法華傳記 2.38

2.38

Shi Sengman was a person of the Liang dynasty. Intelligent from childhood, he ate vegetarian food, practiced austere discipline, and was thoroughly versed in the sūtras and treatises, yet he set his aspiration upon the Lotus Sūtra. He lectured on the scripture one hundred times. Those who heard him wept tears of devotion. Whenever he reached the chapter on the "Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja," he would sigh and say: "The cycle of birth and death turns without end; who would begrudge their body for the sake of the Dharma?" He then made a vow in Changsha Commandery to burn his body as an offering to the scripture. Heaven sent down a fine rain, and lotus flowers grew forth from the ashes, not withering or falling for three days. Those who saw and heard of it felt both grief and joy.