法苑珠林 86.80

86.80

唐京師會昌寺釋德美。姓王。清河臨清縣人。年在童稚天然樂善。口有所演常歌讚唄。擁塵聚戲必先為塔。每見形像生知禮敬。由是親故密而異之。知非紹俗之嗣也。任從師學。十九出家。雖經論備閱。而以律要在心。故四分一部博通心首。往太白山。誦佛名一部一十二卷。每行懺時誦而加拜。布服蔬食不衣皮帛。初依九隴太白僧邕禪師受業。後住京師慧雲寺。值靜默禪師。又從請業。每至夏禮懺將散道場。去期七日苦加勇勵。萬五千佛日別一遍。精誠難及。多感徵祥。自從小至終美禮千遍。承師靜默。大有福德。嘗於興善。年別千僧七日行道。期滿厚䞋。人奉十縑。將及散晨外起加倍。故自開皇之末。終於大業十年。年別大施。其例咸爾。默將滅度。以普福田用委於美。美頂行之。悲敬兩田年別一會。又普盆錢夏末常施。大業末中夏召千僧七日行道。忽感異人。形服率麗然。來告美曰。時既炎熱。何不作餅以用供養。且溲二十斛麵作兩日調。明旦將設。半夜便起。打麵動案。人物驚亂并作切粥。以供大眾。須臾切麵命煮隨熟。千人同飽咸共欣慶。餅復堅韌一無所壞。試尋看匠。通問失所。合眾悲怪感招斯應。又至武德之始。創立會昌。延美而住。乃於西院造懺悔堂。像設華嚴堂宇宏麗。誓共含生斷諸惡業。鎮長禮懺潔淨方等。欲有昇壇要憑美懺。又於一時井忽枯竭。懺徒駐立無由洗懺。美執香鑪臨井加祈。應時泉涌。過同舊足。時共歎怪。福力所資。所畜舍利。藏以寶函。隨身所往。必齎供養。每有起塔祈請散給。精祈通感隨請皆給。又至秋夏常行徒跣。恐蹈蟲蟻慈濟含生。又年別般舟一夏不坐。或止口過三年不言。或行不輕通禮七眾。或節儉衣食四分之一。如斯苦行其相寔繁。或生常輟想專固西方。口誦彌陀終于命盡。以貞觀十一年二月二十六日。合掌稱佛。卒于會昌。春秋六十矣。屍送南山鴟鳴堆。弟子等收骸起塔樹碑會昌。侍中于志寧為文（右此一驗出唐高僧傳）。

The Tang monk Demei of Huichang Temple in the capital was surnamed Wang and was a native of Linqing County in Qinghe. When he was a child, he was naturally fond of goodness; whenever he uttered words, he would constantly sing verses and praises. When gathering dust and playing, he would always first make a stūpa. Whenever he saw icons, he innately knew to pay homage and respect. Because of this, his relatives secretly marveled at him, knowing he was not an heir for continuing secular lineage. They let him follow a master to study. At nineteen he left the household. Although he perused the sūtras and treatises in full, he held the essentials of the vinaya close to his heart; hence he thoroughly mastered the entire Four-Part [Vinaya] in his mind. He went to Mount Taibai and recited the twelve-fascicle scripture of the Names of the Buddhas; each time he practiced repentance, he would recite it and add prostrations, wearing cloth garments, eating vegetables, and never wearing leather or silk. At first, he relied on Chan Master Sengyong of Jiulong and Taibai to receive instruction; later he resided at Huiyun Temple in the capital, where he met Chan Master Jingmo and again requested instruction from him. Each summer, when he performed repentance and the ritual arena was about to conclude, seven days before the end date he would vigorously intensify his efforts, completing the fifteen thousand Buddhas once each day; his pure sincerity was hard to match, and he had many sympathetic resonances and auspicious signs. From his youth to his end, Demei bowed a thousand times. Succeeding his master Jingmo, he had vast blessings and virtue. Once at Xingshan [Temple], he held a seven-day circumambulation of the Way for a thousand monks each year; when the period ended, he gave generous donations, presenting each person with ten lengths of silk, and on the morning of departure, outside [donors] arose to double it. Thus from the end of Kaihuang until the tenth year of Daye, he gave great alms each year, and all followed this pattern. When [Jing]mo was about to enter cessation, he entrusted the universal field of merit to Demei. Demei received it atop his head and practiced it: for both fields of compassion and respect, he held an assembly each year. Furthermore, at the end of summer he always distributed the universal basin funds. At the end of Daye, in midsummer, he summoned a thousand monks for a seven-day circumambulation of the Way. Suddenly an unusual man appeared, his appearance and clothing plain yet elegant, who came and said to Demei, 'The weather is hot now; why not make cakes to use as an offering? Knead twenty decaliters of flour to prepare a two-day supply.' The next morning they were about to set it out; rising at midnight, they beat the flour and moved the tables, with people bustling about in disorder, and also made chopped gruel to provide for the great assembly. In a moment, the chopped noodles were ordered to be boiled and became cooked immediately; a thousand people were all sated, and everyone rejoiced together. The cakes were also firm and pliable, completely unbroken. When they tried to find and look for the artisan, asking everywhere, his whereabouts were lost. The whole assembly marveled with sorrow at this sympathetic resonance brought about by his induction. Furthermore, at the beginning of Wude, Huichang [Temple] was founded, and Demei was invited to reside there. Thereupon in the western compound he built a Hall of Repentance; the icon arrangements were majestic and the halls were magnificent, and he vowed to sever all evil karma together with all sentient beings. He continually paid homage and repented, keeping the Fangdeng pure; anyone who wished to ascend the altar needed to rely on Demei's repentance. Also at one time, the well suddenly dried up, and the repentant practitioners stood stranded without means to wash for repentance. Demei held an incense burner, approached the well, and prayed; responsive to the moment, the spring gushed forth, surpassing its former abundance. Everyone at the time marveled at how the power of his merit supported him. As for the śarīra he kept, he stored them in a jeweled casket, and wherever he went, he always carried them to make offerings. Whenever a stūpa was erected and there was a request for them to be distributed, his dedicated prayer brought forth resonance, and he granted them all upon request. Furthermore, during autumn and summer he always walked barefoot, fearing he might step on insects and ants, compassionately saving sentient beings. Also, each year he practiced the Pratyutpanna-[samādhi], not sitting for an entire summer; or he would halt faults of speech, not speaking for three years; or he would practice Sadāparibhūta, paying homage universally to the seven assemblies; or he would economize his food and clothing by a quarter. Such ascetic practices were indeed numerous. Or throughout life he ceased other thoughts, dedicating himself exclusively to the Western Direction, reciting Amitābha with his mouth until his life ended. On the twenty-sixth day of the second month of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, he joined his palms, invoked the Buddha, and passed away at Huichang, at the age of sixty. His corpse was sent to Chiming Mound in the Southern Mountains. His disciples collected his relics, erected a stūpa, and raised a stele at Huichang, with an inscription written by Attendant of the Center Yu Zhining. (This single verification is from the Tang Gaoseng zhuan.)