法苑珠林 24.67

24.67

"Your servant has heard that when Heaven is revered and creatures are nurtured, the celestial patterns manifest their potencies; when Earth is complied with and the people are sustained, the earthly foundation exhibits its virtues. Hence, when Yao polished his personal conduct untiringly, the auspicious breaths manifested good omens; when Yu achieved success in controlling the waters and soil, the dark jade tablet was conferred to announce his virtue. Thus we know that the seasons of Heaven and the affairs of man correspond like shadow and echo, truly miraculous. Humbly I reflect upon Your Majesty, who grasped the charts and received the abdication, receiving the mandate to reign over the world. The realm is free from dust, and your sound governance has reached unity. Holding magnanimity and vast radiance, your boundless compassion is without limit. The celestial realms and the Buddha look down with regard, sending down these glorious omens. In six foundation locations of the stupa, wondrous sands were found, gleaming and reflecting one another, all akin to gold and jewels. An ox performing prostrations is something unheard of since highest antiquity; clouds rising in five colors are witnessed only now. Moreover, a snake of variegated colors coiled round the stupa's base, and cranes soaring in black and white lingered in the midair. Even if the auspicious signs of the Yellow Emperor were vainly transmitted in ancient canons, and the felicitous tokens of the Han emperors merely inscribed upon bamboo slips, were it not for virtue exalting the Three Jewels and a Way surpassing a hundred kings, how could such marvelous felicitation be evoked, or these spiritual marvels summoned?" The Emperor was greatly pleased and had it recorded in a separate account. In the third year of the Daye reign, [Fayan] died at his residence at the age of sixty.