弘贊法華傳 9.8

9.8

博陵寉彥武。隋開皇中。任魏州刺史。因行部至一邑。愕然驚喜。謂從者曰。吾昔嘗在此邑中為人婦。今知家處。因乘馬入修巷。屈曲至一家。令叫門。主人公年老。出來拜謁。彥武入家。先升其堂。視東壁上。去地六七尺。有隆高處。謂主人曰。吾昔讀法華經。并金釵五侯。藏此壁中。高處是也。其經第七卷尾後一紙。火燒失文字。吾至今每讀此經。至第七卷尾。忘失不能記得。因令左右。鑿東壁。果得經函。開第七卷尾及金釵並如其言。主人涕泣曰。亡妻存日。常讀此經。釵亦是妻物。妻因產死。遂失所在。不謂使君乃知其處。彥武因指庭前槐樹曰。吾欲產時。自斛頭髮。置此樹空中。試令人探樹中。果得髮。於是。主人悲喜。彥武留衣物。厚給主人而去。

Cui Yanwu of Boling served as Prefect of Wei Prefecture during the Kaihuang reign era of the Sui dynasty. While traveling through his administrative territory, he arrived at a certain hamlet. In astonishment and joyful surprise, he said to his attendants, "In a past life I was once a woman of this hamlet, and now I know where my home was." He then rode his horse into a long lane, turning and winding until he reached a house, where he ordered his men to call at the door. The master of the house was elderly and came out to pay respects. Yanwu entered the house and first ascended its hall. Looking at the eastern wall, six or seven feet from the ground, there was a raised protrusion. He said to the master, "In the past I read the Lotus Sūtra and, together with five gold hairpins, hid them in this wall; that raised place is it. The very last sheet of the seventh scroll of that sūtra was burned by fire, destroying the text. To this day, whenever I read this sūtra, upon reaching the end of the seventh scroll, I forget it and cannot remember it." He then ordered his attendants to chisel into the eastern wall, and indeed they obtained the sūtra wrapper. When they opened it, the end of the seventh scroll and the gold hairpins were all just as he had said. The master wept and said, "When my late wife was alive, she constantly read this sūtra, and the hairpins were also my wife's belongings. Because she died in childbirth, their whereabouts were lost. I never expected that you, commissioner, would know where they were." Yanwu then pointed to a pagoda tree in front of the courtyard and said, "When I was about to give birth, I cut off my own hair and placed it in the hollow of this tree." They had someone search inside the tree to test it, and indeed they found the hair. Thereupon, the master was overcome with sorrow and joy. Yanwu left behind clothes and goods, generously providing for the master before departing.