法苑珠林 40.31

40.31

In the eighth year of the Yuanjia era of the Song, in Kuaiji, there was a man named An Qianzai whose family venerated the Buddha. At night someone knocked on the door; he went out and saw more than ten men dressed in red garments carrying lumber and piling it inside the gate, saying, "The authorities have ordered the construction of a stūpa." Suddenly they were nowhere to be seen. The next day, when he went to another house, atop the vegetarian meal he obtained a śarīra of purple-gold colour. It could not be shattered by hammering, and when carried across water, radiant light shone and burst forth. He then raised and revered it himself, and there was always an extraordinary fragrance. Later, when he went out intending to worship it, it was suddenly lost. He searched for it thoroughly, and after half a day it returned. At that time, the Prince of Linchuan was garrisoning Jiangling; he welcomed it and processed it. Variegated lights appeared alternately, seen differently by the clerks and śramaṇas. The prince held a water vessel and uttered a prayer to that effect, and immediately, in response to his voice, light came forth. At night, more than a hundred people were seen circumambulating the śarīra chamber, burning incense and holding flowers, like the appearance of the Buddha's emergence. When dawn came, both the people and the śarīra were lost.