弘贊法華傳 7.28

7.28

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.