法苑珠林 29.37

29.37

Master Xuanzang's biography states: 'Above the right breast of the statue, the ornamentation was not complete. When they further filled it with various jewels, looking from afar at its appearance, it still seemed incomplete. The statue sits cross-legged, with the right foot on top; the left hand is drawn back, and the right hand hangs down. The reason the hand hangs down is that it depicts the moment when the Buddha first attained the Path, when the Buddha spoke to the Demon King and pointed to the earth as witness. Recently, King Śaśāṅka chopped down the tree and ordered his ministers to destroy the statue. The king returned east on his own. The minister, who originally had faith, erected a brick barrier across the front of the statue; ashamed at the darkness in his heart, he placed a lamp inside, and painted the image of Maheśvara on the outside. When the work was completed, he reported the accomplishment. Hearing of it, King Śaśāṅka was terrified; sores broke out all over his body, his skin and flesh all split open, and he perished immediately. The minister galloped back to report, and immediately removed the barrier wall; though many days had passed in going and returning, the lamp was still not extinguished. It is now kept in a deep chamber; when one holds a mirror in the morning to reflect light onto it, one sees its appearance. Those who see it are filled with sorrowful affection and reverent admiration, forgetting to return.' Moreover, according to Wang Xuance's travelogue: 'These Han envoys received an imperial decree to go to the Mahābodhi Monastery in Magadha and erect a stele. On the eleventh day of the second month in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, it was erected beneath the Bodhi Tree to the west of the stūpa, written by Wei Cai, an official secretary of the Bureau of Gates of the Envoy Directorate.'