釋門自鏡錄 1.36

1.36

The monk Sengfan was surnamed Ji and was a native of Pingxiang. He went forth into renunciation at the age of twenty-nine. Rich in both learning and practice, he was esteemed by the times. Once, when he was lecturing on the *Lotus Sūtra*, there was a monk who slandered him, saying: 'What does this spent vessel understand?' Immediately, a spirit gave him a severe beating; he died and was revived. On another occasion, when staying overnight at another monastery, it happened to be the day of the poṣadha. A monk mounted the seat, intending to defend a thesis, and said: 'Defending a treatise on the marks of phenomena accords deeply with the holy words. Why labor over reciting the precepts? The saṃgha hears them regularly.' Suddenly, he saw a spirit over ten feet tall, of extremely heroic and stern appearance, who came before the seat and asked the one defending the thesis: 'What day is today?' He answered: 'It is the day of the poṣadha.' The spirit immediately struck him with his hand, dragging him beneath the seat, where he lay battered and on the verge of death. He then asked the senior monk [the same], striking and dragging him in the same manner. From that time until the end of his life, Sengfan never once gave his consent by proxy [for poṣadha]; even when gravely ill, he was carried on a litter to join the saṃgha. This was because he valued this precept day and delighted in beholding the Dharma-body.