[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) › 28.27 # 續高僧傳 28.27 續高僧傳 28.27 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [28.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28.27) 釋法誠。姓樊氏。雍州萬年人。童小出家。止藍田王效寺。事沙門僧和。和亦鄉族所推。奉之比聖。嘗有人欲害。夜往其房。見門內猛火騰焰昇帳。遂即退悔。性飲清泉。潔清故也。人或弄之。密以羊骨沈水。和素不知。飲便嘔吐。其冥感潛識為若此矣。誠奉佩訓。勗講法華經以為恒任。又謁禪林寺相禪師。詢于定行。而德茂時宗。學優眾仰。晚住雲花綱理僧鎮。隋文欽德請遵戒範。乃陳表固辭。薄言抗禮。遂負笈長驅。歷遊名岳追蹤勝友。咸承志道。因見超公隱居幽靜。乃結心期栖遲藍谷。處既局狹纔止一床。旋轉經行恐顛深壑。便剗迹開林披雲附景。茅茨葺宇甕牖疎簷。情事相依欣然符合。今所謂悟真寺也。法華三昧翹心奉行。澡沐中表溫恭朝夕。夢感普賢勸書大教。誠曰。大教大乘也。諸佛智慧所謂般若。於即入淨行道。重惠匠人。書八部般若。香臺寶軸莊嚴成就。又於寺南橫嶺造華嚴堂。陻山闐谷列棟開甍。前對重巒右臨斜谷。吐納雲霧下瞰雷霆。余曾遊焉。實奇觀也。又竭其精志書寫受持。弘文學士張靜者。時號筆工。罕有加勝。乃請至山舍令受齋戒。潔淨自修。口含香汁身被新服。然靜長途寫經不盈五十。誠料其見財。兩紙酬其五百。靜利其貨竭力寫之。終部以來誠恒每日燒香供養。在其案前。點畫之間。心緣目覩略無遺漏。故其剋心鑽注。時感異鳥形色希世。飛入堂中徘徊鼓舞。下至經案復上香爐。攝靜住觀自然馴狎。久之翔逝。明年經了將事興慶。鳥又飛來如前馴擾。鳴唳哀亮貞觀初年。造畫千佛。鳥又飛來登上匠背。後營齋供慶諸經像。日次中時。怪其不至。誠顧山岑曰。鳥既不至。誠吾無感也。將不兼諸穢行致有此徵。言已欻然飛來。旋環鳴囀入香水中。奮迅而浴。中後便逝。前如此者非復可述。素善翰墨。鄉曲所推。山路巖崖勒諸經偈。皆其筆也。手寫法華正當露地。因事他行未營收舉。屬洪雨滂注溝㵎波飛。走往看之。而合案並乾。餘便流潦。嘗却偃橫松。遂落懸溜。未至下㵎。不覺已登高岸。無損一毛。又青泥坊側有古佛龕。周氏瘞藏今猶未出。誠夜夢其處大有尊形。既覺往開。恰獲古龕像。年月積久並悉剝壞。就而修理。道俗稱善。斯並冥術之功。自誠開發。至貞觀十四年夏末日。忽感餘疾。自知即世。願生兜率。索水浴訖又索終輿。旁自檢校不許榮厚。恰至月末明相將現。無故語曰。欲來但入未假弦歌。顧侍人曰。吾聞諸行無常生滅不住。九品往生此言驗矣。今有童子相迎久在門外。吾今去世。爾等。佛有正戒無得有虧。後致悔也。言已口出光明照于楹內。又聞異香苾芬而至。但見端坐儼思。不覺其神已逝。時年七十有八。然誠之誦習也一夏法華料五百遍。餘日讀誦兼而行之。猶獲兩遍縱有人客要須與語者。非經部度中不他言。略計十年之勤萬有餘遍。 > Shi Facheng, whose secular surname was Fan, was a native of Wannian in Yongzhou. Leaving home in his childhood, he stayed at Wangxiao Monastery in Lantian and served the śramaṇa Senghe. He too was esteemed by the local clan, who venerated him as a sage. Once someone wished to harm him and went to his chamber by night, only to see fierce flames leaping up within the doorway and rising above the curtains; he thereupon retreated in repentance. Senghe’s nature was to drink only pure spring water, as he was cleanly and immaculate. Someone once played a trick on him by secretly sinking sheep bones in the water. Senghe had no prior knowledge of this, but upon drinking it he immediately vomited. Such were his hidden sympathies and latent perception. Facheng received and wore his instructions, exhorting himself to expound the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra as his constant duty. He also visited Dhyāna Master Xiang of Chanlin Monastery to inquire about meditative practice. His virtue was flourishing and honored by his contemporaries; his learning was superior, and the multitude looked up to him. Later, he resided at Yunhua Monastery to oversee the affairs of the saṅgha. Emperor Wen of the Sui revered his virtue and requested him to abide by the monastic disciplinary regulations; Facheng presented a memorial firmly declining, speaking humbly so as to stand on equal terms, and thereupon shouldered his book box and made a long journey. He traveled through famous peaks in pursuit of superior friends, and all undertook the aspiration for the Way. Having seen Master Chao living in seclusion and quietude, he pledged a bond in his mind to dwell in retirement in the Lan Valley. The site was narrow and cramped, barely holding a single bed, and as he circumambulated back and forth he feared tumbling into the deep ravine. He thereupon cleared away the overgrown paths, opened the forest, parted the clouds, and aligned with the sunlight, building a dwelling thatched with cogon grass, with jar-rimmed windows and sparse eaves. The circumstances and his inclinations matched each other, and he rejoiced in their accord: this is what is now known as Wuzhen Monastery. With an ardent mind, he practiced the Lotus samādhi, bathing inside and out and being warm and respectful morning and evening. In a dream, he was inspired by Samantabhadra urging him to transcribe the Great Teaching. Facheng said, 'The Great Teaching is the Mahāyāna; the wisdom of the Buddhas is what is called prajñā.' Thereupon he entered pure circumambulation and generously rewarded craftsmen to transcribe the Prajñāpāramitā in eight sections, adorning and completing it with fragrant stands and jeweled rollers. Furthermore, on the ridge south of the monastery, he built an Avataṃsaka Hall, leveling hills, filling valleys, and arranging beams and open eaves. It faced layered peaks in front and overlooked the Xie Valley on the right, inhaling and exhaling clouds and mist and looking down upon thunder. I once traveled there; it is truly a marvelous sight. Moreover, he exerted his dedicated mind to transcribe, receive, and uphold \[the scripture\]. Zhang Jing, a Scholar of the Institute for the Propagation of Literature, was renowned at the time as a master of the brush, with few who surpassed him. Facheng thereupon invited him to the mountain lodge, had him receive the fasting precepts, and bade him cultivate purity: holding fragrant juice in his mouth and wearing new garments on his body. However, Jing’s usual pace for copying sūtras did not exceed fifty \[sheets\]. Facheng considered that he was fond of wealth, and so paid him five hundred \[coins\] for every two sheets. Jing, lured by the gain, exerted