法華傳記 7.70

7.70

Li Jian’an of Liuzhou under the Tang was eighteen years old when he suffered from severe wind-pain illness; his two parents were so distressed that they could neither eat nor drink. Jian’an saw this and his sorrow increased. He reflected: “I shall free my two parents and myself from affliction by copying the Lotus Sūtra myself.” He thereupon sought mounting paper and wished to copy the sūtra, but his hand trembled and he was unable to write. Barely having produced the first fascicle, its character forms were clearly like bird tracks, so that anyone who looked could not understand the text. He then hired another scribe to copy it in a separate room. Before the first fascicle was finished, Jian’an died, with only his chest remaining warm. The scribe abandoned him and fled. After a day and a night, he revived, his wind illness suddenly cured and his body light and at ease. He recounted the events of the underworld himself, saying: “When I first died, I saw an official messenger with a dispatch; I was bound and brought to stand beside a great city. At that time there was a youth holding a white fly-whisk in his hand who came and touched my body. My body felt cool, joyful, and peaceful. Then an official came out from the city, followed by hundreds of thousands of official attendants, and paying homage to me, said: ‘Sir, your name was in the official dispatch. You deliberately killed a rat by binding its neck so that its breath could not pass; on account of this cause and condition, the King summoned you. However, you wrote the title of the Lotus Sūtra for your two parents, and relying on this root of wholesome goodness, Mañjuśrī has come to rescue you and your old illness is now eradicated. Your sūtra has not even finished the first fascicle, and the scribe fled in terror. Since you have such great goodness, your remaining lifespan will be eighty-two years, and your parents’ retribution lifetimes will also be extended, each to ninety years.’ Having spoken thus, he entered the city. The youth showed me the way back, and I was able to live again.” Those who heard of it sighed at its rarity. Jian’an and his two parents gave up their family property to produce ten sets of the Lotus Sūtra and invited monks to receive offerings. Those copies of the sūtra are now preserved in the Great Monastery.