法苑珠林 13.34

13.34

Regarding the image that emerged when the mountain split open in Liangzhou under the Yuan Wei: In the first year of the Dayan reign of Emperor Taiwu, there was the śramaṇa Liu Sahe of Lishi, whose story is fully recorded in the Biographies of Monks. He traveled through the region south of the Yangtze, worshipped at the pagoda in Mao County, and arrived at Jinling to uncover King Aśoka's relics. When his meritorious deeds were nearly finished, he traveled west to the eastern boundary of Fanhe Commandery, one hundred and seventy li west of Liangzhou; looking northward toward Mount Yugu, he bowed from afar. No one could fathom why he did so. Sahe said, 'From the cliff of this mountain an image will emerge. If its spiritual marks are complete, then the world will be joyful and the era peaceful; if it has defects, then the world will be disordered and the people will suffer.' After eighty-seven years, in the first year of the Zhengguang reign, amidst heavy wind, rain, and thunder that shook the mountain cliffs, a stone image emerged, one zhang and eight feet in height, with an upright and majestic form, but lacking a head. Immediately stones were selected and artisans ordered [to carve one]; but once attached, it fell off again. The way of the Wei declined, and his words were verified. In the first year of the [Northern] Zhou, in a ravine seven li east of the city of Liangzhou, a stone suddenly emitted a light that illuminated the hidden and the manifest. Those who beheld it found it extraordinary; it was indeed the head of the image. When it was respectfully placed upon the body of the image, it fit perfectly. Its divine form had been chipped and incomplete for more than forty years; the body and head had been separated in different places by some two hundred li; yet the physical marks formerly lacking were all at once restored to completeness. At that time, a lamplight shone and flowed, and the sound of a bell echoed as if flying through the air, without anyone knowing whence they came. In the first year of the Baoding reign of the Zhou, it was established as the Ruixiang Temple. When [the Dharma] was about to be proscribed in the Jiande reign, the head fell off again on its own. Emperor Wu ordered the Prince of Qi to go and investigate; they affixed the head to the image’s neck and guarded it with soldiers, but by morning it had fallen off again as before. Thereupon followed the portents of the abolition of the Dharma and the destruction of the dynasty, which are fully recorded on the stele of the Zhou monk Dao'an. Although the Zhou destroyed the teachings, it did not harm this image. In the Kaihuang reign [of the Sui], when the Dharma was restored, a temple was established as before. In the fifth year of the Daye reign, when Emperor Yang made a western expedition, he personally went to pay reverence, and changed its name to Guantong Daochang. The image exists to this day. Those who tried to replicate it according to drawings were not few, but upon completion, its height and dimensions could never be fixed.