法苑珠林 14.30

14.30

Li Da'an of Longxi during the Tang dynasty was the elder brother of Li Daliang, Minister of Works. During the Wude reign era, Daliang served as the Area Commander-General of Yuezhou, and Da'an traveled from the capital to visit him. Daliang sent several servants to accompany his brother. On his return, he reached Muchao in Guzhou and lodged at an inn. One of the servants plotted to murder Da'an. Waiting until he was fast asleep after midnight, the servant stabbed Da'an through the neck with a small sword, piercing completely through so that the blade struck the bed. The servant then fled without pulling it out. Startled awake, Da'an called his servants. The servants who had not rebelled wished to pull the blade out, but Da'an said: 'If you pull the blade, I will die instantly. First fetch paper and brush so I may finish writing a letter.' The county magistrate also arrived; they then pulled out the blade, washed the wound, and applied medicine. Da'an subsequently lost consciousness. Suddenly, as if in a dream, he saw an object over a foot long, four or five inches wide and thick, shaped like pork, hovering about two feet above the ground, coming in through the door to the front of his bed. A voice from within it said: 'Hurry and return my pork!' Da'an said: 'I do not eat pork; on what account do I owe you?' At once a voice outside the door was heard saying: 'A mistake; it is not him.' The object immediately turned and went out through the door. Da'an then saw a pool of water in the courtyard, clear, shallow, and lovely. On the western bank of the pool stood a golden statue, about five inches tall. In an instant it gradually grew larger and transformed into a monk wearing a kāṣāya, exceedingly fresh and clean. He said to Da'an: 'Were you injured? I shall now take away the pain for you. You will recover; return home, be mindful of the Buddha, and cultivate goodness.' He then stroked the wound on Da'an's neck with his hand and departed. Da'an observed his appearance: on the monk's back, a patch of red silk was sewn onto the kāṣāya, about a square inch in size, very distinct. Soon after, Da'an woke up and revived; the wound was no longer painful, and he was able to sit up and eat. A dozen days later, younger kinsmen from the capital household came to welcome him home. When family and kin came to see him, Da'an recounted the circumstances of his injury and the incident of seeing the statue. A maidservant standing by heard this and said: 'When our master first set out, the mistress sent me to a statue maker to fashion a Buddha statue. When the statue was finished and painted on its robes, a drop of vermilion stained the back of the statue. When I asked the artisan to remove it, he refused. It is still there now, exactly in the form the master described.' Da'an then went with his wife and family to look at the statue; it was identical to what he had seen, with no difference. The spot on the back corresponded precisely to the patched place. Thereupon, marveling at the wonder and knowing with conviction that the sacred teachings are not false, he deepened his devotion to the Buddha's Dharma, paying ever more earnest reverence, and lived for many more years before dying. Since the eastward transmission of the Buddha's Dharma, the sympathetic resonances of efficacious statues are too numerous to recount fully; they are briefly set down as above (the single verification above is from the Mingbao ji).