大唐內典錄 10.59

10.59

In the fifth year of Zhenguan, there was Linghu Yuangui, magistrate of Baxi in Longzhou, who had faith and reverence for the Buddha-Dharma. Desiring to copy such sūtras as the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā, and the Mahāparinirvāṇa, but having no means to inspect them himself, he relied on Chan Master Kang of that region to inspect and collate them. Kang accordingly produced them cleanly and in accordance with the Dharma at the monastery. When the copying was completed, the wrapper was rolled up and returned to the manor in Qi Prefecture. The sūtras remained at the manor, placed in the same location together with the Five Thousand Words of Laozi. Suddenly, a fire from outside spread and burned it. The hall was thatched with grass, and was instantly reduced to ashes. At that time, Yuangui held office as magistrate of Fengyi. The family members instructed one another to sift the ashes to retrieve the gilt-bronze sūtra rollers. Having sifted away the outer ashes, the various sūtras within were completely as before, their dyed yellow color unchanged; only the boxes and wrappers had turned to charcoal. When they searched for Laozi, it had been transformed by the fire. They then gathered the sūtras, and the villagers marveled. Only the title characters on one scroll of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā were scorched black. Upon inquiring into the reason, it turned out that when the sūtra title was first written, a prefectural official who was skilled in calligraphy had been in a hurry, and without observing purity, simply stood and brushed the title. Because of this, it was burned. That person is still alive, and the auspicious sūtras still exist. Shencha, the abbot of Ximing Si in the capital, witnessed it with his own eyes and recounted it.