法苑珠林 56.22

56.22

唐中書令岑文本。江陵人。少信佛常念誦法華經普門品。曾乘船於吳江中船壞人盡死。文本沒在水中。聞有人言。但念佛必不死也。如是三言之。既而隨波涌出。已著北岸遂免死。後於江陵設齋。僧徒集其家。有一客僧獨後去。謂文本曰。天下方亂。君幸不預其災。終逢太平致富貴也。言畢趨出。送出外不見。既而文本食齋。於自食盌中得舍利二枚。後果如其言。文本自向臨說。

Under the Tang dynasty, Cen Wenben, Secretariat Director, was a native of Jiangling. In his youth he believed in the Buddha and constantly recited the 'Universal Gateway Chapter' of the Lotus Sūtra. Once, while riding a boat on the Wu River, the boat wrecked and everyone died. Wenben sank into the water and heard someone say: 'Just mindfulness of the Buddha, and you will surely not die.' This was said three times. Soon after, he surged up with the waves and found himself on the north bank, thereby escaping death. Later, he held a vegetarian feast in Jiangling, and the assembly of monks gathered at his home. A visiting monk stayed behind alone and said to Wenben: 'The realm is about to fall into chaos. Fortunately, you will not be involved in its calamities; you will ultimately meet peaceful times and attain wealth and nobility.' Having spoken, he hurried out. When [Wenben] escorted him out, he was gone. Soon after, as Wenben was eating the vegetarian meal, he obtained two śarīras inside his own food bowl. Later, it indeed turned out just as he had said. Wenben personally recounted this to [Tang] Lin.