宋高僧傳 25.11

25.11

釋法正，不知何許人也。寬曠其懷，慎修厥行。司辰于三業，御史于六根，以其日諷《金剛般若》三七過，執持恭恪，罔或云懈。長慶初，得疾暴終。云倏至幽冥，引見王者，問曰：「師生平藝何福田？獲何善果？」正以「誦經」為對。王乃揖上殿令登繡座，請誦七通。王以下侍衛靡不合掌，階下拷掠、搒擊、論愬，寂若無聲。念畢後，遣一人引正令還人間，王降階揖送云：「上人更得三十年在世，勿廢誦持。」隨吏行數里，至一巨坑，俾正俯窺，為吏推墮，若隕空焉，颯然蘇起。初，正死唯面不寒，起述其事，變心遷善者不一。正後年暨八十餘，卒于住寺。次，荊州功安縣釋會宗，俗姓蔡。初泛爾為僧，別無他技。忽經中蠱，病乃骨立，因苦發心志，誦《金剛般若經》以待盡爾。至五十過，夢有人令開口，喉中引出髮十餘莖；其夜又有夢吐螾長一肘餘，因此遂愈——當長慶初也。荊山僧行堅見其事。宗不測終所。

Śramaṇa Fazheng, no one knows where he was from. He was broad-minded in disposition and cautious in cultivating his conduct. He kept watch over the three karmic activities like a timekeeper, and scrutinized the six sense faculties like an imperial censor; because he recited the Diamond Prajñā[-pāramitā-sūtra] twenty-one times daily, he held to it with reverent diligence, never showing the slightest laxity. At the beginning of the Changqing era, he fell ill and died suddenly. It is said that he arrived abruptly in the Netherworld and was led to see the King [of the Underworld], who asked him: 'What field of merit did the master cultivate in his life? What wholesome fruit have you obtained?' Zheng answered with 'reciting the sūtra.' The King then bowed and invited him up to the hall, seating him upon an embroidered throne and requesting him to recite it seven times. From the King down to the guards, all pressed their palms together; below the steps, the floggings, beatings, and litigations fell completely silent. When the recitation was finished, one person was dispatched to lead Zheng back to the human world, and the King descended the steps, bowed, and saw him off, saying: 'Your Reverence has thirty more years to live in the world; do not abandon your recitation.' Following the runner for several leagues, they reached a huge pit; the runner had Zheng bend over to look into it and then shoved him, so that he seemed to plunge through empty space, and he abruptly revived. Initially, when Zheng died, only his face remained warm; upon rising, he recounted this event, and not a few changed their hearts and turned to good. Zheng later died at his resident temple at the age of over eighty. Next, Śramaṇa Huizong of Gong'an County in Jingzhou had the secular surname Cai. Initially he became a monk in an ordinary manner, possessing no special skills. Suddenly he was afflicted by gu-poison, falling so ill that his bones stood out. Driven by suffering, he aroused his resolve and recited the Diamond Prajñā Sūtra, awaiting his end. When he reached fifty recitations, he dreamed that someone told him to open his mouth, and pulled ten-odd strands of hair from his throat; that night he had another dream of vomiting an earthworm over a cubit long, and because of this he was cured—this was at the beginning of the Changqing era. The monk Xingjian of Mount Jing witnessed this event. Where Zong ended his days is unknown.