大唐內典錄 10.52

10.52

Furthermore, during the Taihe era of Emperor Gaozu of the Northern Wei, a palace eunuch in the capital of Dai, lamenting his mutilated body, memorialized the throne requesting permission to enter the mountains to practice the Way. An imperial decree granted it. He then took the Avataṃsaka-sūtra and read and recited it day and night, practicing repentance without cease. Before a single summer retreat was completed, by the end of the sixth month, a beard and whiskers grew, and he acquired the physical marks of a man. The situation was memorialized to the throne; the Emperor was greatly astonished and esteemed it. Thereupon, the country revered the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, and honored it even more than in ordinary times. These accounts all appear in Hou Junsu's Record of Manifesting Marvels.