弘贊法華傳 10.13

10.13

令狐元軌者。敬信佛法。欲寫法花金剛般若等經。貞觀五年。任隆州巴西縣令。無由自檢。憑當土杬禪師檢校。杬乃為在寺。如法潔淨寫了。下秋。還岐州莊所。寫得經。留在莊舍。并老子五千文。同在一處。忽為外火延燒。堂是草䨱。一時灰蕩。家人相命撥灰。取金銅經軸。既撥外灰。其諸經宛然如故。黃色不改。唯箱成灰。又覓老子。便從火化。鄉村嗟異。讚詠成音。金剛般若一卷。題字焦黑。訪問所由。乃初題經時。有州官能書。其人行急。不獲潔淨。直爾立題。由是被焚。軌。于時任馮翊令。聞之驚喜。深增信悟。

Linghu Yuangui reverently believed in the Buddhadharma and wished to copy sūtras such as the Lotus and Diamond Prajñā. In the fifth year of Zhenguan, he served as magistrate of Baxi County in Longzhou. Having no way to oversee it personally, he entrusted Chan Master Gui of that region to inspect and supervise it. Gui had it copied in accordance with the rules of purity at a monastery. In the late autumn, [Yuangui] returned to his estate in Qizhou; the copied sūtras were left in the estate's quarters together with Laozi's Five Thousand Characters, kept in the same place. Suddenly, a fire from outside spread and burned it down; since the hall was thatched with grass, it was reduced to ashes in an instant. The household called out to one another to sift through the ashes to retrieve the gilded-bronze sūtra rollers. Having brushed away the outer ashes, they found all the sūtras intact as before, their yellow colour unchanged; only the box had turned to ashes. When they searched for the Laozi, it had been consumed by the fire. The villagers marveled in wonder, voicing their praise and admiration. Only on one scroll of the Diamond Prajñā were the characters of the title scorched black. When they inquired into the reason, it turned out that when the sūtra was first titled, there was a prefecture official skilled in calligraphy; the man was in a hurry, did not observe ritual purification, and directly stood to write the title—and because of this, it was burned. Yuangui, who was then serving as magistrate of Fengyi, was startled and delighted upon hearing of this, and his faith and understanding were profoundly deepened.