法苑珠林 63.100

63.100

宋釋僧瑜。吳興餘杭人。本姓周氏。弱冠出家。號有神理。精修苦業始終不渝。元嘉十五年游愒廬山。同侶有曇溫慧光等。皆勵操貞潔俱尚幽棲。乃共築架其山之陽。今招隱精舍是也。瑜常以為結溺三途情形故也。情將盡矣形亦宜殞。藥王之轍。獨何云遠。於是屢發言誓。始契燒身。四十有四。孝建二年六月三日。將就本志。道俗赴觀。車騎填接。瑜率眾行道訓授典戒。爾旦密雲將雨。瑜乃慨然發誓曰。若我所志克明。天當清朗。如其期誠無感便宜滂澍。使此四輩知神應之無昧也。言已頃之雲景明霽。及焚焰交至。合掌端一。有紫氣騰空別表煙外。移晷乃歇。後旬有四日。瑜所住房裏雙桐生焉。根枝豐茂。巨細如一。貫欀直竦。遂成鴻樹。理識者。以為娑羅寶樹。剋炳泥洹。瑜之庶幾。故見斯證。因號曰雙桐沙門。吳郡張辯時為乎南長史。親覩其事。具為傳讚云（出冥祥記）。

Under the Song dynasty, the śramaṇa Sengyu was a native of Yuhang in Wuxing. His original surname was Zhou. At the age of capping he left home, and was reputed to possess divine perception; he painstakingly cultivated ascetic practices without ever wavering. In the fifteenth year of the Yuanjia reign era, he travelled to rest at Mount Lu. His companions included Tanwen and Huiguang, all of whom cultivated pure and unblemished conduct, and together they esteemed secluded dwelling. Thereupon they jointly erected a structure on the south side of the mountain, which is today the Zhaoyin Hermitage. Yu constantly held that defilements bind one to drown in the three destinies because of forms. When passions are about to be exhausted, forms too should be ended; why should the path of the Medicine King be considered distant? Thereupon he repeatedly made vows, at last committing to burn his body. At the age of forty-four, on the third day of the sixth month in the second year of the Xiaojian reign era, as he was about to fulfil his original aspiration, monastics and laypeople rushed to watch, their carriages and horses packing the roads. Yu led the congregation in walking the path, instructing and conferring the canonical precepts. That morning, dense clouds threatened rain. Yu then sighed and made a vow, saying: 'If my aspiration is to be brightly fulfilled, the sky should become clear and fair. If my sincere pledge finds no response, it is best that torrential rain pour down, so that these four assemblies may know that the divine response is not deluded.' As soon as he finished speaking, the clouds and light instantly cleared. When the burning flames engulfed him, he joined his palms in upright focus. A purple vapour soared into the sky, distinct beyond the smoke, and only dissipated after some time had passed. Fourteen days later, a pair of paulownia trees sprouted inside the room where Yu had resided. Their roots and branches grew lush and luxuriant, identical in size, piercing through the rafters and standing straight, eventually becoming magnificent trees. Men of discerning understanding considered them akin to the jewelled Śāla trees brilliantly manifesting nirvāṇa; because Yu had attained an approximation thereof, this proof appeared. He was thus called the 'Dual Paulownia Śramaṇa'. Zhang Bian of Wu Commandery, who was then Senior Clerk of Hu'nan, personally witnessed the event and composed a full biography and eulogy for him. (From the Mingxiang ji.)