往生西方淨土瑞應傳 1.9

1.9

後周朝僧崖住益州多寶寺。性少語言。不雜嬉戲。每遊山林。以終日。人問何故。答曰。人是可惡。我思之耳。於城西燒左手五指。道俗千萬擁之而哭。師曰。但守菩薩心。我無哭也。人問痛否。答曰。心既無痛。指何痛也。火燒手掌。骨髓沸湧。人問其故。答曰。緣諸眾生不能行忍。今觀不忍者忍不燒者燒。又告眾曰。末劫輕慢嚚薄。見佛像故木頭。聞經如風過馬耳。燒手滅身。欲令信重佛法。謂弟子曰。我滅度後。好供養病人及醜陋者并畜生。凡斯之徒多是諸佛菩薩權化。自非大心平等。何能一切恭敬。或見天花及僧崖。披班衲錫杖。與六百僧。乘空西沒。

Monk Sengya of the Northern Zhou dynasty lived at Duobao Temple in Yizhou. By nature he spoke little and did not engage in playful diversions. He spent entire days roaming the mountains and forests. When people asked why, he replied, "People are abominable; I am only contemplating this." To the west of the city, he burned the five fingers of his left hand. Monastics and laity by the millions thronged around him and wept. The Master said, "Only uphold the bodhisattva mind; do not weep for me." People asked if it hurt, and he replied, "Since the mind has no pain, how could the fingers hurt?" When the fire burned the palm of his hand, his bone marrow bubbled up. People asked the reason for this, and he replied, "Because sentient beings cannot practice forbearance, I now see that those who cannot bear it must bear it, and what cannot be burned must be burned." He also addressed the assembly, saying, "In the final kalpa, people are disrespectful, deceitful, and shallow; seeing a Buddha image, they regard it as mere dead wood, and hearing a sūtra, it is like the wind blowing past a horse's ear. Burning my hands and destroying my body, I wish to make them have faith in and revere the Buddha's Dharma." He said to his disciples, "After my parinirvāṇa, provide well for the sick, the ugly, and animals. Most of these kinds of beings are skillful manifestations of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Unless one has a great mind of equality, how could one show universal reverence?" Later, someone saw heavenly flowers, and Sengya—wearing a patchwork robe and holding a khakkhara—ascending into the sky with six hundred monks and disappearing into the west.