法華傳記 8.12

8.12

隋開皇中嚴恭者。蔣州人也。於郭下造精舍。寫法華經。清淨供養。若紙若筆。必以淨心不行欺詐。信心而與不行。乞覓隨得。便營如法經。給書生歡喜。常有十人道俗送直。恭親撿挍勞不告倦。甞有人。從貸經錢一萬。恭不獲已與之。貸者得錢。船載中覆錢失人活。是日恭入錢庫見。一萬錢濕如水。怪之後見。所貸錢人方知其沒溺。又有商人。至官亭湖祭神上物。夜夢神云。請君以物送與嚴恭。法華令經用也。及覺所上之物在前。又恭曾至市買紙少錢。忽有人持二千錢授恭曰。助君買紙。言已不見。又有漁人。夜見江中火焰。焰浮來以船迎之。乃是經函。及明尋視乃見嚴家經函。其後發願。略云。無一字而不經眼。無一字而不用心。及大業末。子孫猶傳經業。郡盜相約不入其里。里人賴之至今。故業猶爾云（內典錄第十）。

During the Kaihuang era of the Sui, Yan Gong was a man of Jiangzhou. He built a vihāra below the outer city wall to copy the Lotus Sūtra and make pure offerings. Whether paper or brushes, they had to be [handled] with a pure mind without deceit. If given with faith, he did not refuse; whatever was obtained through seeking, he immediately used to produce sūtras in accord with the Dharma, providing for the scholars with joy. There were constantly ten clerics and laypeople sending funds; Gong personally inspected and supervised, never speaking of fatigue from his labours. Once someone borrowed ten thousand coins of sūtra money from him, and Gong had no choice but to give it to him. The borrower, having received the money, loaded it onto a boat, which capsized midway; the money was lost, but the man survived. On that day, Gong entered the treasury and saw ten thousand coins wet as if from water, which he thought strange. Later, when he saw the man who had borrowed the money, he only then knew of the drowning. There was also a merchant who went to Lake Guanting to sacrifice to the spirit and offer goods. At night he dreamed that the spirit said: "Please take these goods and deliver them to Yan Gong for the use of the Lotus Sūtra." When he awoke, the offered goods were before him. Once, when Gong went to the market to buy paper and was short of money, a person suddenly held out two thousand coins and handed them to Gong, saying: "To assist you in buying paper." Having spoken, he was seen no more. There was also a fisherman who at night saw flames upon the river. Floating along with the flames, he went out in a boat to meet it; it was indeed a sūtra chest. At dawn, when he inspected it, he saw it was the Yan family's sūtra chest. Thereafter, [Gong] made a vow, which said in brief: "May not a single character fail to pass before my eyes; may not a single character fail to engage my mind." By the end of the Daye era, his sons and grandsons still handed down the business of sūtras. The bandits of the commandery mutually agreed not to enter their neighbourhood. The villagers relied upon them to this day, and their past occupation remains just as it was. (Neidian lu, fascicle 10.)