華嚴經傳記 3.6

3.6

Shi Huitiao, whose secular surname was Zhuang, left home at an early age and took Hīnayāna as his practice, winning renown along the Yangzi and Han rivers. Hearing that Master Xiangwang Zhe was lecturing on the Three Treatises at Longquan, he felt unbearable indignation in his heart and said: 'The Three Treatises elucidate emptiness; the lecturer is attached to emptiness.' No sooner had he spoken than his tongue protruded three feet, and blood flowed from his nose, eyes, and both ears; for seven days he could not speak. A Dharma Master Fu, hearing of this, said: 'You are utterly foolish! Slandering the scripture with a single word incurs a sin exceeding the five heinous offenses. Only by having faith in the Mahāyāna can you escape it.' He then had him repent, whereupon his tongue withdrew to its original place. He was then brought to Master Zhe's dwelling to listen solely to the Mahāyāna. When Zhe passed away, Huitiao established a Vaipulya retreat of the seven places and eight assemblies for him. When the hundred days were completed, he went directly to Shenzusi on Mount Xiang. His feet did not cross the threshold; he constantly practiced Mahāyāna, lecturing on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra through the four seasons to express his repentance. In the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, while sitting in meditation in a pine grove, he saw three persons of refined appearance and attire requesting to receive the bodhisattva precepts. After receiving them, they said: 'Chan Master, you have sharp faculties. Had you not changed your mind and believed in the Mahāyāna, even with the appearance of a thousand Buddhas, you would still be in hell.' Appalled by this stern admonition, with tears and blood flowing together, he wept bitterly and returned to the monastery. In front of the lecturer's room, rolling on the ground and sobbing, he could not speak. Sprinkled with water to revive him, he wept even more bitterly, circumambulating the Buddha and repenting, making this his regular practice. He also diligently converted gentry and laypeople, copying one hundred copies each of the Avataṃsaka and the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā. In the third month of the thirteenth year, bowing in repentance before the Buddha, he serenely passed away while seated. He was over eighty years of age. For seven days after his passing, the forest trees turned white, returning to normal only after that. This shows that knowing one's error and being able to correct it is truly commendable. The monastery was fifty li from the city; more than seven thousand people who had received the refuges and precepts from him filled the mountains and rivers, establishing a great vegetarian feast for him. At the burial site, thirty Dharma Masters each expounded one scripture to ferry his spirit across.