樂邦遺稿 2.59

2.59

The Record of Compiled Anomalies says: 'Qi Junfang was a native of Wu commandery. Though he had studied diligently from his youth, his literary talent was meager; he was constantly burdened by poverty and hardship, and when presenting himself to dukes and nobles, he received no regard. During the Yuanhe era of the Tang, he traveled to Qiantang, intending to beg for food at Tianzhu. When he reached Gushan, he was so hungry that he could not go forward, and so he wept sorrowfully overlooking a stream. Soon, he saw an Indian monk who looked at him and said: "Dharma Master and graduate, have you had your fill of the taste of traveling?" Qi said: "The taste of travel is indeed full. Why do you address me as Dharma Master?" The monk said: "Do you not remember expounding the Lotus Sūtra at Tongde Temple in Luoyang?" Qi said: "All my life I have lingered and traveled in Wu and Chu, never once crossing the Jing River; how can there be talk of Luoyang?" The monk said: "You must be distressed by the fire of hunger, so that you do not recall your past life." The monk then reached into his alms-bowl pouch, produced a date, and said: "This is produced in my country; eating it enables one to know past and future matters." Having eaten it, Qi scooped water from the spring to drink and rested his head on a stone to sleep. When he awoke, he suddenly was aware of his past incarnation as if it were yesterday. Thereupon he bowed to the monk and inquired: "Is the Preceptor Zhen in peace?" The monk said: "His focused diligence was not complete; he became a Shu monk once more, but now he has severed clinging conditions." "Where is Master Shen?" He said: "His previous vow was not yet fulfilled; I hear he has become a Dharma Master again." "Where is Dharma Master Wu?" He said: "Do you not recall playfully making a great vow in front of the stone image at Xiangshan Temple: 'If I do not realize unexcelled bodhi, I vow to become a court noble'? Yesterday I heard he has already become a military commander. Of the five monks at that time, only I gained release. You alone have become a frozen and starving scholar." Qi said: "For over forty years, I have eaten only one meal a day and wrapped my body in coarse hemp. This fortune was not complete; how did my cultivation lead to this?" The monk said: "The fault lay in expounding divergent errors widely from atop the lion seat, causing scholars to generate doubts in their minds. The precept-jewel had flaws, and dhyāna was not cultivated alongside; when the body is bent, the shadow is crooked: it is right that the retribution should be so." Qi said: "What can be done about it?" The monk said: "Regarding the matters of today, nothing more can be done. As for the matters of other lives, may this serve as a warning to you." He then produced a mirror, both front and back lustrous and clear. "If you wish to know about matters such as nobility and meanness, longevity and brevity, and the rise and fall of the Buddhadharma, you should take a look." Qi looked, and the mirror had already spoken, saying: "All matters have been examined." The monk gathered the mirror and walked away, and soon was lost to sight. When Qi reached Lingyin, he shaved his hair to become a monk, changing his name to Jingkong. In the first year of the Dahe era, Li Mei was pursuing his studies at Tianzhu in Longmen; Kong visited him and related the above events, further saying to Mei: "I am fifty-seven years old, and still have nine years left in the world. After I depart, will the Buddhadharma decline?" When Mei finished [listening], he did not answer, but took up a brush and wrote on the northern wall of the sūtra repository: "Not sharing one sand, the Ganges sands decline; / a hare trapped, a dog seized; / ox and tiger clash, losing horn and tusk; / the precious sandalwood ultimately does not extinguish its flower." This prophesied the incident of Tang Emperor Wudi's suppression of Buddhism, which later indeed came to pass.'