法苑珠林 24.63

24.63

齊鄴東大覺寺沙門僧範。姓李。平鄉人也。善解群書時稱府庫。晚年出家經論諳委。言行相輔祥徵屢降。甞有膠州刺史杜弼。於鄴顯義寺請範冬講。至華嚴六地。忽有一雁飛下從浮圖東順行入堂。正對高座伏地聽法。講散徐出。還順塔西爾乃翔逝。又於此寺夏講。雀來在座西南伏聽終於九旬。又曾處濟州。亦有一梟。飛來入聽講訖便去。又有一僧懷忿加毀罵云。伽斗汝何所知。當夜有神打而幾死。自非道洽冥符能感應如是。以天保六年三月二日卒於大覺寺。年八十矣。

Under the Northern Qi, there was śramaṇa Sengfan of Dajue Temple east of Ye. His surname was Li, and he was a native of Pingxiang. He was skilled in understanding various texts, being called a repository of knowledge in his time. Leaving home in his later years, he was intimately conversant with the sūtras and treatises. His words and deeds complemented each other, and auspicious signs frequently descended. Once, Du Bi, the regional inspector of Jiaozhou, invited Fan to give winter lectures at Xianyi Temple in Ye. When he reached the sixth ground of the *Avataṃsaka*, suddenly a wild goose flew down, entered the hall moving circumambulatory from the east of the stūpa, and crouched upon the ground facing the high seat to listen to the Dharma. When the lecture dispersed, it slowly went out, again circling to the west of the stūpa, and only then took flight and departed. Furthermore, during his summer lecture at this temple, sparrows came to crouch and listen to the southwest of his seat until the end of the ninety days. Once, while staying in Jizhou, an owl also flew in to listen, leaving only when the lecture ended. There was also a monk who harboured resentment and reviled him with insults, saying, 'You bowl-carrier, what do you know?' That very night, a spirit beat him nearly to death. Had his cultivation of the Way not silently tallied with the unseen, how could he have evoked such sympathetic resonance? On the second day of the third month in the sixth year of the Tianbao era, he passed away at Dajue Temple at the age of eighty.