弘贊法華傳 6.11

6.11

釋慧果。豫州人。少以蔬苦自業。宋初。遊京師。止瓦官寺。誦法華十地。甞於廁前。見一鬼。致敬於果云。昔為眾僧。而作維那。小不如法。墮在噉糞鬼中。法師德業高明。又慈悲為意。願助以拔濟之方也。又云。昔有錢三千。埋在柿樹根下。願取為福。果即告眾掘之。實得三千。為造法華一部。并設中會。後夢見此鬼云。已得改生。大勝昔日。果以宋大始六年卒。春秋七十有六。

Shi Huiguo was a native of Yuzhou. In his youth, he took vegetarian diet and ascetic hardship as his occupation. At the beginning of the Song, he traveled to the capital and stayed at Waguan Monastery, where he recited the Lotus and the Daśabhūmika. Once, before the latrine, he saw a ghost who paid homage to Guo and said, 'In the past, I served the monastic assembly as a karmadāna. Falling slightly short of the Dharma, I fell into the realm of dung-eating pretas. The Dharma master's virtue and practice are lofty and bright, and you hold compassion in your mind; I pray that you will aid me with a means of deliverance.' He further said, 'Formerly, I had three thousand coins buried beneath the roots of a persimmon tree; I wish you to take them to generate merit.' Guo immediately informed the assembly and dug it up, truly finding three thousand coins. For him, he produced one copy of the Lotus and held a midday feast. Later, he saw this ghost in a dream, who said, 'I have already attained rebirth, greatly superior to before.' Guo died in the sixth year of the Dashi era of the Song at the age of seventy-six.