弘贊法華傳 6.35

6.35

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.