法苑珠林 18.6

18.6

Ding Cheng of Jiyin under the Jin, styled Dezhen, was Magistrate of Ningyin during the Jian'an era. At that time, a resident woman in the northern district went to an outer well to draw water. A foreigner with a long nose and deep-set eyes passed by the well on the left and begged a drink from the woman. Having finished drinking, he suddenly vanished. The woman then felt abdominal pain, which grew progressively worse, and she wept and screamed. After a short while, she abruptly sat up, speaking foreign words and gesturing with commands. Several dozen households in the settlement all came together to watch. The woman called out demanding paper and brush, wishing to write. Obtaining the brush, she immediately wrote foreign script, which ran horizontally, some looking like [the characters] yi or si. Having filled five sheets of paper, she threw them to the ground and instructed someone to read this text. No one in the settlement was able to read it. There was a young boy of about ten years of age; the woman pointed to this boy, saying he could read it. Receiving the text, the boy immediately read it in the foreign tongue. The onlookers were astonished and did not know what it meant. The woman told the boy to get up and dance; the boy immediately arose, raised one foot, and clapped his hands in rhythm. In a short while, each ceased. This was immediately reported to Dezhen. Dezhen summoned the woman and the boy and questioned them, but at the time they had been in a daze and unaware of anything. Dezhen, wishing to verify the matter, immediately dispatched an officer carrying the writing to a temple in Xuxia to show it to long-resident foreigners. The foreigners were greatly astonished and said, 'The Buddhist scripture had previously been lost; the road was so distant that we were worried we could not obtain it. Although we can recite it orally, it was incomplete. This is indeed the original text!' They then retained it and copied it down.