佛祖統紀 37.29

37.29

In the second year, the Emperor went to Tongtai Monastery and established a great unobstructed assembly. (In this year, great assemblies were held three times in total.) The Perfected One of Huayang, Tao Hongjing, passed away. The fragrance did not disperse for days. He was posthumously named Master Zhenbai. The book he wrote was titled *Declarations of the Perfected* (Zhen’gao), in which it is said: 'Of the thirty-four disciples of the Perfected One of Pure Emptiness, Pei, eighteen studied the Buddha’s Way, and the rest studied the Immortals’ Way. Of the fifteen disciples of the Perfected One of Purple Yang, Zhou, four understood the Buddha Dharma. Of the twenty-five disciples of the Perfected One of Tongbai, Prince Qiao, eight studied the Buddha Dharma. Seventy thousand li east from the coast of Kuaiji, to the west of Little Fangzhu Mountain, there are many who uphold the Buddha’s Way; there is a stupa a hundred zhang high, carved with gold and jade.' (Although they upheld the Buddha’s Way, they did not take the form of bhikṣus.) Bai Kai served Tao the Recluse for more than ten years. One day, a green lad and a white crane descended from the sky, saying: 'The Supreme One summons Master Bai.' The Recluse asked what Way led to this. Bai said: 'I have cultivated the Way of the Silent Audience for years.' Thereupon he ascended to heaven and departed. Three days later, he secretly descended to the Recluse’s chamber and said: 'Your hidden merit is prominent, but the pharmacopoeia you edited used horseflies and leeches as medicine, which harmed living creatures. One twelve-year cycle after this, you will merely shed your form to leave the world and become the Director of Waters on Penglai.' The Recluse thereupon compiled three scrolls of an *Independent Pharmacopoeia* (Biexing Bencao), substituting botanical medicines for animal lives in order to redeem his fault.