On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c5.21

v1.c5.21

At this time the two eldest sons of Li Yuan were also in the public service, and it is with the younger of these that we are now concerned. This boy, who seems to have been extraordinary from a very early stage of his life, was born in the year 597. When he was four years of age a mysterious stranger, dressed like a professional scholar, came one day to Li Yuan's house. Professing to be able to read fortunes, this stranger recognised Yuan as destined to greatness. Then taking the little child, he read fate's characters in his face, and predicted that the child would rise to power and that he would "save the age and give peace to the people"—*Chi-shih-an-min* (濟世安民). The father, perhaps finding the prophecy jump with his thoughts, and wishing to prick lagging destiny, gave to his son a name, Shih-min, which recalled the prediction.