續高僧傳 26.54

26.54

Śramaṇa Baoji, whose secular surname was Zhu, was a native of Tiao in Jizhou. Cutting off the net of affection, he took seeking the Way as his duty. Wandering without fixed abode, he kept no permanent residence. When the Northern Qi fell and the Dharma was destroyed, he went into hiding on Mount Tai, moving back and forth between Lu and Yan for several years. In the fourteenth year of the Kaihuang era [594], when Emperor Gaozu of the Sui toured the east, Baoji awaited the imperial carriage to request an audience. Upon meeting him, the Emperor was immediately pleased and issued an imperial decree ordering him into the capital to reside at Shengguang Monastery, where he lectured on the Dazhidulun and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. His disposition was vast and open, bearing no grudges. Once, when a secret slander reached his ears, he took off his robes, gave them to the slanderer, and said: 'You see my faults; you are truly my teacher and friend.' In the first year of the Renshou era [601], an imperial decree commanded him to convey relics to Sijue Monastery on Mount Hua, which had been founded by the Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Yang Su. On the morning of the initial enshrinement, clouds gathered on all four sides and snow covered the mountains and towns, the heavens and earth so overcast and dark that nothing could be seen close before one's eyes. When midday arrived, the sky suddenly turned clear and the sun shone brightly. Five-coloured clouds appeared above the stūpa foundation, five zhang above the ground, round as a wheeled canopy. Those who saw it from afar beheld a brilliant vermilion light atop the canopy, surging directly upward in a circle to connect with the far reaches of the sky. When the covering of the foundation was completed, the clouds closed and the light withdrew, returning to how it had been at dawn. Baoji later died in the capital.