弘贊法華傳 8.13

8.13

Śramaṇa Daoqiong, secular surname Zhang, was of unknown origin. During the sixth and seventh years of the Zhenguan era (632–633), he resided at Qixuan Temple in Jinling. He had no other practice, reciting only the complete Lotus Sūtra; his voice was clear and refined, and people took delight in hearing it. He shared a room with a śramaṇa whose style name was Famin. During the latter part of the night, Qiong sat upright reciting the sūtra. Min lay naked on the couch beside him; his body was very robust and strong, and he had never had any ailments. Suddenly, he fell from the couch to the floor, beaten and struck as if by the strength of human hands with rods and clubs, pleading for mercy and begging for grace, repeatedly doing so. When Daoqiong first saw this, he was panic-stricken and cried out loudly; the whole temple ran in alarm, thinking it was a tiger. In a moment, seeing Qiong report the situation, they began watching over Min together; the beatings and strikes had still not ceased. After a day, he gradually became calm, yet lost his original mind. When asked about the reason, he answered that he saw spirits and ghosts reprimanding him angrily for lying exposed on his back in disrespect toward the scripture, and so forth.