弘贊法華傳 10.11

10.11

馬衡。具州洛水人也。父母喪亡。盧於墓側。營造墳塋三所。皆躬自負土。積三年乃就。境甚高峻。人所歎伏。每在廬中宿臥。恒有大白蛇。曳身廬屋上。垂頭臨戶。若欲出入。蛇即縮頭避之。如是為恒。不至侵害。狀如守護。又有一白狼。恒去來。臥起廬側。及墳事畢。其人又起念。我雖為父母。造成此墳。仍未為亡靈別修功德。因即發願。造法花經。以資魂路。乃以塚傍淨處。香水灑地。採取穀子種之。生長之後。每以香水溉養。及其成樹。即採皮如法造紙。亦用香水和泥。作屋於墳傍。請書生寫經。護淨齊蔬。出入每易衣服。仍以四事供養不闕。及書經了。未得莊嚴。以三重紙裹。著小屋壁上。忽然夜中風雨大至。及明。乃上屋被風雨飄破。草木皆盡。在地水深數尺。失經所在。凡經二日。水歇之後。於水下收得所寫之經。唯在上一重紙濕。至第二重。儼然乾淨。一無傷損。不濕不污。其人初失此經。悲號懊惱。日夜悲動。及見經在。歡喜踊躍。得未曾有。遂得莊嚴成就。永為供養。

Ma Heng was a native of Luoshui in Juzhou. When his parents passed away, he built a hut beside their graves and constructed three burial mounds, personally carrying the earth for all of them. Only after three years was it completed. The mounds were extremely high and steep, commanding the admiration and deference of others. Whenever he lodged and slept in the hut, there was always a large white snake that draped its body across the roof of the hut and hung its head down over the door. Whenever [Ma Heng] was about to go out or come in, the snake would draw back its head to avoid him. This was a constant occurrence, and it never harmed him, appearing as though it were guarding him. There was also a white wolf that constantly came and went, lying down and rising beside the hut.

When the work on the mounds was finished, the man had another thought: 'Although I have built these graves for my parents, I have not yet cultivated separate merits on behalf of their departed spirits.' He thereupon made a vow to copy the Lotus Sūtra to aid their souls along their path. He then selected a pure spot beside the graves, sprinkled the ground with scented water, gathered paper-mulberry seeds, and planted them. After they sprouted, he regularly irrigated and nourished them with scented water. When they had grown into trees, he stripped the bark and made paper in accordance with the proper rules. He also mixed mud with scented water to build a hut beside the graves. He invited a scribe to copy the sūtra, strictly guarding ritual purity and observing vegetarian fasting; every time [the scribe] went out or came in, he changed his clothes. Moreover, [Ma Heng] provided him with the four requisites of support without lack. When the copying of the sūtra was completed, before it had been mounted and bound, he wrapped it in three layers of paper and placed it on the wall of the small hut.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, a great wind and rainstorm arrived. When dawn came, the hut was blown down and wrecked by the wind and rain; the grasses and trees were entirely gone, and the water on the ground was several feet deep. The whereabouts of the sūtra were lost. After two full days, once the flood had subsided, he recovered the copied sūtra from beneath the water. Only the top layer of paper was wet; reaching the second layer, it was completely dry and clean, utterly undamaged, neither wet nor soiled. When this man had first lost the sūtra, he had wept, wailed, and despaired, his grief surging day and night. When he saw that the sūtra was intact, he leaped for joy, experiencing something unprecedented. He was then able to have it mounted, completed, and kept as a perpetual offering.