法華傳記 7.58

7.58

釋智琰。師事智凱。頗有潔操。巧書無比。自欲寫法華。貧道不得紙。夢鳳凰含紙來。覺見案有紙。即書一部收置塔中。發願云。此經不朽必生後佛世。願力有感。雨霜不濕塔上耳。

Shi Zhiyan studied under Zhiyi. He possessed considerable moral purity and his calligraphy was incomparably skillful. He wished to copy the Lotus Sūtra himself, but being a poor monk, he could not obtain paper. He dreamed that a phoenix came holding paper in its beak. When he awoke, he saw paper on his desk; he immediately wrote out one copy and deposited it inside a stūpa. He made a vow, saying, "May this sūtra not decay, and may I certainly be born in the era of a future Buddha!" His vow had sympathetic resonance: neither rain nor frost ever dampened the top of the stūpa.