法華傳記 4.60

4.60

Śramaṇa Zhicong's native place is unknown. Formerly he resided at Baima Temple in the capital Yang[zhou], and later at Zhiguan Temple. After the Chen fell, he crossed the Yangzi River and resided at Anle Temple in Yangzhou. After the Daye reign ended in collapse, having no way to return, he hid among the rushes by the river and recited the Lotus Sūtra, going for seven days without hunger. There were consistently four tigers circling him, yet they did not devour him; up to that point ten days had passed. Cong said, "My life hangs in the balance; if you need to, you may eat me." The tigers replied, "Since the creation of heaven and earth, there has never been such a principle." Suddenly an old man appeared, around eighty years old, carrying a boat under his arm, and said, "If the master wishes to cross the river to dwell at Qixia, you may board the boat at once." Tears fell from the eyes of the four tigers simultaneously. Cong said, "Rescuing from peril and assisting in distress is needed precisely today; please welcome the four tigers as well." Thereupon they crossed smoothly and reached the southern shore; the boat and the old man were gone without a trace. Cong led the four tigers and went together to Qixia. To the west of the śarīra stupa, he practiced walking and seated meditation, vowing never to lie down to sleep. His eighty disciples all remained within the monastery grounds. Whenever an ominous event was imminent, one tiger would enter the temple and make a loud roar to inform the assembly; alerted and alarmed by this, they took it as a regular sign. Because the mountain forest was remote and grains were difficult to obtain, Cong gathered three hundred lay believers in Yangzhou to provide rice charity: each person gave one picul, delivered annually. Due to this, provisions on the mountain were continuously supplied, benefiting all, from monastics and laity down to birds and beasts. On the eighth day of the fourth month of the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan reign period, after a light morning meal, he went to Zhiguan Temple, paid homage to the spiritual image of the Great Master, and holding an incense burner, made prostrations everywhere. He then went to the tomb of [Master] Xinghuang, made prostrations, and returned to his own room, where he passed away while sitting serenely. A wondrous fragrance filled the air. More than three thousand monastics and laity who had received the precepts in the single city of Danyang rushed in their mountain attire, weeping with grief in the forest and fields. He was ninety-nine years old at the time.