法華傳記 10.30

10.30

江寧縣有優婆塞。能信小乘俱舍等說。不肯大乘。一時縣主道俗諸眾。造金字法華經營供養。士女蠢蠢。輕財重法。時小乘優婆塞。不意助熏香器。更七年後。無病頓亡。家人怪異。不營殯葬。明日日西得活。悲泣躄地。悶絕蘇起。謂家室曰。吾初死時。先見大城。如金城。其中有眾多殿堂。莊嚴奇妙。金銀偉帳。琉璃白疊。甚可愛。城外白屋相接。城中童子出謂吾。汝是小乘人。不可入大城中。可住外白屋。城中唯有大乘人而居。時瞻望城中。宮殿多無居人。問童子。何宮殿無居人。答曰。江寧縣供養大乘諸人。當生彼宮殿。彼等猶在人間。是故無人。爾時吾憶知昔施熏香器。謂童子曰。吾亦供養法華。豈居白屋。童子曰。我亦知之。助薰香器故近金城。非直供養故不可入城。若欲入城。早還人間。供養妙法。若供養經卷者。必生此處。即拜辭將還。踟蹰問童子。君誰此何處。童子曰。我是文殊師利。此處金色世界。汝以小心故見小城。若大人見廣博妙土。說此言已。城及童子。忽然不見。覺悟如夢。更發心傾家業。造金字經。修如法供養。時人皆謂。造金字經。必生金色世界矣。

In Jiangning County there was an upāsaka who could believe the Hīnayāna teachings of the Abhidharmakośa and the like, but refused the Mahāyāna. Once, the county magistrate together with crowds of monastics and laypeople produced a gold-lettered Lotus Sūtra and managed offerings to it. Men and women bustled about, holding wealth lightly and prizing the Dharma. At that time the Hīnayāna upāsaka unintentionally helped [by offering] an incense burner. Seven years later, he died suddenly without any illness. His family thought it strange and did not arrange the funeral. The next day at sunset he came back to life, weeping and beating the ground. Having fainted and revived, he said to his family: "When I first died, I first saw a great city, like a golden city. Within it were many halls and chambers, wondrously adorned: grand curtains of gold and silver, and lapis lazuli and white cotton cloth, exceedingly lovely. Outside the city white houses adjoined one another. A youth within the city came out and said to me, 'You are a person of the Hīnayāna; you cannot enter into the great city. You may dwell in the white houses outside. Only Mahāyāna people reside in the city.' At that time I gazed into the city, and the palaces were mostly without residents. I asked the youth, 'Why do the palaces have no residents?' He replied, 'The various people in Jiangning County who made offerings to the Mahāyāna are to be born in those palaces. Since they are still in the human realm, there are no people [yet].' At that time I remembered having once given an incense burner in the past, and I said to the youth, 'I too made an offering to the Lotus Sūtra; why should I dwell in a white house?' The youth said, 'I know that too. Because you assisted with an incense burner, you are close to the golden city. But because it was not a direct offering, you cannot enter the city. If you wish to enter the city, return quickly to the human realm and make offerings to the Sublime Dharma. If one makes offerings to the sūtra scrolls, one will surely be born here.' Thereupon I bowed, took my leave, and was about to return. Hesitating, I asked the youth, 'Who are you, sir, and what place is this?' The youth said, 'I am Mañjuśrī. This place is the Golden World. Because you have a small mind, you see a small city; if a great person [looks], they see a vast and wonderful land.' Having spoken these words, the city and the youth suddenly vanished, and I awoke as if from a dream." Thereupon he generated the resolve, emptied his family estate, produced a gold-lettered sūtra, and cultivated offerings in accord with the Dharma. People of the time all said that by producing a gold-lettered sūtra, one is sure to be born in the Golden World.