神僧傳 9.53

9.53

Śramaṇa Yuanzhao, taboo name Zongben, came from the Guan clan and was a native of Wuxi in Changzhou. By nature he was straightforward and possessed little embellishment; his appearance was robust, and his speech was free of superficialities. At the age of nineteen, he served Chan Master Daosheng of Chengtian Yong'an in Suzhou. When he resided at Ruiguang, there was a man who slaughtered cattle; an ox broke loose, ran to Ben, and knelt down as if pleading. He thereupon bought and kept it. When he resided at Jingci, there was a severe drought and the lakes and wells all dried up. In the western corner of the monastery, a sweet spring welled up on its own, and a golden eel was found. They thereupon dredged it to make a well and put the fish into it; the monastery's assembly of over a thousand drew water from it without it ever being exhausted. A daughter of a commoner named Zhang died, and she appeared in a dream to her mother, saying, "Because of my sins, I have become a snake." After waking, she found a snake beneath the coffin, took it, and went to Ben, who thereupon preached the Dharma for it. She put it back in its former place. Soon, a black cicada soared above the coffin, and the snake vanished. The mother prayed, "If you are my daughter, you should enter the cage, and I will take you again to Jingci." As she prayed, it happened. Ben again preached the Dharma for it. That night the daughter appeared in a dream, saying, "The two karmic retributions have already been liberated." His manifest transformations and extraordinary events were like this. In the twelfth month, on the jiazi day, in the second year of the Yuanfu reign era, when he was about to enter extinction, he bathed and lay down. His disciples gathered around, entreating him, "Master, your Way covers the entire world; today there must be a gāthā. We hope you will force yourself to rise and sit peacefully." He asked for a brush and wrote five characters in large script: "The affairs afterward are entrusted to Shourong." He threw down the brush and lay sleeping soundly as if in deep slumber. When they shook him, he was already gone. His disciples enshrined the master's whole body in a stūpa at Lingyan Monastery. He lived for eighty years and saw fifty-two rains retreats.