法苑珠林 14.7

14.7

In the fifteenth year of the Yuanjia reign of the Song dynasty, Luo Shun served as an officer under the Pacification Army of the West, garrisoned at Shangming. In the twelfth month, he released his falcon in the wild marshlands. His companions saw that both the falcon and a pheasant had dropped together. At that time, a fire was burning the plain flat; only a patch of grass about thirty feet across remained unburnt. They then parted the grasses and searched there, whereupon they obtained a seated gold statue of a bodhisattva. Together with its pedestal it was one foot high, and its workmanship was extraordinarily skillful. At that time, the magistrate of Dingxiang thought it had been hidden by a thief, so he issued an official notice throughout his borders inquiring if anyone had lost a statue. [As no one claimed it,] he thereupon collected and made offerings to it.