法苑珠林 18.10

18.10

Xie Fu of the Jin, styled Qingxu, was a native of Shanyin in Kuaiji. He was the nephew of Army-Guarding General Xie You. In his youth he possessed lofty integrity and lived as a recluse in the Eastern Mountains. Devoutly faithful to the Great Dharma, he was energetic and tireless. He copied the Śūraṅgama-sūtra by hand. When it was kept in Baima Temple in the capital, the temple was caught in a fire; utensils and other scriptures were all reduced to ash and embers, but this scripture was scorched only outside the margins of the paper. The text was entirely preserved without any destruction or loss. When Fu died, his friends suspected he had attained the Way, and upon hearing of this scripture, they were even more astonished. In the eighth year of the Yuanjia era (431 CE), a great fire disaster occurred in Puban City of Hedong; the fire flew in across the river and could not be extinguished. The barbarian garrisons and civilian residences were completely consumed, yet only the monasteries and stupa temples escaped burning. Among the small houses in the wards, those that had scriptures and images mostly did not burn either. Or, even if a house was burned and destroyed, beneath the ash and embers, complete scriptures were frequently recovered, their paper and silk unchanged. The entire city marveled at the anomaly, and together came to revere and believe. (These five verifications are taken from the Mingxiangji.)