法華傳記 7.10

7.10

韓睦之彭城域人宋泰始初。彭城沒虜睦之。流亡兒於亂。為人所略。不知在何處。睦之本事佛精進力。至心讀觀世音經。欲讀萬遍願得兒。又每得千遍。輒請眾僧齋。已得六七千遍。都無感動。睦之歎曰。聖人寧當不應眾生耶。是我心未至爾。因此日夜。不復數其遍數。唯自誓以感徹為期。其兒定傳賣。為益州人奴。見使因作役。一日獨䄯草木。忽見一道人來相問。汝是韓睦之兒非。即驚答曰是。又問。願見父不。答曰。願此亦何由可得。道人又言。汝父切殊至今將汝歸去。兒不知是神人。辭不敢許。道人曰。無苦但捉我袈裟角。兒試捉之。便覺恍然如人掣去。須臾而往。倚一家門外。乃是韓流移新居。兒不識是父舍。道人不進。遣兒入噵。入見主人正坐讀經。即其父也。相見不暇申悲喜。唯得叫噵。門外有聖人。父便徒跣走出。比出已不復見矣。村隣道俗。莫不驚怪歎息。

Han Muzhi was a man of the city of Pengcheng. At the beginning of the Taishi era of the Song dynasty, Pengcheng fell to the northern captives, and Muzhi fled into exile. His son was captured by others during the disorder, and he did not know where he was. Muzhi originally served the Buddha with vigorous effort; he read the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra with utmost sincerity, wishing to read it ten thousand times in the hope of regaining his son. Furthermore, every time he completed a thousand recitations, he would invite the monastic assembly to a vegetarian feast. Having already completed six or seven thousand recitations, there was entirely no miraculous response. Muzhi sighed and said, "How could the Holy One fail to respond to sentient beings? It is simply that my sincerity has not reached the utmost." From then on, day and night, he no longer counted the number of recitations, only vowing that an efficacious response should be his limit. His son had in fact been repeatedly sold, becoming a slave to a man of Yizhou, and was seen being put to labor. One day, while weeding grass and wood alone, he suddenly saw a monk arrive, who asked him, "Are you Han Muzhi's son or not?" Startled, he immediately answered, "I am." The monk asked again, "Do you wish to see your father or not?" He replied, "I do wish to, but how could that be possible?" The monk said again, "Your father's yearning has reached the utmost; today I will take you back." The son did not know he was a spiritual being and declined, not daring to agree. The monk said, "There is no trouble; just grasp the corner of my kāṣāya." The son tried grasping it, and immediately felt dazed as if being whisked away by someone. In an instant, they arrived and rested outside the gate of a house; this was Han's new residence after relocating. The son did not recognize it as his father's house. The monk did not enter, but sent the son inside to speak. Entering, he saw the master sitting upright reading the sūtra; it was indeed his father. Meeting each other, there was no time to express grief or joy; the son could only cry out, "There is a Holy One outside the gate!" The father ran out barefoot, but by the time he came out, he could no longer see anyone. Among the village neighbors, monastics and laity alike, there was no one who was not astonished and sighing in wonder.