佛祖統紀 46.11

46.11

Second year of Shaosheng [1095 CE]. Su Shi was exiled to Huizhou. Chongbian of Nanhua Temple in Shaoyang requested Shi to transcribe Liu Zongyuan's stele for the Sixth Patriarch, and [Su] inscribed on the back: "Śākya established his teaching through literature. When translated into China, it necessarily relied on capable scholars of the literati before it could spread far. Therefore, among the Mahāyāna sūtras, when it comes to the Śūraṅgama-sūtra, its style is intricate, exhaustive, and peerlessly marvelous, because it was penned by Fang Rong. When Liu Zihou was banished south, he first probed Buddhist doctrine and composed steles for Caoxi and Nanyue, which are marvelous beyond past and present. Yet Nanhua now has no stone inscription. Master Chongbian said that since the Tang, there have been many who praised the Patriarchs, but none as thorough and luminous as Zihou, for when traced back, his words harmonize with Mencius. How could students not be made to see it daily and recite it constantly?" When Zizhan was in Huizhou, he was ordered to be banished to Dan'er (Danzhou across the sea). The prefect of Hui, Fang Zirong, came to console him, saying, "My wife, née Shen, served Sangha with great devotion. One night she dreamed that he came to bid farewell. When asked where he was going, he replied, 'I shall accompany Su Zizhan.' Seventy-two days later came the imperial order, which falls precisely on this day. Is this not predetermined?" On the day he traveled south, he carried a scroll of Amitābha Buddha. When people asked the reason, he answered, "This is Shi's official voucher for rebirth in the Western Direction." While in Dan, he obtained paintings of the Eighteen Arhats by the Zhang family of Shu, and thereupon composed eulogies for them, adding an inscription on the back: "After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, sentient beings of Jambudvīpa are stubborn, self-willed, and unwilling to believe and enter. Thus all the sages and worthies concealed themselves and did not appear, relying solely on established images and bequeathed teachings to guide the unawakened. Yet Mount Emei, Wutai, Lushan, and Tiantai still display radiant visions and unusual transformations to make people clearly see. My family preserved images of the Eighteen Arhats; whenever we made tea offerings, they transformed into white milk, or congealed into peach blossoms, plums, and peonies that could barely be identified. Some say that because the Arhats' compassion is profound and they are anxious to receive beings, they frequently display supernatural transformations. Could it indeed be so? Now I bestow them upon Ziyou, so that he may cultivate reverence at the proper times."