When Tanka (Tan-hsia) of the T‘ang dynasty stopped at Yerinji in the Capital, it was severely cold; so taking down one of the Buddha images enshrined there, he made a fire of it and warmed himself. The keeper of the shrine, seeing this, was greatly incensed, and exclaimed: “How dare you burn my wooden image of the Buddha?” Tanka began to search in the ashes as if he were looking for something, and said: “I am gathering the holy saurias3 from the burnt ashes.” “How,” said the keeper, “can you get sariras from a wooden Buddha?” Tanka retorted, “If there are no sariras to be found in it, may I
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