冥報記 1.6

1.6

In Hedong there was a nun who practiced disciplined conduct and regularly recited the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra. She sought out a skilled calligrapher, offered him several times the usual payment, and prepared a special pure chamber, commissioning him to copy this sūtra. Every time he stood up [from his seat], he bathed; he burned incense to perfume his clothes. Moreover, in the chamber where the sūtra was being copied, they breached the wall to lead outside and attached a bamboo tube; whenever the calligrapher wished to exhale, he was instructed to place his mouth to the bamboo tube and blow his breath out through the wall. He copied one fascicle of the sūtra, taking eight years to finish. Her offerings to it were solemn and heavy, exhausting all reverence. The monk Faduan of Longmen often gathered the great assembly to lecture on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra. Because this nun's copy was exceptionally pure and definitive, he sent someone to request it. The nun resolutely declined and would not give it. Faduan rebuked her. The nun had no choice, so she personally delivered it to him. Faduan and the others opened it to read, but saw only yellow paper, completely devoid of characters. When they opened the other fascicles, all were likewise. Faduan and the others were ashamed and frightened; they immediately returned it to the nun. The nun received it weeping, washed the box with fragrant water, bathed, and, bearing it on her head, circumambulated the Buddha in walking meditation, not resting even briefly for seven days and seven nights. Then, when she opened and examined it, the characters were just as before. In the second year of the Zhenguan reign era, Faduan personally related this to me, [Tang] Lin. (He must have stated the nun's name in full, but I, Lin, have forgotten it; I only record the event as such.)