佛祖統紀 9.31

9.31

Chan Master Dazhi was of the Gu clan from Kuaiji. He left home under Zhiyi; because his aspirations were noble and untrammeled, Zhiyi gave him this name. Whenever he recited the Lotus Sūtra, his voice was clear and melodious, making listeners forget their fatigue. Having received the essentials of Chan, he practiced dhūta austerities on Ganlu Peak of Mount Lu. When he threw himself before fierce tigers, the tigers always avoided him and left. When mountain grains occasionally ran out, he would forget food all day long, or just sustain his life with a little cake and fruit. For seven years like this, his meditation and recitation never ceased. In his later years, he dwelled at Fulin. When it happened during the Daye era that Buddhism was being suppressed, the Master dressed in plain white mourning clothes and wept before the Buddha's image for three days, vowing to sacrifice his body to clarify the true path. He then went to the Eastern Capital and submitted a memorial saying, 'I pray Your Majesty will make the Three Jewels flourish; this poor monk will surely burn his arm to repay the state.' The emperor granted permission. Thereupon he gathered the sevenfold assembly and held a great vegetarian feast. Having fasted from grain for three days, he mounted a high scaffold, wrapped his arm in cloth, poured wax over it to make a torch, and lit it with fire. The radiance illuminated the cliffs and wilderness; none who saw it were not heartbroken. The Master's countenance remained unchanged; praising the Buddha, chanting sūtras, and expounding the Dharma for the assembly, his voice never ceased. When the burning was finished, he descended from the scaffold, entered absorption for seven days, and passed away sitting cross-legged. He composed seventy sheets of vow texts; on New Year's Eve, when the assemblies gathered at the various monasteries of Mount Lu, they recited this text and were choked with grief.