神僧傳 5.18

5.18

Shi Fachong had the secular surname Bi. He was a native of Jiujiang. He constantly recited the Lotus Sūtra and read the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, chanting them innumerable times. He also repaired and built monastery buildings, his heart set on upholding the Dharma. Later, he lived at the Huacheng Monastery halfway up Mount Lu to cultivate samādhi; unless it concerned monastic affairs, he never set foot outside. He repeatedly admonished the assembly of monks never to let women enter the monastery, saying that above it harms the Buddha's teaching and below it leads to vulgar gossip. However, worldly people, regarding the foundational estate as significant, occasionally disobeyed. Chong sighed and said, "Not meeting the Buddha in this life is already due to karmic offenses. If the true teaching cannot be practiced, it is right that I should die early. Why worry that this region will not uphold the precepts?" He thereupon threw himself down from the Incense Burner Peak of this mountain, vowing to shatter his body and bones to be reborn in the Pure Land. In midair, his head suddenly turned upward, and he floated gently down into the deep ravine without harming a single hair. The monks of the monastery did not know of it at first. Later, someone ascended the peak, looked down more than a thousand fathoms from the path, and heard the sound of human speech. Following it, he found that it was Chong; his life was preserved, and his mouth was reciting as before. They welcomed him back to the monastery. The monks, moved by his admonition through death, barred women for six years. Only then did he pass away. It was during the height of summer, yet his corpse did not foul or decay, smelling fragrant like a ripe melon. This was in the final year of the Kaihuang era.