法苑珠林 14.33

14.33

唐西京清禪寺先有純金像一軀。長一尺四寸。重八十兩。隋文帝之所造也。貞觀十四年。有賊孫德信。偽造璽書。將一閹竪子詐稱勅遣取像。寺僧聞奉勅索不敢拒付之。經宿事發。像身已被鑄破唯頭不銷。太宗大怒處以極刑。德信未死之間。身已爛壞遍體瘡潰。寺僧更加金如法鑄成（右三驗出冥報拾遺）。

At Qingchan Temple in the Western Capital during the Tang dynasty, there was previously a solid gold statue, one foot four inches tall and weighing eighty ounces, made by Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty. In the fourteenth year of the Zhenguan reign era, a thief named Sun Dexin forged an imperial rescript and, leading a castrated youth, falsely claimed to have been sent by imperial decree to collect the statue. The monks of the temple, hearing that it was demanded by imperial decree, dared not refuse and handed it over. Overnight the matter came to light: the body of the statue had already been broken and melted down, and only the head had not dissolved. Emperor Taizong was exceedingly furious and condemned him to the ultimate penalty. Before Dexin died, his body had already rotted away, with ulcers breaking out all over his flesh. The monks of the temple added more gold and cast the statue anew according to the proper methods (the three verifications above are from the Mingbao shiyi).