弘贊法華傳 9.10

9.10

劉弘仁。年十八時。任國子學生。與同士十人。於相師處。求相吉凶。相師皆剋其富貴貧賤之時。天壽年月之數。謂弘仁曰。年至五十一。其年四月十一日必死。弘仁。時住蘇州嘉興縣令。其餘九人。皆如相者之說。禍福不差。及弘仁十八已來吉凶。皆驗。至今正年五十一矣。自度至期必死。以四月一日。遂詣州。與諸官寮取訣。時韓王元嘉。為蘇州刺史。問其所由。弘仁具陳其事。王教之修福。仁至四月八日。遂即遇疾甚篤。王請諸寺僧尼。為弘仁。轉法華經一千遍。至十一日。轉經數畢。諸僧又為弘仁。更讀一百遍。弘仁流汗𮦛霂。所患都愈。平復如常。信知福力誠不可量也。

Liu Hongren, when he was eighteen years of age, was a student of the National Directorate. Along with ten of his fellow students, he went to a physiognomist to seek predictions of fortune and misfortune. The physiognomist accurately set down the timing of their wealth, nobility, poverty, and lowliness, as well as the number of years and months of their natural life spans. He said to Hongren, "When you reach the age of fifty-one, you will surely die on the eleventh day of the fourth month of that year." At that time Hongren served as Magistrate of Jiaxing County in Suzhou. The other nine men all met with fortunes and misfortunes without deviation, just as the physiognomist had spoken, and all the fortunes and misfortunes of Hongren from age eighteen onward had been verified. Now he was precisely fifty-one years old. Knowing that he would surely die when the date arrived, on the first day of the fourth month he went to the prefecture to bid farewell to his fellow officials. At that time, Prince Yuanjia of Han was the Prefect of Suzhou. He asked the reason, and Hongren explained the matter in full. The prince instructed him to cultivate merit. When the eighth day of the fourth month arrived, Hongren fell gravely ill. The prince invited monks and nuns from various temples to recite the Lotus Sūtra one thousand times for Hongren. On the eleventh day, the prescribed number of sūtra recitations was completed; the monks further read it another one hundred times for Hongren. Hongren broke out into a profuse sweat, his illness was completely cured, and he recovered to health as normal. Thus we truly know that the power of merit is indeed immeasurable.