弘贊法華傳 7.28

7.28

釋智業。俗姓揚氏。少小出家。住揚州長樂寺。精勤戒業。誦法華經。文句通利。猶若瀉瓶。隋大業末年。字文化及在揚州作逆。殺煬帝於宮闈。于時天下崩離百姓飢饉。居人波迸。米升萬錢。智業。時在別院。居一小屋。專誦不輟。遂餓死房中。無人收葬。此屋因復傾倒。智業屍骸。竟在其下。及義寧初。平定之後。其處忽生一莖蓮花。光色開敷。異常鮮麗。道俗驚嗟。莫知其故。時寺僧有耆舊者。乃悟曰。此地。曾有一僧。專誦法華。于時。既屬喪亂。於茲捨命。無人埋殯。骸骨在此。必是僧之靈也。乃尋堀花根。果得骸骨。其青蓮花。乃從髑髏中舌根下生。舌如生存。都不爛壞。寺眾。乃將舌及華上堂。鳴鐘集眾。為轉法華。其舌聞經。猶能振動。道俗聞之。觀者如堵。莫不嗟歎。咸發勝心矣。

Shi Zhiye, whose secular surname was Yang, entered the monastic life at an early age and lived at Changle Temple in Yangzhou. He diligently practiced the precepts and recited the Lotus Sūtra; his recitation of the text and phrases was smooth and fluent, like water poured from a pitcher. In the final years of the Daye era of the Sui dynasty, Yuwen Huaji rebelled in Yangzhou and assassinated Emperor Yang in the palace. At that time, the empire fell into turmoil and the common people starved; the inhabitants scattered like waves, and a single sheng of rice cost ten thousand coins. Zhiye was then staying in a detached cloister, residing in a small hut, where he devoted himself to recitation without ceasing. He ultimately starved to death in his room, with no one to collect and bury him. The hut then collapsed, and Zhiye's bones were left beneath it. In the early Yining era, after the rebellion was pacified, a single stalk of lotus suddenly grew in that spot, its colors blooming with extraordinary freshness and beauty. Monastics and laypeople gasped in amazement, none knowing the reason. An elder monk of the temple then realized, saying: "In this place there was once a monk who devoted himself to reciting the Lotus Sūtra. At that time of turmoil, he gave up his life here and no one buried him. His bones must be here; this surely comes from that monk's spiritual resonance." They then dug down to find the root of the flower and indeed found the bones. The blue lotus had grown from beneath the root of the tongue inside the skull. The tongue was just as it had been in life, not decayed at all. The monastic assembly then brought the tongue and the flower up to the hall, struck the bell to gather the assembly, and chanted the Lotus Sūtra for it. When the tongue heard the sūtra, it was still able to tremble and move. Monastics and laypeople heard of this, and the onlookers were like a wall; all sighed in admiration, and all aroused supreme resolve.