三寶感應要略錄 2.66

2.66

Yao Dai, a native of Qi County in Zizhou, went into mourning for his parents in the fourth year of the Chang'an reign era. He made a vow for his deceased parents to copy four great sūtras himself: one copy each of the Lotus and Vimalakīrti, ten fascicles of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra, and one hundred fascicles of the Diamond Prajñā-sūtra. At midday, a deer rushed through the door and came in, standing before the sūtra desk, raising its head to lick the desk. When the house dog saw it, it did not dare to bark. Yao Dai stepped down from his seat and caught it in his embrace; it showed no fear. He administered the Three Refuges to it; it leaped and bent its legs, and when released, it would not leave. There was also a butcher boy named Li Huinu who came and stood before the desk, grabbed a Prajñā-sūtra, and ran away. After he departed, he was never seen again, and no one knew where he went. (At that time, a neighbor dreamed that the deer was Dai's mother and the butcher was Dai's father, each receiving different bodies in accordance with their karma; because Dai copied sūtras for them himself, they came to receive his transformative deliverance, nothing else.)