法苑珠林 65.65

65.65

晉徐榮者。琅邪人。當至東陽還經定山。舟人不慣。誤墮洄澓中。游舞濤波垂欲沈沒。榮無復計。唯至心呼觀世音。斯須間如有數十人。齊力引船者。踊出澓中還得平流。沿江還下日已向暮。天大陰闇風雨甚駛。不知所向而濤浪轉盛。榮誦經不輟口。有頃望見山頭有火光赫然。迴柁趣之。徑得運浦。舉船安隱。既至亦不復見光。同侶異之。疑非人火。明旦問浦中人。昨夜山上是何火光。眾皆愕然曰。昨風雨如此。豈如有火理。吾等並不見。然後了其為神光矣。榮後為稽府督護。謝敷聞其自說如此。時與榮同船者。有沙門支道蘊。謹篤士也。具見其事。後為傅亮言之。與榮所說同。

Xu Rong of the Jin was a native of Langye. When returning from Dongyang, he passed Mount Ding. The boatman was unaccustomed [to the route] and mistakenly fell into a whirlpool; dancing amid the surging billows, they were on the verge of sinking. Rong had no further plan and merely called upon Avalokiteśvara with utmost sincerity. In an instant, it was as if several tens of people were pulling the boat with combined strength; it leapt out of the whirlpool and regained smooth current. Continuing down along the river, evening had already arrived. The sky was heavily overcast and dark, and the wind and rain were extremely fierce; not knowing where they were heading, the waves grew ever larger. Rong chanted the sūtras without ceasing from his mouth. After a short while, looking in the distance, he saw a radiant firelight atop a mountain. Turning the helm, he headed for it and directly reached Yunpu, the whole boat safe and sound. Once they arrived, the light was no longer visible. His companions marvelled at it, suspecting it was not a human fire. The next morning, they asked the people in the anchorage: 'What was that firelight on the mountain last night?' Everyone said in astonishment: 'With wind and rain like that yesterday, how could there possibly be a fire? None of us saw it.' Only then did they realise it was a divine light. Rong later served as a supervisor in the Kuaiji commandery government. Xie Fu heard him relate this personally. At that time, among those on the same boat with Rong was the śramaṇa Zhi Daoyun, a prudent and honest scholar, who fully witnessed the incident; he later told it to Fu Liang, and it agreed with what Rong had recounted.