集神州三寶感通錄 3.90

3.90

沙門慧全。涼州禪師也。門徒五百。中有一人性頗麁暴。全不齒錄。後忽自云。得那含果。全以無行永所不信。全有疾閉房。此弟子夜至問病。而門閉頗異之。全密重關而自靜。又至床前曰。闍梨可見信也。若命過當生婆羅門家。全曰。我一生坐禪。豈祈生彼耶。弟子曰。闍梨信道不篤外學未絕。雖有福業不能超詣。若作一會飯壹聖人可成道果。全即依辦弟子。又曰。可以僧伽梨施。須者勿擇。及會訖施衣。有沙彌就全取衣。謂是其弟子。曰。吾欲擬聖人那得與汝。復憶前囑不得擇人。便以歡施。他日問沙彌曰。先所得衣著不大耶。沙彌曰。何等衣也。此日他行。全方悟所取衣者聖所化也。弟子久乃過世。唯冢四邊。時有白光。元嘉末全猶在世。

Śramaṇa Huiquan was a meditation master in Liangzhou with five hundred disciples. Among them was one whose character was rather crude and violent, whom Huiquan did not regard highly. Later, this disciple suddenly claimed to have attained the fruit of ananāgāmin. Huiquan, considering him devoid of proper conduct, refused to believe him. Once, when Huiquan fell ill and shut himself in his room, this disciple arrived at night to inquire about his illness; finding the door locked, Huiquan thought it quite strange. Huiquan secretly double-bolted the door and remained quiet, yet the disciple again arrived before his bed, saying, 'Ācārya, you should trust me. When your life ends, you will be reborn into a Brahmin household.' Huiquan said, 'I have practiced meditation all my life; why would I seek rebirth there?' The disciple said, 'Ācārya, your faith in the Way is not earnest, and your secular studies have not ceased; although you have merited karmic blessings, you cannot attain transcendence. If you hold a vegetarian feast and offer a meal to a single saint, you can achieve the fruit of the Way.' Huiquan prepared it accordingly. The disciple added, 'You should offer a saṅghāṭī robe to whoever needs it without discrimination.' When the feast concluded and the robe was being offered, a novice approached Huiquan to receive it. Thinking he was one of his own disciples, Huiquan said, 'I intended this for a saint; how could I give it to you?' Then, recalling the prior admonition not to discriminate among persons, he joyfully gave it away. On another day, he asked the novice, 'Was the robe you received previously not too large for you?' The novice replied, 'What robe? I was traveling elsewhere on that day.' Huiquan only then realized that the one who took the robe was a transformation of a saint. Long afterward, the disciple passed away, and around his burial mound, white light appeared from time to time. At the end of the Yuanjia era, Huiquan was still alive.