佛祖統紀 27.64

27.64

Weigong was a native of Jingzhou. He frequently indulged in drinking and gambling, but in moments of leisure he would recite sūtras and pray for birth in the Land of Peaceful Nurture. In the same monastery, Lingkui's conduct was quite similar. The people of Jingzhou mocked them, saying: / 'Lingkui exhausts all evil deeds; / Weigong follows in his tracks. / Hell has thousands of levels— / Do not tire of entering in a line!' / Gong heard this and said, 'My Buddha pities my wrongdoing and pulls me out of torment—how could I enter hell?' One day Gong fell ill. Kui went out of the monastery on an errand and met seven youths holding musical instruments shaped like those in the monastery. They said, 'We come from the West; where is Master Weigong's monastery?' Kui pointed it out, and they immediately took a golden vase from their bosoms and produced a fist-sized lotus that gradually unfolded, each petal emitting an extraordinary light as they dashed toward the monastery. Kui was terrified and dared not look back. The next day, when he returned to the monastery, Gong had already passed away the previous evening. Because of this, Kui was moved to awakening; in the end, he preserved his reputation and moral conduct, becoming an eminent virtue.