集神州三寶感通錄 3.93

3.93

During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Song, there was a monk named Huiyuan of Changsha Temple in Jiangling. His original name was Huang Qian, and he was a disciple of the Dhyāna master Huiyin. Whenever Huiyin entered meditative concentration, he saw that Yuan had been his own former master. Although Yuan was properly meant to be a bondservant, Huiyin nonetheless ordained him as a disciple. Yuan often stayed at the Yang household in Jiangling to practice the pratyutpanna-samādhi. Through more than a year of arduous austerity, there were considerable spiritual resonances and transformations: ten times in a single day, his body was visible in various places at once while he remained in the place of pratyutpanna-samādhi, circumambulating the path as before. He foresaw the day of his own death, and when the appointed time came, he indeed passed away. Long afterward, he manifested his form at Duobao Temple and said to the monk Tanxun, 'Next year, on the twenty-third day of the second month, I shall welcome you together with heavenly beings.' Having spoken these words, he vanished. On that day, Xun held a great Dharma assembly and set up a vegetarian feast of bodily renunciation. On that day, suffering from illness, he knew that his life must come to an end. In the third watch of the night, music, sounding stones, and extraordinarily rare fragrant smoke were heard and smelled in midair. Xun said, 'Master Yuan's pact has arrived!' and shortly thereafter his spirit departed.