法苑珠林 18.44

18.44

顯慶中。平州有人。姓孫名壽。於海濱游獵。見野火焰熾草木蕩盡。唯有一叢茂草獨不焚燎。疑此草中有獸。遂以火燒之。竟不能著。壽甚怪之。遂入草間尋覓。乃見一函金剛般若經。其傍又見一死僧。顏色不變。火不延燎。蓋由此也。信知經像非凡所測。孫壽親自說之。

During the Xianqing reign era, in Pingzhou there was a man surnamed Sun and named Shou, who was hunting along the seashore. He saw a wildfire blazing fiercely, completely destroying the vegetation, yet a single clump of lush grass alone remained unburned. Suspecting that a wild beast might be inside this grass, he tried to set it on fire, but in the end it could not be ignited. Shou found this very strange, so he entered the grass to search, whereupon he found a case containing the Diamond Prajñā Sūtra. Beside it he also saw a deceased monk whose facial complexion had not changed. It was on account of this that the fire had not spread to consume it. One truly knows that scriptures and icons cannot be fathomed by ordinary beings. Sun Shou personally related this.