弘贊法華傳 9.14

9.14

Shi Fayan, whose secular surname was Gao, was the great-grandson of Gao Ke, Duke of Qi under the Sui. His secular courtesy name was Lijing, and another name was Yuanyi. Before leaving home, during the Zhenguan era, together with his elder brother Lilan, he studied and read the Lotus and Prajñā under the monk Mingzang of Huadu Temple, becoming somewhat proficient. Jing later abandoned what he had practiced. In the first year of the Longshuo era, he returned from the campaign against Liaodong. In the first month of the third year, he went to the Department of State Affairs to look at meritorious service records. Coming out from the Shunyi Gate, two horsemen pursued him, saying: 'Now you are caught!' Jing asked, 'Who are you, sirs?' They replied, 'We are envoys of King Yama, specifically come to pursue you.' Panic-stricken, he spurred his horse and dashed out, seeking to reach Puguang Temple. The envoys said, 'Hurry to the temple gate and do not let him enter! If he enters, he will escape!' When he arrived at the temple gate, he saw a horseman blocking the gate. He then fled westward, seeking to enter Kaishan Temple, but the horsemen joined together to block that gate as well. Thereupon they galloped in pursuit of each other. He wished to return to his own residence, which was east of Huadu Temple. Fearing the way was long, he sought to enter Liquan Ward. One horseman was in front; Jing struck him with his fist, and the ghost fell from his horse. The other ghost behind said, 'This man is exceedingly violent! Quickly drag him down and seize him by the hair!' He was immediately seized by the hair as if sliced by a knife. There was also a man in red robes on a white horse who struck Jing on the chest with his hand. Jing immediately fell from his horse and collapsed. After a long while, he gradually came to, as if sitting in mist. His family carried him home. At dawn he revived and said: 'I met King Yama in full. He said: "Why did you steal the monks' fruit? Why did you speak of the faults of the Three Jewels?"' Thereupon, faced with the indictment of offenses, he dared not utter a word. The king said, 'For the offense of stealing fruit, you ought to swallow four hundred and fifty iron pellets; only after enduring it for four years will it be exhausted. For the offense of speaking of faults, your tongue ought to be ploughed.' He was then released to return, and thus revived. Soon he saw for himself a person with two horns on his head holding an iron pellet, who bound Jing's hands and feet and made him eat them one by one. By-standers could not see the iron pellets; they only saw Jing open his mouth, glare with bulging eyes, his whole body fiery red, with hot vapor surging up from inside his throat, so scorching and stifling that none could approach him. Only after a whole day did he regain consciousness, saying: 'I have already swallowed more than a hundred pellets for one year.' If he did not have this sūtra, it would have been like this for four days. When he said the swallowing of pellets was finished, he immediately went to the two temples of Huichang and Huadu, devoting his sincerity to repentance. On the third day of the third month, he was again pursued by the previous envoys and taken to see the king. The king said, 'You slandered the Three Jewels; for your offense, your tongue should be ploughed.' Jing again saw two people pull out his tongue with tongs, making it appear several hundred feet long. He also saw two people, each holding a ploughshare blade, ploughing side-by-side upon it. Examining the case register, they then said: 'He once read the Lotus and the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā; because of this, let him revive.' His relatives and others looked at his tongue, and it was as if cut by a knife; because he had read the two sūtras, it had not been severed. Later, whenever Jing recalled or spoke of it, he trembled in terror and wept. Consequently, he left home, taking the name Fayan, and practiced with double his usual vigor. He resided at Baima Temple in the Eastern Capital, and his end is not known.