法苑珠林 18.17

18.17

During the Taihe era of Emperor Gaozu of the Latter Wei, a palace eunuch in the capital Dai lamented that he was physically mutilated, and memorialized to request permission to enter the mountains to practice the contemplation of the Way. An imperial decree granted it. He then took the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and read it day and night, making repentance without rest. Before a single summer retreat was over, by the end of the sixth month, his mustache and beard had grown, and he obtained the physical marks of a man. The circumstances were memorialized to the throne, and the emperor revered him greatly. Thereupon the whole country generally revered the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, venerating it even more than ordinary days. (Recorded in Hou Junsu's Jingyi ji).