法苑珠林 18.41

18.41

唐雒陽賈道羨。博識多聞尤好內典。貞觀五年為青州司戶參軍事。為公館隘窄無處置經。乃以繩繫書案兩脚。仰懸屋上。置內經六十卷。坐臥其下習讀忘倦。日久繩爛。一頭遂絕。案仍儼然不落。亦不傾動。如此良久人始接取。道羨子為隰州司戶。說之云爾。

Jia Daoxian of Luoyang in the Tang was erudite, widely learned, and particularly fond of Buddhist scriptures. In the fifth year of the Zhenguan reign era, he served as Census Officer of Qingzhou. Because the official residence was narrow and cramped, with nowhere to place the scriptures, he tied the two legs of a writing desk with ropes and hung it upward from the beams of the roof, placing sixty scrolls of Buddhist scriptures upon it. Sitting and lying beneath it, he studied and read them, forgetting weariness. Over time the ropes rotted, and one end finally snapped. The desk nevertheless remained stately, neither falling nor tilting. After a long while like this, people finally took it down. Daoxian's son, who served as Census Officer of Xizhou, recounted this.