法華傳記 9.38

9.38

唐總章年中。外國沙門。名達磨跋陀。唐云法賢。無奈何事。來至潯陽。容儀挺特。色貌端正。誦法華等大乘經凡三萬偈也。音聲愛雅眾所樂。時有處女。形貌偉麗。具解六十四態。初見沙門。生愛染心。靜夜近僧。宿誦提婆達多品龍女文。女雖不了梵文。聞誦聲發信心。止染心而還。時海水波濤船漂。有一人丈夫。接持置岸。都不濕裝服。在宿夢有前丈夫謂女。汝聞法華提婆達多品。淨心信敬。免漂沒難。若能修行不受女身。女夢覺悲喜悔過尋僧。不知去所。既厭女身。出家為尼。詣五臺山而住。空慧比丘尼是也。

During the Zongzhang era of the Tang, there was a foreign monk named Dharmabhadra, which in Chinese means Faxian. Owing to unavoidable circumstances, he came to Xunyang. His deportment was outstanding, and his appearance dignified. He chanted Mahāyāna scriptures such as the Lotus Sūtra, amounting to thirty thousand verses. His voice was graceful and pleasing, delighting all who heard it. At that time, there was an unmarried maiden of extraordinary beauty who fully understood the sixty-four amorous postures. When she first saw the monk, she conceived a mind of lustful attachment. In the quiet of the night, she approached the monk, who was staying the night and reciting the passage of the Dragon Girl from the Devadatta Chapter. Although the maiden did not understand the Sanskrit text, upon hearing the sound of the recitation she gave rise to faithful confidence, halted her defiled mind, and returned home. At that time, while sea waves tossed a drifting boat, there was a man who took hold of her and placed her on the shore without her clothes getting wet at all. In a dream that night, the former man said to the maiden: 'Because you listened to the Devadatta Chapter of the Lotus Sūtra and had a pure mind of faithful reverence, you escaped the disaster of drowning. If you can practice it, you will never again receive a female body.' Awakening from the dream, the maiden felt joy and sorrow, repented her faults, and sought the monk, but did not know where he had gone. Already weary of the female body, she left home to become a nun and went to Mount Wutai to dwell. She was the bhikṣuṇī Konghui.