華嚴經傳記 4.19

4.19

Shi Fa'an, whose lay surname was Peng, was a native of Changu in Anding. He went forth from the household life in his youth and resided at Jiulong Vihāra on Mount Dabai, taking the aspiration for dhyāna as his endeavor. Eating coarse food and wearing tattered clothes, he maintained this until the end of his life. During the Kaihuang reign era, he traveled to Jiangdu to visit the Prince of Jin. Seeing him once, the Prince treated him like an old acquaintance and settled him at the Huiri Bodhimanda. Whenever the Prince traveled according to custom, he always invited Fa'an to accompany him. Once, when the imperial carriage traveled to Mount Tai, there was no water. Fa'an stabbed a rock with a knife, and water suddenly gushed forth. The Prince sighed in admiration and asked, “By what power is this?” Fa'an replied, “By the Prince’s power.” Earlier, when he entered the valley with the Prince, they saw a monk wearing tattered clothes riding toward them on a white donkey. The Prince asked who he was, and Fa'an replied, “This is Venerable Lang.” When they reached Shentongsi, they saw a spirit of grand and imposing appearance on the lecture hall, leaning against the roof owl-tail ornament and gazing down upon the crowd. The Prince asked about it again, and Fa'an said, “It is the spirit of Mount Dabai, following the Prince.” People of the time called Fa'an “Three Hundred Years Old.” When sleeping, he never used a pillow; his head lay without turning aside, stretching over the front of the bed, and saliva constantly flowed from his mouth, sometimes up to a dou or so, no one knowing why. Other marvels that followed cannot all be recorded here. At the beginning of the Daye reign era, the Emperor esteemed him even more; his dignity overwhelmed princes and dukes, and all knelt before him upon seeing him. Wayfarers, both monastics and laity, revered him like a spirit. He also traveled to Mount Wutai and other famous mountains to view and pay homage to sacred traces, and to summon recluses to assist in the imperial transformation. At Huiri Bodhimanda, more than two thousand people relied upon Fa'an for their four requisites. The Emperor also established the Bao Bodhimanda in the Eastern Capital and specially invited Fa'an to establish his practice there as well. Fa'an constantly read and recited the Avataṃsaka, accumulating years in this practice. He would say, “The realm of Samantabhadra constantly appears before me.” He also traveled some hundred li into Mount Jiulong and carved the Avataṃsaka inside a stone chamber, which was subsequently named the Avataṃsaka Hall. In the eleventh year of the Daye reign era, he passed away without illness at the age of ninety-eight. The Emperor ordered his coffin sent to Mount Dabai, where his burial site still exists today. Literati and commoners cherish his memory, erecting images to pray for blessings. The place where he carved the sūtra is among secluded and perilous peaks and cliffs; those near it with wisdom guard it and see it, while others cannot reach it because the path is cut off.