景德傳燈錄 3.7

3.7

When the king heard the verse, his mind was instantly awakened. He apologized for his past errors and inquired about the essentials of the Dharma, tirelessly from morning till night, for as long as ninety days. Meanwhile, having been driven out, Zongsheng retreated to hide in the deep mountains. He thought: "I am now one hundred years old; for eighty years I did wrong, and only in the last twenty years did I take refuge in the Buddha's way. Though my nature is dull, my conduct is free of blemish. Unable to resist this calamity, how can living compare to dying?" Having said this, he threw himself off a cliff. Suddenly a spirit held him up with his hands, placing him on a boulder safe and unharmed. Zongsheng said: "I am unworthily a śramaṇa and ought to be a master of the correct Dharma. Unable to suppress the king's error, I cast away my body in self-reproach. What spirit has assisted me to such an extent? I pray you grant me a word to preserve my remaining years." Thereupon the spirit spoke a verse: