法華傳記 6.4

6.4

The Baekje śramaṇa Shi Fazheng, during the Tianjian reign of the Liang dynasty, carried his book-box and crossed westward [to China], seeking teachers to study the Way. He understood the doctrinal purport quite well and also practiced with vigor. After staying in the Liang for more than thirty years, unable to suddenly forget his homeland, he returned to his native land. Fazheng personally recounted that he heard from others that in the boundary mountains of Yuezhou there was a bodhimaṇḍa called Guanyin, where there was an earthen hut of Guanyin. Hence he went to see it. The rafters were completely rotted away, and only the earthen wall remained. There were still two men of the Way who agreed together to enter the mountain. One wished to chant the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, and one wished to chant the Lotus Sūtra. Each occupied a ravine and built an earthen hut. The one who chanted the Avataṃsaka was able to finish in a month. He wondered about his companion, how much he had attained, and went to visit him, but he had not [memorized] even a single scroll. That man said to him: "The deadline is nearly exhausted and provisions are about to run out. You should complete it by the deadline. If you cannot recite the entire work, you can just chant the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra." He then returned to his hut. Thereupon this man felt sorrow and pain in his heart at his dull faculties due to past karma, and with utmost mind read and chanted, without resting day or night. He committed about half to memory. Several days later, that man came again. This man told him the truth. That man said: "I have already chanted the Avataṃsaka. How can it be that with just this beginning of the Avalokiteśvara [Chapter], after two or three days, you still have not committed it to memory? If I abandon you and leave, I would betray our agreement; if I wait for you to finish, the food will run out. Since you have not finished in three days, in principle I cannot wait for you. I will come again tomorrow. You must do your utmost." This man reached a sorrow and pain redoubled beyond before, and with utmost mind chanted and recited, just managing to finish. The next morning, that man came again and said: "If you still cannot recite even this beginning of the Avalokiteśvara [Chapter], there is nothing to be done; I must now leave you and go." This man knelt and said: "Just last night I managed to finish." Thereupon that man was overjoyed. Wishing to test each other, he sat on the couch and chanted it; across thirty scrolls of the scripture, not a single character was omitted. Next, this man went up on the couch to chant it; no sooner had he raised his voice than from the air rained various flowers and incense. Flowers overflowed the earthen hut, incense was smelled throughout the entire ravine, and fragrant vapor filled the sky beyond count. Thereupon the chanter of the Avataṃsaka stepped down to the ground and prostrated, his head and face bleeding, repenting and acknowledging his fault. The matter concluded, he was about to bid farewell and leave. This man stopped him, saying: "An old man regularly brings me food. You may wait a little while and share it." After a long time he did not come to provide it. This man went to fetch water and saw the old man carrying food resting beneath the grass. This man wondered and asked: "My companion has just arrived, and I hoped to eat together. What matter caused you to conceal yourself and not deliver it?" The old man replied: "That man looked down on me in such a way, how could I bear to see him?" Thereupon he first knew that this was Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. He immediately threw his five limbs to the ground and bowed with the utmost reverence. In an instant, looking up, he had lost his whereabouts. The earthen wall built by this man still remains today. Fazheng personally saw it.