法華傳記 5.4

5.4

Śramaṇa Yisu was of unknown origin. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, he traveled to and stayed at the Yanglu household in Meiquan Township, south of Liquan County in Yongzhou, where he was continuously provided for. Pure, frugal, and with few desires, he made the recitation of the Lotus his sole vocation, day and night without interruption, reaching several thousand times. In the early years of the Zhenguan reign period, falling ill and about to pass away, he gave his final instructions to his friend Huikuo, saying: "Lately, although I have been reciting the sūtra, my wish has been to see a miraculous sign so as to give rise to the good roots of faith and devotion among ordinary folk. After I die, do not place me in a coffin, but bury my exposed remains. After ten years, you may exhume them: if the tongue-root has rotted, you will know I had no true upholding [of the text]; but if it still remains, you should inform the monastics and laity to build a stupa for it to manifest the spiritual resonance." Having spoken these words, he passed away, and was buried accordingly. In the eleventh year of the Zhenguan reign period, Kuo and various acquaintances went to the grave and opened it: the flesh of the body had completely dissolved, yet the tongue alone remained undecayed. The gentlemen and women of the whole county all looked up to and praised it, and those who recited and upheld [the sūtra] doubled their customary efforts. Thereupon they enshrined the tongue in a casket and built a brick stupa for it on the south bank of Gangu, north of Yanglu Village. Those of understanding venerated it, growing ever deeper in their faith and reverence, and read and recited all the more.