為汝將痛去。汝當平復。還家念佛修善也。因以手摩大安頸瘡而去。大安得其形狀。見僧背有紅繒補袈裟。可方寸許。甚分明。既而大安覺遂蘇。而瘡亦復不痛。能起坐食。十數日京宅子弟迎至家。家人親故來視。大安為說被傷由狀及見像事。有一婢在傍聞說因言。大安之家初行也。安妻使婢詣像工為造佛像。像成以綵畫衣。有一點朱污像背上。當令工去之不肯。今仍在形狀。如郎君所說。大安因與妻及家人共起觀像。乃同所見無異。其背點宛然補處。於是歎異。信知聖教不虛遂加崇信佛法。彌殷禮敬益年不死。自佛法東流已來。靈像感應者述不能盡。略件如前（右一驗出冥報記也）。

Li Da'an of Longxi during the Tang dynasty was the elder brother of Li Daliang, Minister of Works. During the Wude reign era, Daliang served as the Area Commander-General of Yuezhou, and Da'an traveled from the capital to visit him. Daliang sent several servants to accompany his brother. On his return, he reached Muchao in Guzhou and lodged at an inn. One of the servants plotted to murder Da'an. Waiting until he was fast asleep after midnight, the servant stabbed Da'an through the neck with a small sword, piercing completely through so that the blade struck the bed. The servant then fled without pulling it out. Startled awake, Da'an called his servants. The servants who had not rebelled wished to pull the blade out, but Da'an said: 'If you pull the blade, I will die instantly. First fetch paper and brush so I may finish writing a letter.' The county magistrate also arrived; they then pulled out the blade, washed the wound, and applied medicine. Da'an subsequently lost consciousness. Suddenly, as if in a dream, he saw an object over a foot long, four or five inches wide and thick, shaped like pork, hovering about two feet above the ground, coming in through the door to the front of his bed. A voice from within it said: 'Hurry and return my pork!' Da'an said: 'I do not eat pork; on what account do I owe you?' At once a voice outside the door was heard saying: 'A mistake; it is not him.' The object immediately turned and went out through the door. Da'an then saw a pool of water in the courtyard, clear, shallow, and lovely. On the western bank of the pool stood a golden statue, about five inches tall. In an instant it gradually grew larger and transformed into a monk wearing a kāṣāya, exceedingly fresh and clean. He said to Da'an: 'Were you injured? I shall now take away the pain for you. You will recover; return home, be mindful of the Buddha, and cultivate goodness.' He then stroked the wound on Da'an's neck with his hand and departed. Da'an observed his appearance: on the monk's back, a patch of red silk was sewn onto the kāṣāya, about a square inch in size, very distinct. Soon after, Da'an woke up and revived; the wound was no longer painful, and he was able to sit up and eat. A dozen days later, younger kinsmen from the capital household came to welcome him home. When family and kin came to see him, Da'an recounted the circumstances of his injury and the incident of seeing the statue. A maidservant standing by heard this and said: 'When our master first set out, the mistress sent me to a statue maker to fashion a Buddha statue. When the statue was finished and painted on its robes, a drop of vermilion stained the back of the statue. When I asked the artisan to remove it, he refused. It is still there now, exactly in the form the master described.' Da'an then went with his wife and family to look at the statue; it was identical to what he had seen, with no difference. The spot on the back corresponded precisely to the patched place. Thereupon, marveling at the wonder and knowing with conviction that the sacred teachings are not false, he deepened his devotion to the Buddha's Dharma, paying ever more earnest reverence, and lived for many more years before dying. Since the eastward transmission of the Buddha's Dharma, the sympathetic resonances of efficacious statues are too numerous to recount fully; they are briefly set down as above (the single verification above is from the Mingbao ji).