法華傳記 8.24

8.24

揚州嚴恭者。本泉州人。家富於財。而無兄弟。父母愛恭。言無所違。陳大建初。恭年弱冠。請於父母。欲得錢五萬往揚州市。父母從之。恭乘船載錢而下。去揚州數十里許。逢江中一船載龜。將詣市賣之。恭問。知其故念龜當死因請贖之。龜主曰。我龜大頭別千錢乃可。恭問幾頭。答有五十。恭曰。我正有錢五萬。願以贖之。龜主喜取錢付龜而去。恭盡以龜放江中。而空船詣揚州。其龜主別恭行十餘里。船沒而死。是恭父母在家。昏時有烏衣客五十人。詣門寄宿。并送錢五萬。付恭父曰。君兒在揚州。附此錢歸。願依數受之。恭父怪愕。疑恭死因審之。客曰。兒無恙。但不須錢用故附歸耳。恭父受之。記是本錢而皆水濕。留客為設食。客止明旦辭去。後月餘日。恭還家。父母大喜。既而問附錢所由。恭答無之。父母說客形狀及附錢月日。贖龜之日。於是知五十客皆所贖龜也。父子驚歎。因揚州起精舍。專寫法華經。遂從家揚州家轉富。大起房廊。為寫經之室。莊嚴清淨供給豐厚。書生常數十人。揚州道俗共相崇敬。號曰嚴法華里。甞有知親。從貸經錢一萬。恭不獲已與之。貸者受錢。以船戴歸。中路傾船。一萬濕錢。如新出水。恭甚怪之。後見前貸錢。入乃知濕錢。是所貸者。又有商人。至宮亭湖。於神所祭。須肉食并上物。其夜夢。神送物還之謂曰。債君為我持此奉法華。以給經用故也。且而所上神物。皆在其前。於是商人。歎異送達恭處。而倍加厚施。其後恭至市買經紙。適遇小錢。忽見一人。持錢三千授恭曰。助君買紙。言畢不見。而錢在其前。於是怪異。如此非一。隋開皇末恭死。隣人夢。恭死生淨天。夢問淨天何。答兜率內院。無雜穢故。恭死子孤傳其業。隋季盜賊至江都者。皆相與約勿入嚴法華里。里人賴之。獲全其處。至今寫經不已。州邑共見。京師人云。亦多知之。附馬宗公蕭。最所祥審矣（記者曰。蔣州嚴恭。與揚嚴恭其事大同。彼緣出感通錄等此緣出冥報記等。依有廣略不同。前後出之。乞具尋始末悉之）。

Yan Gong of Yangzhou was originally a native of Quanzhou. His family was rich in wealth, and he had no brothers. His parents loved Gong and never went against his words. At the beginning of the Dajian era of the Chen dynasty, when Gong had just reached the age of capping (twenty years old), he made a request to his parents, desiring to take fifty thousand cash to go to the market in Yangzhou. His parents consented. Gong boarded a boat laden with the cash and went downriver. Several tens of li before reaching Yangzhou, he encountered a boat on the river loaded with turtles, about to be taken to the market to be sold. Gong inquired, learned the reason, and, reflecting that the turtles were facing death, consequently asked to redeem them. The turtle owner said, 'My turtles are large; only for one thousand cash apiece can they be had.' Gong asked how many there were. He replied that there were fifty. Gong said, 'I have exactly fifty thousand cash; I wish to redeem them.' The turtle owner happily took the money, handed over the turtles, and departed. Gong released all the turtles into the river, and proceeded to Yangzhou with an empty boat. After parting from Gong and traveling ten-odd li, the turtle owner's boat sank, and he died. At that time, Gong's parents were at home. At dusk, fifty guests dressed in black came to their gate seeking lodging, and brought fifty thousand cash, handing it to Gong's father and saying, 'Your son is in Yangzhou and sent this money home. Please accept it according to the amount.' Gong's father was astonished and bewildered, suspecting that Gong had died, and therefore questioned them closely. The guests said, 'Your son is well and unharmed; it is merely that he had no need to spend the money, so he sent it home.' Gong's father accepted it, noted that it was the original money, but all soaked with water. He kept the guests and prepared food for them. The guests stayed until the next morning and then took their leave. After a month or more, Gong returned home. His parents were overjoyed. Soon after, they asked about the circumstances of sending the money. Gong answered that there was no such thing. His parents described the appearance of the guests, the date the money was sent, and it was the day the turtles were redeemed. Thereupon they knew that the fifty guests were all the turtles he had redeemed. Father and son were amazed and moved to sighs. Consequently, he established a vihāra in Yangzhou dedicated exclusively to copying the Lotus Sūtra. Thereupon, his family moved to Yangzhou, and their household grew even wealthier. He extensively erected halls and corridors to serve as rooms for copying the sūtra. They were adorned and pure, with abundant supplies. There were constantly several tens of scribes. Both monastics and laity in Yangzhou revered him together, calling the place the Yan Lotus Neighborhood. Once, an acquaintance borrowed ten thousand sūtra-funds from him. Gong, unable to refuse, gave it to him. The borrower took the cash and returned home by boat. Mid-route, the boat capsized. The ten thousand soaked coins were as if newly brought forth from the water. Gong was very puzzled by this. Later, upon seeing the previously borrowed cash brought back, he realized that the wet cash was precisely what had been lent. Furthermore, a merchant came to Lake Gongting to make offerings at the shrine of a deity, requiring meat and superior goods. That night, he dreamed that the deity sent the goods back to him, saying to him, 'I am in debt to you; please take these on my behalf to present to the Lotus [Sūtra] to supply the copying expenses.' Moreover, all the goods he had offered to the deity were before him. Thereupon the merchant, amazed at the marvel, delivered them to Gong's place and doubled his lavish donations. Later, Gong went to the market to buy sūtra paper, but happened to encounter a shortfall of cash. Suddenly, he saw a person holding three thousand cash, who handed them to Gong, saying, 'To assist you in buying paper.' Having spoken, he disappeared, and the cash was right in front of him. Thus, strange marvels such as these were not just one. At the end of the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, Gong died. A neighbor dreamed that Gong had died and was born in a pure heaven. In the dream, he asked what pure heaven it was. The answer was the Inner Court of Tuṣita, because it is free of defilement. After Gong died, his orphaned son continued his enterprise. When bandits arrived at Jiangdu in the late Sui period, they all agreed among themselves not to enter the Yan Lotus Neighborhood. The people of the neighborhood relied upon this and preserved their place intact. Down to the present, the copying of the sūtra has not ceased. It has been witnessed by the entire prefecture and city. People in the capital say that many know of it as well. The Imperial Son-in-law, Prince Xiao of the Zong, was the one who examined it in the greatest detail. (The chronicler says: 'The matter of Yan Gong of Jiangzhou is broadly the same as that of Yan Gong of Yangzhou. The former account comes from the Gantong lu and others, while this account comes from the Mingbao ji and others. Depending on whether they are expansive or abridged, they differ, appearing before and after. Please examine the beginning and end thoroughly to know them all.')