佛祖統紀 15.57

15.57

Dharma Master Sijing came from the Yu clan of Qiantang. He received the Lotus Sutra from Master Ying. Having awakened to its purport, he further investigated deeply the contemplations of the Pure Land, dedicating his mind exclusively to mindfulness of the Buddha and undertaking daily recitations of the Guan jing. At the beginning of the Daguan era, he founded a hermitage at the northern gate of the commandery city, naming it Miaoxing. Leading his disciples to beg for food, he resolved to feed a million monks; in less than twenty years, this was exceeded eightfold. He constructed ten Lotus Treasure-houses, their design being ingenious and masterly, the finest revolving repositories in the realm. He was especially skilled at painting Buddhas; whenever he wielded his brush, he would first enter a quiet room to engage in mindfulness of the Buddha and contemplation. One day, while painting a sixteen-foot image, he saw the light of the Buddha for a long while, and the entire assembly gazed and prostrated. At that time, the master was suddenly enlightened to the wonders of brushwork. Thereupon, the world all called him 'Yu Amitābha.' He once chiseled the stone at the Northern Mountains of the West Lake to make an image of Maitreya, exposing half of the torso on the cliff. Those of discernment believed that on the day when deep valleys become hills, there would surely be someone who would follow and complete the entire body, just like the statue of the Three Lives Stone. At the beginning of the Xuanhe era, bandits arose in Qingxi and assaulted Qiantang. The master spoke to the ringleader, offering his own body in exchange for the lives of the entire city. The bandits regarded him as righteous, and their baleful blades were sheathed. In the winter of the gengshen year of Shaoxing, he sat upright contemplating the Buddha for seven days without pause. Suddenly, he rose, burned incense to make offerings to the Buddha, returned to his seat, crossed his legs, and transformed. For ten days, the top of his head remained warm and his face and body were radiant and rosy; those who saw him thought he was still alive. He was buried to the right of the Dharma hall.