[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [續高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060) › 27.24 # 續高僧傳 27.24 續高僧傳 27.24 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [27.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27.24) 釋會通。雍州萬年御宿川人。少欣道檢遊泊林泉。苦節戒行是其顧習。投終南豹林谷。潛隱綜業。讀法花經至藥王品。便欣厭捨。私集柴木誓必行之。以貞觀末年。靜夜林中積薪為窟。誦至藥王便令下火。風驚焰發煙火俱盛。卓爾加坐聲誦如故。尋爾西南有大白光流入火聚。身方偃仆。至曉身火俱滅。乃收其遺骨為起白塔。勒銘存焉。貞觀之初。荊州有比丘尼姊妹。同誦法花。深厭形器。俱欲捨身。節約衣食欽崇苦行服諸香油漸斷粒食。後頓絕穀惟噉香蜜。精力所被神志鮮爽。周告道俗。剋日燒身。以貞觀三年二月八日。於荊州大街置二高座。乃以蠟布纏身至頂。惟出面目。眾聚如山。歌讚雲會。誦至燒處。其姊先以火柱妹頂。請妹又以火柱姊頂。清夜兩炬一時同耀。焰下至眼。聲相轉明。漸下鼻口方乃歇滅。恰至明晨合坐洞舉。一時火花。骸骨摧朽。二舌俱存。合眾欣嗟。為起高塔。近并州城西有一書生。年二十四五。誦法華經誓燒供養。乃集數束蒿乾籠之。人問其故。密而不述。後於中夜放火自燒。及人往救火盛已死。乃就加柴薪盡其形蔭。近有山僧善導者。周遊寰寓求訪道津。行至西河遇道綽部。惟行念佛彌陀淨業。既入京師廣行此化。寫彌陀經數萬卷。士女奉者其數無量。時在光明寺說法。有人告導曰。今念佛名定生淨土不。導曰。念佛定生。其人禮拜訖。口誦南無阿彌陀佛聲聲相次出光明寺門。上柳樹表。合掌西望。倒投身下。至地遂死。事聞臺省。 > Shi Huitong was a native of the Yusu River valley in Wannian, Yongzhou. In his youth he delighted in the discipline of the Way, roaming and resting among forests and springs; austere restraints and precepts were what he attended to and practiced. He went to the Baolin Valley in the Zhongnan Mountains, living in hidden seclusion and synthesizing his practice. When reading the Lotus Sūtra and reaching the "Medicine King Chapter," he delighted in renouncing \[his body\]. He secretly gathered firewood and vowed that he would certainly carry it out. In the late years of the Zhenguan reign era, in the quiet night inside the forest, he stacked firewood into a cave. Reciting up to the "Medicine King \[Chapter\]," he had fire set to it. The wind startled the flames into rising, and smoke and fire both flourished. Erect, he sat cross-legged, his voice reciting as before. Soon, from the southwest, a great white light flowed into the mass of fire; only then did his body fall over. By dawn, both body and fire were extinguished. Thereupon, they collected his remaining bones and erected a white stupa for him, inscribing an epitaph to preserve his memory. At the beginning of the Zhenguan era, in Jingzhou there were two bhikṣuṇī sisters who chanted the Lotus \[Sūtra\] together. Feeling deep revulsion toward the physical frame, both wished to abandon their bodies. Economizing their clothes and food, admiring and venerating austere practices, they drank various aromatic oils and gradually cut off grain food. Later, they completely stopped grains and only consumed aromatics and honey. Supported by their energetic vigour, their spirits were fresh and clear. They universally announced to the monastics and laity, setting a date to burn their bodies. On the eighth day of the second month of the third year of Zhenguan, they set up two high seats on the main street of Jingzhou, wrapping their bodies with waxed cloth up to the crown of their heads, exposing only their faces and eyes. The crowd gathered like a mountain, singing praises and assembling like clouds. Reciting to the point of burning, the elder sister first placed a torch to the younger sister's crown, and asked the younger sister also to place a torch to the elder sister's crown. In the clear night, two torches shone together at the same time. The flames reached down to their eyes, and their chanting voices grew even clearer; only when \[the flames\] reached their noses and mouths did they cease. Precisely at dawn, their entire seats were burned completely through, bursting at once into fiery flowers. Though their skeletons collapsed and decayed, both of their tongues remained intact. The whole assembly rejoiced and sighed in admiration, and erected a high stupa for them. Recently, west of the city wall of Bingzhou, there was a scholar aged twenty-four or five. He recited the Lotus Sūtra and vowed to burn \[himself\] as an offering. He gathered several bundles of dry wormwood and made a cage of them. When people asked him the reason, he kept it secret and did not explain. Later, in the middle of the night, he set fire to burn himself. By the time people went to save him, the fire was raging and he was already dead. They then added firewood on the spot to consume his corporeal remains. Recently, there was a mountain monk named Shandao, who traveled around the realm seeking the ford of the Way. Traveling to Xihe, he encountered the faction of Daochuo, which practiced solely the recollection of the Buddha and the pure karma of Amitābha. After entering the capital, he widely propagated this teaching, copying tens of thousands of fascicles of the Amitābha Sūtra; the men and women who venerated it were innumerable. Once, while he was preaching the Dharma at Guangming Temple, someone asked Shandao, saying: "If one now recites the Buddha's name, will one definitely be born in the Pure Land or not?" Shandao said: "Reciting the Buddha's name, one will definitely be born \[there\]." That person, having finished prostrating, chanted with his mouth "Namo Amitābha Buddha," sound following sound in succession as he walked out of the gate of Guangming Temple. Climbing to the top of a willow tree, he joined his palms facing west, cast himself down upside down, and died upon hitting the ground. The matter was reported to the imperial court. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 27.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27.23) - [Next: 27.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27.25) - [Up: 27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.27.24) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [弘贊法華傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2067.5.17) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.27.24) · Pramāṇa