法華傳記 5.24

5.24

釋僧衍。并州人也。凡厥并州人。七歲已上。皆解念佛。生淨土多。衍久居并州。誦法華經。欣求安養。以經云即往安樂世界故也。每日一遍。三年成千部。夢自身左右生羽翼。以法華文字為文綵。欲飛翔身自輕。即飛去西方。到七寶地。宮殿相並。天人滿中。顧視己身。羽翼頓成。大寶蓮華臺。一一文字。變作丈六佛身。各說偈云。汝在濁世誦妙法。眾生業障唯見字。實是三身圓滿佛。今成羽翼復本身。聞偈見臺。六萬九千三百餘化佛坐葉上。臺上佛是阿彌陀佛也。進頂禮。臺佛即語衍。汝還閻浮。以我云相示眾生。又弘法華功德。應時諸佛變作本羽翼。還娑婆。夢覺流淚。誦法華更入觀心。於舌端有八葉蓮華。華上有佛。結跏趺坐。法華一一文字。從佛口出。皆作金色。具有光明。變為佛身。遍滿虛空。圍持經者。閉眼即現此相。開眼即不見。專觀專誦。臨終之時。紫雲聳砌。端坐誦經而卒。春秋七十有。具注此事。祕收經奧。後見聞者。悲泣結緣而已。

The monk Sengyan was a native of Bingzhou. In general, the people of Bingzhou, from seven years of age and up, all understood mindfulness of the Buddha, and many were born in the Pure Land. Yan resided in Bingzhou for a long time, reciting the Lotus Sūtra and joyfully seeking rebirth in the Land of Peaceful Nurture, on the grounds that the sūtra says: "[One will] immediately go to the World of Peace and Joy." Reciting it once every day, in three years he completed a thousand repetitions. He dreamt that wings sprouted on the left and right of his body, with the characters of the Lotus Sūtra serving as their patterns and colors. Wanting to soar, his body felt naturally light, and he immediately flew away to the west. Arriving at a land of the seven jewels, where palaces stood side by side and were filled with devas and humans, he looked back at his own body: his wings were suddenly transformed into a platform of a great jeweled lotus, and each and every character turned into a sixteen-foot Buddha body. Each spoke a verse, saying: "You recited the Wondrous Dharma in the defiled world; / Sentient beings, through karmic hindrances, only saw the words; / They are truly the Buddhas complete in the three bodies; / Now turning into wings, they have restored their original form." Hearing the verse, he saw the platform: over sixty-nine thousand three hundred transformation Buddhas sat upon the petals, and the Buddha atop the platform was Amitābha Buddha. He advanced and bowed his head in reverence, and the Buddha on the platform said to Yan: "Return to Jambudvīpa, and show sentient beings the signs I have spoken of; also propagate the merit of the Lotus Sūtra." Thereupon the Buddhas turned back into his original wings, and he returned to the Sahā world. Awakening from the dream, he shed tears. Reciting the Lotus Sūtra, he entered further into mind-contemplation: at the tip of his tongue there was an eight-petaled lotus, upon which a Buddha sat cross-legged; each and every character of the Lotus Sūtra emerged from the Buddha's mouth, all in golden color, endowed with radiance, and transforming into Buddha bodies that filled the empty sky and surrounded the upholder of the sūtra. When he closed his eyes, this sign immediately appeared; when he opened his eyes, it was not seen. Devoting himself exclusively to contemplation and recitation, when he was at the verge of death, purple clouds towered above the steps, and he died sitting upright while reciting the sūtra. He was over seventy years of age. Having recorded these events in detail, he secretly preserved them deep within the scriptures. Those who later saw or heard of it merely wept with grief and formed a karmic connection.