華嚴經傳記 4.15

4.15

The nun Wuliang, whose secular surname was Min, was a native of Chang'an in Jingzhao. Her family tradition was to cultivate the good; the entire household ate a vegetarian diet and recited the scriptures together without ceasing morning or evening. Her mother, Lady Zhao, initially dreamed of an Indian monk holding two golden fruits, who handed them to her and said, 'I give you good seeds; you should guard them well.' She thereupon became pregnant and gave birth to Wuliang. Her moral nature was naturally complete, and her heart rejoiced in leaving the secular world. When she was eleven years old, her elder sister taught her to recite scriptures such as the Prajñā and Guanyin sūtras, but she had virtually no awakening, which left Wuliang deeply ashamed. Later, she was switched to being taught the Avataṃsaka Sūtra; holding the scrolls and opening the text, it was as if she had practiced it in past lives. She recited five sheets a day to encourage herself, and in less than three months she had mastered two wrappers. Later, due to straining her mind through diligent effort, she contracted another illness and stopped reciting for several years, feeling profound remorse and regret. Thereupon, before the Buddha, she burned incense and made a vow, swearing to uphold the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and practice the bodhisattva path; she immediately recovered, her prayer fulfilled. Chanting without fatigue, when she was just eighteen she completed the entire work. She reviewed it over the passing years, becoming all the more diligent. In the second year of the Yongchun reign era, an edict was issued to ordain people, and five men and women of her family left the secular world. Wuliang resided at Daodesi, and her younger brother Huisong, aged fourteen, who had also recited the entire Nirvāṇa Sūtra, resided at Cibeisi. Was this not the fulfillment of the dream of the two fruits? The other three each recited various scriptures of more than several hundred sheets, and both monastics and laypeople marvelled at it, regarding it as exceedingly rare. After Wuliang entered the Way, her determination grew ever firmer. She always recited the Avataṃsaka Sūtra once every three days as her constant practice. Having received full ordination, her ascetic practice became all the more earnest: she wore no silks or floss, dressed only in cotton cloth, accepted no monastic emoluments, and ate nothing from the monastic kitchen. She bowed and repented throughout the six periods of the day, never slacking in the three modes of action. In addition, she was of a gentle nature and harbored loving-kindness in her heart; whenever she saw the poor and the sick, she was always deeply moved to pity. Those of the Way all sighed in admiration, saying, 'Though she is a woman, this is something that even a great man could hardly match.'