弘贊法華傳 6.35

6.35

釋志湛。齊州山荏人。是朗公曾孫之弟子也。立行純厚。省事少言。仁濟為務。每遊諸禽獸。而群不為亂。住人頭山邃谷中銜草寺。寺。即宋求那跋摩之所立也。讀誦法華。用為常業。將終之日。沙門寶誌。奏梁武曰。北方山莊縣人。今住銜草寺。須陀洹果聖僧者。今日入涅槃。揚都道俗。聞誌此告。皆遙禮拜。故湛之亡也。寂無餘惱。端然氣絕。兩手各舒一指。有西天竺僧。解云。若二果者舒兩指。驗湛初果也。收葬于人頭山。築塔安之。石灰埿塗。鳥獸不敢淩污。今猶存焉。又范陽五侯寺僧。失其名。常誦法華。初死之時。權殯提下。後遷改葬。骸骨並枯。唯舌不壞。雍州有僧。亦誦法華。隱于白鹿山。感一童子常來供給。及死。置屍巖下。餘骸枯朽。唯舌如故。

Śramaṇa Zhizhan was a native of Shanren in Qizhou, and was a disciple of Master Lang's great-grandson. In conduct, he was pure and honest, handling few affairs and speaking little, making benevolence and salvation his task. Whenever he wandered among birds and beasts, the flocks and herds were never disturbed. He lived at Xiancao Monastery in a deep gorge of Rentou Mountain. The monastery was founded by Guṇavarman of the Song. Reading and reciting the Lotus Sūtra was his constant occupation. On the day he was about to pass away, the śramaṇa Baozhi reported to Emperor Wu of the Liang, saying, "A man of Shanzhuang County in the north, who now resides at Xiancao Monastery and is a holy monk who has attained the fruit of srotāpanna, enters nirvāṇa today." When the monastics and laity of the capital of Yang heard Zhi's announcement, they all bowed toward him from afar. Thus, when Zhan died, he was tranquil and without any distress, calmly drawing his final breath, with each of his hands extending one finger. There was a monk from Western India who explained, "If one attains the second fruit, one extends two fingers; this proves that Zhan attained the first fruit." He was gathered and buried on Rentou Mountain, where a stūpa was built to house his remains; plastered with lime mortar, birds and beasts dared not desecrate it. It still exists today. Furthermore, there was a monk of Wuhou Monastery in Fanyang whose name has been lost, who constantly recited the Lotus Sūtra. When he first died, he was temporarily interred beneath a dike. Later, when they reburied him, his skeletal remains were entirely withered, yet only his tongue was undecayed. In Yongzhou there was another monk who also recited the Lotus Sūtra, living as a hermit on Mount Bailu; he moved a boy who constantly came to attend and provide for him. When he died, his corpse was placed beneath a cliff; the rest of his skeletal remains withered and rotted, but his tongue remained just as it was before.