Manifestation of Maitreya Buddha

彌勒菩薩夢境自現

After the Wisdom Lake was formed, Ven. Dayi Shi vowed to erect statues of Bodhisattva Manjusri near Wisdom Lake to remind all visitors of the life-saving miracle that took place. Construction continued with Ven. Dayi Shi onsite nearly every day supervising its progress.
靈泉湖挖好以後，達義大和尚深感菩薩的加持力，但是卻不知道是哪一位菩薩在冥冥中安排幫助，為了讓後人能夠記住菩薩的救人事蹟，預在湖邊建造四大菩薩聖像供奉。

One evening after a hard day’s work, he fell asleep and in his dream, he heard someone asking: “Why are there only statutes of Bodhisattva Manjusri? Where is Maitreya Buddha?” Then a majestic statue of Maitreya Buddha appeared in front of him in his dream. He was startled and woke up, but recalled immediately that it was a tradition of many Buddhist temples to place a statue of Maitreya Buddha at the entrance to greet all visitors. He had been too busy managing the construction project, and with very limited funds to work with, he had overlooked this feature in the past, and probably would not be able to include it in the near future.
盛夏的一日，達義大和尚和往常一樣，獨自駕車往返於五台山工地指揮施工。黃昏返回湛山精舍後感覺疲勞，不由自主地打盹小憩，似夢非夢中，忽聽一個聲音說：「菩薩有數尊，為何只建四大菩薩？彌勒何在？」大和尚的夢境中隱約出現一尊彌勒佛的樣貌。他被驚醒，突然想到，對呀！通常寺院或是佛教名山中都會有彌勒菩
薩，而自己忙的竟然忘記此事。當下發心要再創建一尊彌勒菩薩。但當時的情況，根本沒有能力和資金去建造彌勒菩薩。五台山是一個長期規劃的工程項目，佛像又不能建造的太小，正處於一籌莫展之時。

The next day Mr. Cheng, a Buddhist devotee from Hong Kong paid him a visit, and Ven. Dayi Shi shared the details of his dream with him. Even though Mr. Cheng immediately pledged to pay for all the expenses to erect such a statue onsite, a suitable model had to be found first for the creation of such a statue. A few days later, another congregation member visited the abbot and asked if a home visit could be made, as he owned a valuable statue of Maitreya Buddha and would like an expert opinion on it.
次日，一位移民加拿大的香港鄭居士來訪。大和尚將想建彌勒菩薩的心願告知該居士，但苦於沒有資金。這位居士當下發大願出資建造。現在，雖有人出錢，但造像的版本也是一個大問題。大和尚希望找到一尊莊嚴的彌勒菩薩形象，照其建造。他開始查找資料和圖片，都不是很滿意。數日後，一位老華僑告知大和尚，家里珍藏一尊珍貴的明代彌勒菩薩銅像，十分有靈氣，希望請大和尚前去鑒定。

Upon arrival at the home, Ven. Dayi Shi was amazed to see that it was the same statue he saw in his dream! This statue was subsequently used as a model for the 13 metres high Maitreya Buddha statue which greets all visitors at the entrance of Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden.
大和尚見到彌勒菩薩後驚奇地發現，這尊佛像竟然是夢中顯現的樣子。於是，就以此佛像的樣子建築了現在13米高的彌勒菩薩在山門口。