三寶感應要略錄 2.120

2.120

隋鄜州實室寺僧法藏。武德二年閏三月。得患困重。經二旬餘。乃見一人青衣服飾花麗在高樓上。手持經一卷。告法藏云。汝今互用三寶物。得罪無量。我所持經者。是金剛般若。若自造一卷。至心誦持。一生已來。所用三寶物罪。並得消滅。藏即應聲。若得滅罪。病又瘳差。敬寫百部。誦持不廢。藏即命終。將至王所具問。一生作何福業。藏即分疏造佛像。抄寫金剛般若百部。於一切人轉讀兼寫一切經八百卷。晝夜誦持般若。不曾廢闕。王聞此言。師造功德極大不思議。即遣使藏中。取功德簿。將至王所。王自開撿。並依藏師所說。一不錯謬。王言。師功德不可思議。放師在寺。勸化一切。讀誦般若。具修一切功德。莫生懈怠。師得長壽。無病安樂。後命終之日。即生十方淨土。乃得醒活。自對他說焉云云。

The monk Fazang of Shishi Monastery in Fu Prefecture under the Sui became gravely ill in the intercalary third month of the second year of Wude. After more than twenty days, he saw a person dressed in splendid green garments on a high tower, holding a scroll of scripture in hand, who told Fazang: "You have misappropriated items belonging to the Three Jewels and incurred immeasurable sins. The scripture I hold is the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā. If you make a copy yourself and uphold and recite it with utmost sincerity, the sins of using items belonging to the Three Jewels incurred throughout your entire life will all be eradicated." Fazang replied immediately: "If my sins can be eradicated and my illness cured, I will reverently copy a hundred copies and uphold and chant it without cease." Fazang then passed away and was brought to the king's court, where he was questioned in detail: "What meritorious karma have you performed in your life?" Fazang explained in detail: "I fashioned Buddha statues, copied a hundred sets of the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā, had them read by all people, and additionally copied eight hundred fascicles of all scriptures; day and night I recited and upheld prajñā without ever faltering." Hearing these words, the king said, "The merit the Master has created is extremely great and inconceivable." He then sent an emissary into the archive to retrieve the register of merit and bring it to the king's presence. The king unrolled and inspected it himself, and it matched exactly what Master Zang had said without a single error. The king said: "The Master's merit is inconceivable. I release the Master to remain in the monastery to guide and transform everyone, to read and recite prajñā, to cultivate all merits fully, and not give rise to laxity. The Master shall obtain long life, free of illness and peaceful. On the day your life eventually ends, you will be reborn in the Pure Lands of the ten directions." He then revived and related this himself to others.