法華傳記 7.8

7.8

During the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, Cui Yanwu of Boling, the Scribe of Weizhou, arrived at a settlement while traveling through the commandery. Astonished and pleasantly surprised, he said to his attendants, "In the past, I was once a woman of this settlement; I now know where my home is." Thereupon he rode his horse into the alleys, winding his way until he reached a household, and ordered them to knock on the door. The master of the house was elderly; he ran out and bowed in greeting. Yanwu entered the house, first ascended to the main hall, and looked upon the eastern wall, six or seven feet from the ground, where there was an elevated bulge. The guest said to the master, "The Lotus Sūtra I once read, together with five gold hairpins, are hidden inside this wall; the sūtra case is there. At the end of the seventh fascicle of the sūtra, the paper was burned by fire and the characters were lost. Nowadays, whenever I recite this sūtra and reach the end of the seventh fascicle, I always forget and cannot remember it." He then ordered his attendants to chisel into the wall; indeed, they found the sūtra case, and upon opening it, the end of the seventh fascicle and the gold hairpins were entirely as he had said. The master wept and said, "When my late wife was alive, she constantly read this sūtra, and the hairpins were also hers. Because my late wife died in childbirth, her whereabouts were lost; I never expected that you, commissioner, would show me the place!" Yanwu pointed to a locust tree in front of the courtyard: "When I was about to give birth, I untied my hair and placed it in the hollow of this tree." He had someone test by reaching in, and indeed they retrieved the hair from inside the tree. Thereupon the master was filled with both grief and joy. Yanwu left behind robes and goods, generously provided for the master, and departed. (Fascicle 26 of the Fayuan says: The above miracle is drawn from the Mingbaoji).