法苑珠林 35.33

35.33

宋沙門僧妙者。上黨人也。家姓馮氏。居于江陵上明村。妙至大明年初。游乞零陵。因居郡治龍華精舍。販貨蓄聚。米至數千斛。大明八年卒龍華寺。災焚蕩盡。妙臨終以財物付弟子法宗。令造講堂僧房。法宗立堂畢。頗陀延曰。未時建房。至泰始三年正月。被疾甚篤。時有道猛比丘。隨泉陵令高陽許靜慧在縣。縣即郡治之邑也。猛往省宗疾。入寺數步見一沙門著桃華布裙單黃小被。行且罵云。小子法宗違處分。不立僧房。費散財物。云云。既迴見道猛如驚羞狀。以被蒙頭入法宗房。猛常往來此寺未嘗見此沙門。不欲干突之。先造法超道人說所聞見。超疑猛或詐妄。撿問形狀音氣。猛具言之。超曰。即法宗之師。亡來數載共歎悵之。其夕即靈語使急召法宗。法宗既至。數罵甚嚴。猶以僧房為言。聲音氣調不異平生法宗稽首謝之既畢。問和尚今生何處。善惡云何。妙曰。生處復粗可耳。但應受小讁。二年外乃可得免。兼有小抑橫欲訴所司。為無袈裟不能得行。可急為製也。法宗曰。袈裟可辦。未審和尚云何得之。妙曰。汝可請僧設供以袈裟為嚫。我即得也。法宗如言飯僧嚫衣。道猛時在會。又見僧妙倚于堂戶之外拱立聽經。飯嚫畢。猛即見袈裟已在妙身。仍進堂中欲依僧次就坐。問猛年臘。猛云。吾忘其年。是索勇虜臨江歲之二月也。妙云。與吾同臘。見大一月耳。乃坐猛下。猛即空一坐位。妙端默聽。至座散乃不復見。時一堂道俗百餘人。零陵太守泰山羊闡亦預法集。自猛與妙講論往反。眾但聞猛獨言耳。所以咸知驗。實者猛與妙不相識。說其形色舉動年臘少宿莫不符同。法宗始病厄困殆命。至靈語曰。枕疾即愈。靈語所著蓋是弱僮。而聲氣音用聽者莫辯其殊。故並信異之。初闡不甚奉法。因是大興敬寤連建福集。即其年設講於此寺。持齋布施。

The Song dynasty śramaṇa Sengmiao was a native of Shangdang. His family surname was Feng, and he lived in Shangming Village in Jiangling. In the early years of the Daming era, Miao traveled to Lingling to beg for alms, and subsequently resided at Longhua Hermitage in the commandery seat. He engaged in trade and accumulated wealth, gathering up to several thousand bushels of grain. In the eighth year of the Daming era, he died at Longhua Temple, which was then utterly consumed by a disastrous fire. On his deathbed, Miao had entrusted his wealth to his disciple Fazong, instructing him to build a lecture hall and monks' quarters. Fazong completed the hall, but procrastinated, saying that the time was not yet ripe to build the quarters. In the first month of the third year of the Taishi era, [Fazong] fell gravely ill. At that time, there was the bhikṣu Daomeng, who accompanied Xu Jinghui, the magistrate of Quanling from Gaoyang, staying in the county; this county was the seat of the commandery. Meng went to visit Zong in his illness. Having entered the temple a few steps, he saw a śramaṇa wearing a peach-blossom cloth skirt and a single light-yellow small mantle, who was walking along and scolding: "That young fellow Fazong disobeyed my instructions! He did not build the monks' quarters and squandered the wealth!" and so forth. Turning around and seeing Daomeng, he looked startled and ashamed, covered his head with the mantle, and entered Fazong's room. Meng frequently came and went from this temple but had never seen this śramaṇa. Not wishing to intrude upon him rashly, he first visited the man of the Way Fachao and recounted what he had heard and seen. Chao suspected Meng might be deceiving or mistaken, and questioned him closely about the figure's appearance, voice, and bearing. Meng described them in full. Chao said: "That is Fazong's master. He passed away several years ago!" Together they sighed in sorrow. That evening, through a spirit speaking [through a medium], Fazong was urgently summoned. When Fazong arrived, [the spirit] severely rebuked him multiple times, still taking the monks' quarters as the subject. The voice and tone were no different from when he was alive. After Fazong finished bowing his head in apology, he asked: "Upādhyāya, where are you reborn now? How are the good and bad [retributions]?" Miao said: "The place of rebirth is reasonably tolerable, but I must endure a minor punishment, which I can only be freed from after two years. In addition, I have suffered a small injustice and wish to lodge a complaint with the authorities, but because I have no kāṣāya, I cannot go. You must quickly make one for me." Fazong said: "The kāṣāya can be prepared, but I do not know how the Upādhyāya can receive it." Miao said: "You may invite the monks to make an offering, using the kāṣāya as the dakṣiṇā, and I will then receive it." Fazong fed the monks and offered the robe as instructed. Daomeng was present at the assembly at that time, and again saw Sengmiao leaning outside the door of the hall, standing with hands folded, listening to the sūtra recitation. When the meal and offering were concluded, Meng saw that the kāṣāya was already on Miao's body. He then entered the hall, intending to take a seat according to monastic seniority. He asked Meng his monastic age. Meng said: "I have forgotten the year; it was the second month of the year the Suolu barbarians approached the river." Miao said: "Your monastic age is the same as mine; I am merely one month older than you." Thereupon he sat below Meng. Meng then left one seat vacant. Miao sat upright and silent, listening, and was seen no more once the assembly dispersed. At that time, there were more than a hundred clergy and laity in the hall, and Yang Chan of Taishan, the Grand Administrator of Lingling, also attended the Dharma assembly. Throughout the back-and-forth conversation between Meng and Miao, the assembly only heard Meng speaking alone. The reason they all knew it was genuine was that Meng and Miao were not previously acquainted, yet when he described his appearance, conduct, and monastic age, young and old, none did not match. When Fazong first fell ill, he was in dire distress and on the verge of death; but when the spirit spoke, saying: "Your bedridden illness will immediately heal," [he recovered]. The spirit had possessed a young servant boy, yet the voice and diction were indistinguishable to the listeners, and therefore they all believed and marveled at it. Initially, Chan did not much revere the Dharma, but because of this, he was greatly awakened to reverence and repeatedly established gatherings for merit. In that very year, he arranged lectures at this temple, observed the fasts, and practiced dāna.