冥報記 1.8

1.8

Shi Daoying was a śramaṇa of Hedong. In his youth he practiced meditation, taking the training of the mind as his foundation, and did not mind monastic decorum. Nevertheless, regarding the profound tenets of the sūtras and vinaya, there were none that he did not grasp immediately upon hearing them. From far and near, monks and nuns competed to seek decisions [on doctrine] from him. Daoying would promptly answer them, saying: 'You do not yet have doubts; you should first reflect on your doubts. Once they have coalesced into form, then come and ask.' When the inquirers returned and contemplated their doubts, many resolved them on their own through intense reflection and left. For those who pondered without awakening and returned to ask again, Daoying explained the essential points, and all attained joyful awakening and returned. Once, he was traveling by boat with a crowd across the Yellow River. In midstream the boat sank, and all the people drowned. Clergy and laity, seeing Daoying sink from afar, stood facing the river and wept bitterly. At this time it was late winter; the river ice was just beginning to thaw, but along both banks it was still solid. Daoying emerged walking through the water to the shore, breaking through the ice as he went. The people on the bank were reverent and delighted, vying to take off their clothes to clothe him. Daoying said, 'My body is still hot inside; do not cover me with clothes.' He strolled out and returned home, showing no signs of cold at all. When they looked at his body, it was like a place roasted by fire. Those with understanding took it to be because he had entered samādhi. At other times he herded oxen or drove carts for others, ate garlic and wolfed down meals, or wore secular clothes with hair several inches long. He once visited Renshou Monastery, and Daoxuan treated him with reverence and accommodated him. Late in the day [Daoying] sought food. Daoxuan said to him, 'Though a person of superior virtue has no attachment to eating, should you not halt slander and suspicion?' Daoying laughed and answered, 'Your mind, Venerable Xuan, is racing in panic, not halting even for a single breath, yet you starve yourself in vain. Why torment yourself?' Daoxuan sighed in admiration and conceded. Daoying died during the Zhenguan reign era. (Faduan, as well as clergy and laity, all related this as such.)