集神州三寶感通錄 3.49

3.49

The monk Daoxun of Renshou Temple in Pu Prefecture was an academic disciple of Yan. He had lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra nearly a hundred times and possessed a resolve to propagate and protect the true Dharma. People from the four quarters turned to him; without distinguishing between guest and host, the richness of his provisions was unsurpassed. In the fourth year of Zhenguan, Cui Yizhi served as magistrate of Yuxiang; he sent someone to invite Xun to lecture on the sūtra. After stating the title, Xun wept and said: 'The Holy One is ever more distant, and the subtle words have vanished. What an ordinary and base person transmits is unworthy to serve as a model; it is only through faith and aspiration that one spontaneously gives rise to sincere awakening. Today's lecture will end at the Lion Chapter; the time is short, so pray listen attentively.' When he reached that chapter, he died without illness. Monks and laypeople grieved and wept; Yizhi, walking barefoot, accompanied the coffin to the southern mountains. It was then the depths of winter, in the eleventh month, and the ground was frozen solid with ice. When they lowered the corpse to the ground, small lotus blossoms sprang from the earth—one each at his head, hands, and feet. Yizhi marveled at this and ordered it guarded, but unaware, someone snapped them off and stole them. The next morning, when they looked, blossoms surrounded his entire body, five hundred stems in all; they withered only after seven days.