出三藏記集 6.5

6.5

昔漢孝明皇帝。夜夢見神人。身體有金色。項有日光。飛在殿前。意中欣然甚悅之。明日問群臣。此為何神也。有通人傅毅曰。臣聞天竺有得道者。號曰佛。輕舉能飛。殆將其神也。於是上悟。即遣使者張騫羽林中郎將秦景博士弟子王遵等十二人。至大月支國寫取佛經。四十二章在十四石函中。登起立塔寺。於是道法流布。處處修立佛寺。遠人伏化願為臣妾者不可稱數國內清寧。含識之類蒙恩受賴。于今不絕也。

In the past, Emperor Xiaoming of the Han dreamed at night that he saw a divine person whose body was golden and from the back of whose neck shone sunlight, flying before the palace hall. In his mind he was delighted and pleased with him. The next day he asked his ministers: "What god is this?" An erudite man named Fu Yi said: "Your subject has heard that in Tianzhu there is one who attained the Way, named the Buddha. He rises lightly and can fly; he is likely that deity." Thereupon the Emperor was awakened [to the truth]. He immediately dispatched the envoy Zhang Qian, the General of the Palace Gentlemen of the Feathered Forest Qin Jing, the Erudite's disciple Wang Zun, and others, twelve persons in all, to the Great Yuezhi to transcribe and bring back Buddhist sūtras. The Forty-Two Chapters was [contained] in fourteen stone caskets. Towers and monasteries were then erected. Thereupon the teachings of the Way spread abroad, and Buddhist monasteries were built everywhere. Those from distant lands who submitted to transformation and wished to become subjects and handmaidens were beyond count. The realm within was pure and tranquil, and sentient beings were graced by his favour and relied upon it, down to the present day without cessation.