法苑珠林 14.5

14.5

宋元嘉十二年。留元之。東陽長山人。家以種苧為業。每燒田墌輒有一處叢草不然。經久怪之不復墾伐。後試薄掘得銅坐像。高三寸許。尋撿其地舊非邦邑。莫測何來云。

In the twelfth year of the Yuanjia reign of the Song, Liu Yuanzhi of Changshan in Dongyang, whose family engaged in the cultivation of ramie, repeatedly found that whenever they burned the field embankments, there was one patch of tangled grass that would not ignite. After a long time, he found it strange and no longer cleared or farmed it. Later, he tried digging lightly, and obtained a seated bronze image, about three inches high. Upon examining the site, it had not been a town or settlement in former times, and no one could fathom whence it came.