法苑珠林 18.6

18.6

晉濟陰丁承字德真。建安中為凝陰令。時北界居民婦詣外井汲水。有胡人長鼻深目。左過井上從婦乞飲。飲訖忽然不見。婦則腹痛遂加轉劇啼呼。有頃卒然起坐胡語指麾。邑中有數十家悉共觀視。婦呼索紙筆來欲作書。得筆便作胡書。橫行或如乙或如巳。滿五紙投著地。教人讀此書。邑中無能讀者。有一小兒十餘歲。婦即指此小兒能讀。小兒得書便胡語讀之。觀者驚愕不知何謂。婦教小兒起舞。小兒即起翹足以手抃相和。須臾各休。即以白德真。德真召見婦及兒問之。當時忽忽不自覺知。德真欲驗其事。即遣吏齎書詣許下寺以示舊胡。胡大驚言。佛經中間亡失。道遠憂不能得。雖口誦不具足。此乃本書。遂留寫之。

Ding Cheng of Jiyin under the Jin, styled Dezhen, was Magistrate of Ningyin during the Jian'an era. At that time, a resident woman in the northern district went to an outer well to draw water. A foreigner with a long nose and deep-set eyes passed by the well on the left and begged a drink from the woman. Having finished drinking, he suddenly vanished. The woman then felt abdominal pain, which grew progressively worse, and she wept and screamed. After a short while, she abruptly sat up, speaking foreign words and gesturing with commands. Several dozen households in the settlement all came together to watch. The woman called out demanding paper and brush, wishing to write. Obtaining the brush, she immediately wrote foreign script, which ran horizontally, some looking like [the characters] yi or si. Having filled five sheets of paper, she threw them to the ground and instructed someone to read this text. No one in the settlement was able to read it. There was a young boy of about ten years of age; the woman pointed to this boy, saying he could read it. Receiving the text, the boy immediately read it in the foreign tongue. The onlookers were astonished and did not know what it meant. The woman told the boy to get up and dance; the boy immediately arose, raised one foot, and clapped his hands in rhythm. In a short while, each ceased. This was immediately reported to Dezhen. Dezhen summoned the woman and the boy and questioned them, but at the time they had been in a daze and unaware of anything. Dezhen, wishing to verify the matter, immediately dispatched an officer carrying the writing to a temple in Xuxia to show it to long-resident foreigners. The foreigners were greatly astonished and said, 'The Buddhist scripture had previously been lost; the road was so distant that we were worried we could not obtain it. Although we can recite it orally, it was incomplete. This is indeed the original text!' They then retained it and copied it down.