法苑珠林 36.12

36.12

宋劉琛之。沛郡人也。曾在廣陵逢一沙門。謂琛之曰。君有病氣然當不死。可作一二百錢食飯飴眾僧。則免斯患。琛之素不信法心起忿慢。沙門曰。當加祇信勿用為怒。相去二十步忽不復見。琛之經七日便病。時氣危頓殆死。至九日方晝如夢非夢。見有五層佛圖在其心上。有二十許僧。繞塔作禮因此而寤。即得大利。病乃稍愈。後在京師住。忽有沙門先不相識。直來入戶曰。君有法緣何不精進。琛之因說先所逢遇。答曰。此賓頭盧也。語已便去不知所向。琛之以元嘉十七年夏。於廣陵遙見慧汪精舍前幡蓋甚眾。而無形像。馳往觀之。比及到門。奄然都滅（右此一驗出冥祥記）。

Liu Chenzhi of the Song was a native of Pei Commandery. He was once in Guangling when he met a śramaṇa, who said to Chenzhi, “You have an aura of illness, but you should not die. You may prepare food worth one or two hundred coins to offer to the saṃgha, and you will avoid this peril.” Chenzhi had never believed in the Dharma, and felt anger and arrogance in his heart. The śramaṇa said, “You ought to be reverent and faithful; do not be angry.” Moving twenty paces away, he suddenly vanished. After seven days, Chenzhi fell ill with a pestilential qi; he was in critical condition and nearly died. On the ninth day, during the daytime, as if in a dream yet not a dream, he saw a five-tiered stūpa resting on his chest, with about twenty monks circumambulating the stūpa and making prostrations. He woke up because of this, and at once obtained great benefit; his illness gradually healed. Later, while residing in the capital, a śramaṇa whom he had never known before suddenly entered his door and said, “You have a karmic connection with the Dharma; why do you not make vigorous progress?” Chenzhi then recounted what he had met previously. The monk replied, “That was Piṇḍola.” Having spoken, he left, and no one knew where he went. In the summer of the seventeenth year of the Yuanjia reign (440 CE), at Guangling, Chenzhi saw from afar numerous banners and canopies in front of the Vihāra of Huiwang, yet there were no statues or images. He hurried over to look, but by the time he reached the gate, they abruptly vanished altogether. (The above one verification is from the Mingxiang ji.)