弘贊法華傳 5.4

5.4

Shi Huishao's clan and ancestry are unknown. As a young child, whenever his mother fed him fish or meat, he would vomit and spit it out; thereupon he was able to eat only vegetables. At the age of eight, he renounced worldly life to become a disciple of Sengyao, being diligent and rigorous, with ascetic practices as his exemplary conduct. Later, following Yao, he went up to Zhaoti Temple in Linchuan, where he secretly formed the intention to burn his body. He frequently hired people to cut firewood and stacked it in a stone chamber on the Eastern Mountain, several tens of feet high, opening a niche in the center just large enough to contain his body. He then returned to the temple to bid farewell to Yao, who bitterly admonished him, but he would not comply. Thereupon, in the twenty-eighth year of Yuanjia, he established the eightfold precepts for the great assembly on the Eastern Mountain and bade farewell to his acquaintances. On that day, the entire district bustled with people; carts, horses, crowds, and those bearing gold and treasures were beyond count. When it came to the first night watch to circumambulate and practice the Way, Shao personally offered incense. When the offering of incense was finished, he held a torch, ignited the firewood, entered inside, and sat down, reciting the Chapter on the Ancient Accounts of Bhaiṣajyarāja. When the assembly no longer saw Shao, they realised he had already gone; before their bows were finished, they all arrived. The pile of firewood was already blazing fiercely, but the sound of his recitation had not ceased. When the flames reached his forehead, he cried out, 'Single-mindedly!' Having spoken, he suddenly expired. The great assembly all saw a star as large as a sheng fall straight down into the smoke, and after a moment rise to heaven. Those who saw it at the time all said that the heavenly palace had welcomed Shao. After three days, the pyre was consumed. Facing death, Shao had said to his fellow students, 'At the place where I burn my body, a paulownia tree will grow; take care not to cut it down.' Three days later, it indeed grew. At that time he was exactly twenty-eight years of age. Shao's master Sengyao was also pure, prudent, and possessed of admirable virtue; he passed away at the monastery at the age of one hundred and sixty.