高僧傳 3.20

3.20

In the past, before he had gone forth from the household, Zhiyan had once received the five precepts and committed a transgression against them; after entering the Way and receiving the full ordination, he constantly doubted whether he had truly received the precepts, and always lived in fear of this. Though he practiced dhyāna contemplation for years, he could not resolve it for himself. Thereupon he sailed across the sea and went again to Tianzhu to consult the wise and realized. He met an arhat monk (bhikṣu) and questioned him about the matter in full detail. The arhat did not dare decide it on his own; he entered samādhi on Zhiyan's behalf, went up to the Tuṣita Palace, and consulted Maitreya. Maitreya answered: "He has received the precepts." Zhiyan was overjoyed and thereupon returned on foot. Reaching Jibin (Kashmir), he passed away without illness at the age of seventy-eight. According to the custom of that country, the ordinary and the holy were cremated in different places; although Zhiyan's moral conduct was lofty and luminous, his actual attainment had not been verified. At first they moved his corpse toward the graveyard for ordinary monks, but the corpse became so heavy it could not be lifted; when they redirected it toward the holy graveyard, it became buoyant and light of its own accord. Zhiyan's disciples Zhiyu and Zhiyuan had come purposefully from the west; after reporting this auspicious sign, they both returned abroad. From this it may be deduced that Zhiyan was truly one who had attained the Way, though the depth of his stage along the path to the fruits [of liberation] remains unknown.