all his effort to copy it. Throughout the entire scripture, Facheng constantly burned incense and made offerings daily before his desk. Between strokes and dots, his mind was engaged and his eyes beheld them, with scarcely anything overlooked. Thus, through his resolute concentration, on occasion an extraordinary bird of a coloration rare in the world was moved to appear: it flew into the hall, pacing and flapping its wings, coming down to the scriptural desk and then going up onto the incense burner. Calming its demeanor, it stayed and watched, naturally tame and familiar. After a long while, it soared away. The following year, when the scripture was completed and a celebration was about to be held, the bird flew in again, tame and docile as before, its chirping plaintive and clear. In the early years of the Zhenguan era, when a thousand Buddhas were painted, the bird flew in once more and climbed onto the back of the master craftsman. Later, when a vegetarian feast was prepared to celebrate the scriptures and images, the sun approached noon, and everyone wondered why it had not arrived. Facheng looked up at the mountain peak and said, 'Since the bird has not arrived, it must be that I have no spiritual resonance. Could it be that mixed impurities in our conduct brought about this sign?' No sooner had he spoken than it suddenly flew in, circled around chirping, plunged into the fragrant water, vigorously bathed, and departed after midday. Previous events such as this cannot all be recounted. He was skilled in calligraphy by nature and praised by his native district; the verses from scriptures carved into the mountain paths and cliff sides were all written by his brush. When he was hand-copying the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra out in the open courtyard, he had to leave on some business and did not have time to put it away. It happened that heavy rain poured down, and waves surged through the ditches and ravines. Running to check on it, he found the desk and sūtra completely dry, while all around water was flowing. Once, while reclining against a fallen pine tree, he fell down a sheer cascade; before reaching the ravine below, without realizing it, he was already standing on the high bank, without a single hair harmed. Moreover, by the side of Qingni Ward, there was an ancient Buddha niche that had been buried during the Zhou dynasty and had not yet been unearthed. Facheng saw in a night dream that there were many revered figures in that spot. Upon waking, he went to excavate it and precisely found the ancient niche and statues; through the accumulation of months and years, they were completely peeled and damaged. He attended to repairing them, and both monastics and laity praised it as good. All these were the merits of hidden methods, brought to light by Facheng. On the final day of the summer retreat in the fourteenth year of the Zhenguan era, he suddenly contracted an incidental illness. Knowing that he would soon depart this world, he vowed to be born in Tuṣita. He asked for water to bathe, and having finished, he asked for a funeral bier, inspecting it himself and not permitting it to be splendid or lavish. Exactly at the end of the month, as the signs of dawn were about to appear, he said for no apparent reason, 'If you wish to come, just enter; there is no need for string music and song.' Turning to his attendants, he said, 'I have heard that all conditioned things are impermanent, rising and ceasing without staying; the rebirth in the nine grades—these words are verified now. There is a boy who has long been waiting outside the gate to welcome me. I am now leaving this world. As for you, the Buddha has pure precepts; do not let them be breached, lest you later regret it.' Having spoken, light issued from his mouth, illuminating the area within the pillars, and an extraordinary fragrance was smelt arriving. They saw only that he sat upright in solemn contemplation, not realizing that his spirit had already departed. He was seventy-eight years of age. As for Facheng’s recitation practice: during one summer retreat, he would complete five hundred recitations of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra; on other days he would chant it alongside his other practices, still managing two recitations. Even if guests arrived with whom he had to speak, unless he had finished chanting a fascicle, he would not say a word about other matters. By rough estimate, his diligent efforts over ten years exceeded ten thousand recitations. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 28.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28.26) - [Next: 28.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28.28) - [Up: 28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.28.27) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [法華傳記](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.4.50) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.28.27) · Pramāṇa