法華傳記 5.4

5.4

釋遺俗。不知何許人。以唐運初開。遊止雍州醴泉縣南美泉鄉陽陸家。鎮常供養。清儉寡慾。惟誦法華為業。晝夜相係乃數千遍。以貞觀初。因疾將終。遺屬友人慧廓曰。比雖誦經。意望靈驗。以生蒙俗信向之善。若身死後。不須棺盛。露骸理之。十載可為發出。舌根必爛。知無受持。若猶存在。當告道俗為起一塔以示感靈。言訖而終。遂依埋葬。至貞觀十一年。廓與諸知故。就墓發之。身肉都銷。惟舌不朽。一縣士女。咸共仰載。誦持之流。又倍恒度。乃函盛其舌。於陽陸村北甘谷南岸。為建塼塔。識者尊嚴。彌隆信敬。讀誦更甚。

Śramaṇa Yisu was of unknown origin. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, he traveled to and stayed at the Yanglu household in Meiquan Township, south of Liquan County in Yongzhou, where he was continuously provided for. Pure, frugal, and with few desires, he made the recitation of the Lotus his sole vocation, day and night without interruption, reaching several thousand times. In the early years of the Zhenguan reign period, falling ill and about to pass away, he gave his final instructions to his friend Huikuo, saying: "Lately, although I have been reciting the sūtra, my wish has been to see a miraculous sign so as to give rise to the good roots of faith and devotion among ordinary folk. After I die, do not place me in a coffin, but bury my exposed remains. After ten years, you may exhume them: if the tongue-root has rotted, you will know I had no true upholding [of the text]; but if it still remains, you should inform the monastics and laity to build a stupa for it to manifest the spiritual resonance." Having spoken these words, he passed away, and was buried accordingly. In the eleventh year of the Zhenguan reign period, Kuo and various acquaintances went to the grave and opened it: the flesh of the body had completely dissolved, yet the tongue alone remained undecayed. The gentlemen and women of the whole county all looked up to and praised it, and those who recited and upheld [the sūtra] doubled their customary efforts. Thereupon they enshrined the tongue in a casket and built a brick stupa for it on the south bank of Gangu, north of Yanglu Village. Those of understanding venerated it, growing ever deeper in their faith and reverence, and read and recited all the more.