出三藏記集 6.5

6.5

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.