法華傳記 5.32

5.32

釋慧獻者金城人也。失父母後出家守戒。從師訪道。誦通法華。專志為業。發願於父母墓所誦經。欲救輪迴苦。凡經歷三年。精勤諷誦。未曾暫廢。至夜三更。空中有大光明。又雨華如雪而下。中有聲語獻言。吾是汝父。汝初誦經力。已住第二天。誦滿千部。聖眾來迎。從天生淨土。汝母依涅槃經力。即生不動國。彼在生之時。書寫涅槃一卷。汝誦經資彼在生善故。語已隱不現。隣里謂失火。至曉更問慧獻。獻具說始末。聞者悲涕。於墓所誦經資親。其類蓋多。

Monk Huixian was a native of Jincheng. After losing his parents, he renounced household life, maintained the precepts, sought out masters to inquire into the Way, recited and mastered the Lotus Sūtra, and took this as his single-minded endeavor. He made a vow to recite the sūtra at the grave site of his parents, seeking to deliver them from the suffering of saṃsāra. For a total of three years, he chanted and recited with diligent exertion, never setting it aside even for a moment. At the third watch of the night, a great radiance appeared in the sky, and flowers fell like snow. Amidst them a voice addressed Xian, saying: "I am your father. Through the power of your initial sūtra recitation, I had already come to abide in the Second Heaven. Now that you have completed one thousand readings, a holy assembly has come to welcome me, and from heaven I am to be born in the Pure Land. Your mother, relying on the power of the Nirvāṇa-sūtra, was immediately born in the land of Akṣobhya. While she was alive, she copied one fascicle of the Nirvāṇa-sūtra; your sūtra recitation helped support that wholesome deed from her life." Having spoken, it vanished and was no longer seen. The neighbors had thought there was a fire; when dawn came they went to ask Huixian, and Xian recounted the entire story from beginning to end. Those who heard it wept with sorrow. Those who recite sūtras at burial sites to aid their parents are indeed many of this kind.