法苑珠林 24.65

24.65

隋京師淨影寺釋慧遠。姓李。燉煌人。後居上黨之高都焉。三藏備通九流洞曉。天縱疏朗儀止沖和。講導為業天下同歸。昔在清化先養一鵝。聽講為務。開皇七年勅召入京。鵝在本寺栖宿廊廡。晝夜鳴呼眾共愍之。附使達京至淨影寺大門放之。鳴叫騰躍注入遠房。依前馴聽不避寒暑。但聞法集鍾聲不問旦夕。皆入講堂靜聲伏聽。僧徒梵散出堂翔鳴。若值白黑布薩鳴鍾。終不入聽。時共異之。若遠常途講解。依法潛聽。中間及餘語便鳴翔而出。信知道籍人弘。靈鳥嘉應。不可非其身未證法輒升法座。定墮地獄。此亦別時之意。不得雷同總廢也。以開皇年中卒於淨影寺。

Under the Sui, Shi Huiyuan of Jingying Temple in the capital was surnamed Li and was a native of Dunhuang, later settling in Gaodu of Shangdang. He was thoroughly conversant with the tripiṭaka and deeply understood the nine streams of thought. Endowed by nature with open-mindedness, his demeanor was balanced and harmonious. Taking lecturing and guiding as his vocation, people from across the realm flocked to him. Formerly, while at Qinghua Temple, he kept a goose that made listening to lectures its duty. In the seventh year of the Kaihuang era, an imperial decree summoned Huiyuan to the capital. The goose roosted along the corridors of its original temple, calling out day and night, so that the assembly all pitied it. It was entrusted to an envoy to reach the capital, and when released at the main gate of Jingying Temple, it called out and leapt forward, rushing straight into Huiyuan's room. As before, it tamely listened, avoiding neither cold nor heat. Whenever it heard the bell for the Dharma assembly, whether morning or evening, it would enter the lecture hall and crouch silently to listen. When the monks completed their chanting and dispersed, it would walk out of the hall, soaring and honking. But when it came to the sounding of the bell for the fortnightly poṣadha, it would never enter to listen; people of the time all marveled at this. When Huiyuan engaged in his regular lecturing, it secretly listened in accordance with the Dharma; during intervals when he spoke of other matters, it would call out, flap its wings, and leave. We truly know that the Way depends on people to be broadened, and that spiritual birds offer auspicious responses. One must not say that because one's body has not realized the Dharma, one will definitely fall into hell if one rashly ascends the Dharma seat; this is also a provisional statement spoken for a particular occasion, and one should not uniformly discard everything on that account. He passed away at Jingying Temple during the Kaihuang era.