高僧傳 12.44

12.44

Shi Huiguo was a native of Yu Province. In his youth he dedicated himself to a simple diet of bitter greens. Early in the Song, he traveled to the capital and stayed at Waguan Temple. He recited the Lotus and the Daśabhūmika. Once in the latrine he saw a ghost pay respect to him, saying, "In the past I served as the karmadāna for the saṃgha, but slightly failed to act in accordance with the Dharma, and fell among the dung-eating pretas. Dharma Master, your virtue is inherently exalted, and you are mindful of compassion; I pray that you will aid me with a means of deliverance." He also said that in the past he had buried three thousand coins under a persimmon tree, and wished that Huiguo would dig them up to make merit. Huiguo then told the assembly and dug them up, indeed finding three thousand coins; he commissioned a set of the Lotus Sūtra and hosted a gathering. Later he saw this ghost in a dream, saying, "I have already attained rebirth in a new life, far superior to past days." Huiguo died in the sixth year of the Taishi reign period of the Song, at the age of seventy-six.