弘贊法華傳 7.5

7.5

During the reign of Emperor Wencheng of the Qi, by the side of East Kanshan in Bingzhou, someone dug the earth and caught sight of a patch of soil whose color was yellow and white, distinct from that around it. Upon searching, he found an object shaped like two human lips, inside of which was a tongue of fresh and vivid crimson. The matter was reported to the throne, and when various learned scholars were consulted, none could explain it. Śramaṇa Grand Controller Fashang memorialized, saying, "This is the recompense of an upholder of the Lotus Sūtra whose six sense organs are undecayed. Having completed a thousand recitations, could this be its subtle verification?" An edict was then issued to high-ranking Secretariat Drafter Gao Zhen, saying, "You are a person of faith and devotion; go personally to inspect it. There will surely be miraculous signs. It should be transferred and placed in a pure location, and a vegetarian banquet should be established to make offerings." Zhen received the edict and arrived there, gathering various śramaṇas who upheld the Lotus Sūtra. Holding censers and maintaining purified fasts, they circumambulated and prayed, saying, "The Bodhisattva's nirvāṇa is far in the past; now the Semblance Dharma is in circulation. If those who revere it are without error, we pray that an efficacious response be manifested." No sooner had their voices arisen than these lips and tongue stirred and moved simultaneously; although there was no audible sound, it resembled chanting and recitation. Among all those who witnessed it, there was none whose hair did not stand on end. Zhen reported the condition to the throne, and an imperial decree was issued ordering that it be enclosed in a stone casket and moved into a stūpa chamber, and so on.