華嚴經傳記 4.12

4.12

Fan Xuanzhi was a native of Jingzhou. Even as a young child he was different from ordinary folk, expressing the wish to cultivate the Way. At the age of sixteen he left his family and went south of the capital city, where he took refuge with the divine monk, Chan Master Dushun, and practiced various superior deeds. Dushun immediately had him take the reading and reciting of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as his practice, exhorting him to cultivate the deeds of Samantabhadra in reliance on this scripture. He also served Dharma Master Zheng at Zhixiangsi, entering Mount Zhongnan to review and practice this scripture, and thus completed the entire work. Later, whenever he recited the scripture, relics repeatedly came out of his mouth, amounting in total to several hundred grains over time. He carried them on his person to make offerings to them, and distributed them to various people. Famous mountains and scenic places—no matter how far—he was sure to visit. Later, while traveling, he stayed at Chisha Village in Fangzhou. In the valley north of the village there was a mountain, three li away from the village, within which was a stone grotto where practitioners of the Way resided. Zhi stayed in it for over twenty years, reciting the Avataṃsaka Sūtra by day and cultivating Chan contemplation by night, living at ease across the years and making this his constant practice. Whenever he recited the scripture, various species of birds and beasts would all gather in the forest, remaining hushed and silent to listen to the virtuous sound. Jackals, tigers, and fierce beasts would also become tame from time to time. He was once seized by a gang of wicked men and pushed down a cliff; though the precipice was a hundred fathoms high, he was completely unharmed. In the first year of the Yongchun reign era, people saw light inside the niche and, marveling at it, went to look; they saw that the layman had long since passed away. When the assembly together brought him out, the light thereupon vanished. They cremated his corpse and erected a stupa. At the time he was over seventy years of age.