法苑珠林 28.37

28.37

隋蔣州大歸善寺釋慧偘。姓楊。晉陵曲阿人也。靈通幽顯世莫識之。而翹敬尊像事同真佛。每見立像不敢輒坐。勸人造像唯作坐者。道行遇厄沒命救之。後往嶺南歸心真諦。專釋禪法大有深悟。末住栖霞安志虛靜。往還自任不拘山世。時往楊都偲法師所。偲素知道行異禮接之。將還山寺請見神力。偘云。許復何難。即從窓中出臂。長數十丈。解齊熙寺佛殿上額將還房中。語偲云。世人無遠識見多驚異。故吾所不為耳。以大業元年。終於蔣州大歸善寺。春秋八十有二。初偘終日。以三衣襆遙擲堂中。自云。三衣還眾僧。吾今死去。徒眾好住。便還房內。大眾驚起追之。乃見房中白骨一具跏坐床上。就而撼之鏘然不散。

Shi Huikan of Dagui Shan Monastery in Jiangzhou during the Sui dynasty was surnamed Yang. He was a native of Qu'a in Jinling. His supernatural penetration of the hidden and manifest was beyond worldly comprehension, yet his reverence toward revered statues was as if serving a living Buddha. Whenever he saw a standing statue, he dared not casually sit down, and he encouraged people who made images only to make seated ones. When practitioners met with adversity, he would risk his life to save them. Later he went to Lingnan, turning his heart toward Paramārtha, and devoted himself to explaining the dhyāna teachings, achieving profound awakening. In his later years, he resided at Xixia, resting his will in emptiness and tranquility, coming and going at will without being bound by mountain or secular life. From time to time he went to Yangdu to visit Dharma Master Cai. Cai, long aware of his exceptional spiritual practice, treated him with extraordinary courtesy. When he was about to return to the mountain monastery, [Cai] asked to witness his spiritual powers. Kan said, 'What difficulty is there in granting this?' He immediately extended his arm through the window, several tens of zhang in length, untied the top plaque of the Buddha hall of Qixi Monastery, and brought it back into the room. He said to Cai, 'Worldly people lack farsighted perception; seeing this, they would mostly be startled and alarmed, which is why I do not do such things.' In the first year of Daye, he died at Daguishan Monastery in Jiangzhou at the age of eighty-two. On the day Kan was about to pass away, he threw the bundle of his three robes from afar into the hall, saying of himself, 'I return the three robes to the monastic assembly. I am dying now; may the disciples dwell in peace!' He then returned to his room. The assembly rose in alarm and pursued him, only to see a set of white bones sitting cross-legged on the bed in his room. Going up to shake them, they clinked metallically without falling apart.