釋門自鏡錄 1.40

1.40

The monk Huitiao was surnamed Zhuang. He went forth into renunciation in his youth, took the Hīnayāna as his vocation, and his fame spread along the Changjiang and Han Rivers. Hearing that Master Xiangwang Zhe was lecturing on the Three Treatises, an intolerable feeling arose in his heart, and he said: 'The Three Treatises expound emptiness, and those who lecture on them are attached to emptiness!' As soon as he finished speaking, his tongue protruded three feet, and blood flowed from his nose, eyes, and both ears. For seven days he could not speak. The Vinaya Master Tai heard of it and said: 'You are greatly deluded! Slandering the sūtras with a single word incurs a crime surpassing the five heinous deeds. Only if you believe in the Mahāyāna will you be able to escape it.' He then had him repent, and his tongue was drawn back in. He was then carried on a litter to Master Zhe's place, vowing to listen to the Mahāyāna. Later, whenever he lectured on the *Lotus* and *Avataṃsaka*, he used it to express his repentance. Once, while sitting in meditation in a pine grove, he saw three people whose appearance and clothing were entirely elegant, requesting to receive the bodhisattva precepts. Having received them, they addressed him, saying: 'Meditation Master, your faculties are greatly sharp. If you had not changed your mind and believed in the Mahāyāna, even when a thousand Buddhas appeared in the world you would still be in hell.' Hearing these words repeated, tears streamed down, and he wept aloud as he returned to the monastery. In front of Master Zhe's room he tossed about and sobbed, unable to speak. Furthermore, he encouraged laypeople to produce one hundred copies each of the *Avataṃsaka*, the *Great Perfection of Wisdom*, the *Lotus*, the *Vimalakīrti*, and the *Viśeṣacintibrahma-paripṛcchā*. At the time of his passing, he moved the trees of the forest to turn white. He may indeed be called one who was able to correct his faults!