法苑珠林 96.23

96.23

梁普通年。小莊嚴寺有道度禪師。戒行淳直善明摩訶衍。梁帝欽重齊同四果禪師。每厭此身將同毒樹。若身命無常棄屍陀林。施以鳥獸。於檀度成滿。亦為善業。八萬戶蟲不可燒盡。非所勸也。乃稍積薪柴漸就減食。其普通七年十一月三日。鍾自虛鳴。寺眾驚恐。莫測何相。其月八日鍾復自鳴。乃與大眾共結善緣。爾後不復更食。唯用澡瓶以汲清水。日飲一升。至二十五日朝。寺眾同往見瓶。發五色光曜。雜氣氛氳。至二十九日旦。寺主僧全等數人共登禪室。遙見龕中紫光外照。其日將暮忽有群鳥。五六百頭。同集一樹。俄頃西飛。是夜二更初竟。寺有雜色光映燭房宇。至五更中。聞山頂上火聲振裂。驚走往觀。見禪師合掌火中。春秋六十有六。刺史武陵王。乃遣灑掃收歛於其處。而建塔焉。後時聞山頂有石磬之聲。聲甚清徹。先燒身之處有大樹枯死。十有餘年。禪師入山。常坐樹下後春遂生枝葉（右此一驗出梁高僧傳）。

During the Putong era of the Liang, at Little Zhuangyan Temple, there was Dhyāna Master Daodu. His moral conduct was upright and pure, and he clearly understood the Mahāyāna. The Liang Emperor respected him as equal to the four fruits [of arhatship]. The Dhyāna Master often felt disgust for this body, regarding it as like a poisonous tree: 'If life is impermanent, casting the corpse into a śītavana to give to birds and beasts would fulfill dānapāramitā and also be a wholesome deed; the eighty thousand families of worms within cannot be burned away, so this is not what is encouraged.' Thereupon, he gradually gathered firewood and progressively reduced his intake of food. On the third day of the eleventh month in the seventh year of Putong, the bell rang of its own accord; the temple community was frightened, not knowing what omen it was. On the eighth day of that month, the bell rang of its own accord again, whereupon he forged wholesome bonds with the great assembly. After that, he ate no more food, using only a water bottle to draw clear water, drinking one sheng per day. On the morning of the twenty-fifth day, the assembly went together to look at the bottle, and it emitted five-colored radiant beams of light and swirling fragrant mists. At dawn on the twenty-ninth day, the temple abbot Sengquan and several others climbed to the dhyāna chamber; from afar they saw purple light shining outward from the niche. As dusk approached that day, a flock of birds, five or six hundred in number, suddenly gathered together in a single tree, and after a moment flew westward. That night, when the first watch had just ended, multicolored lights illuminated the temple's rooms and buildings. In the fifth watch, a sound like roaring fire was heard cracking atop the mountain; people ran in alarm to look, and saw the Dhyāna Master with palms joined within the fire. He was sixty-six years of age. The Regional Inspector, Prince of Wuling, sent people to sweep and collect the remains at that spot and built a stūpa there. Later, the sound of a stone chime was heard on the mountain peak, its tone exceedingly clear and penetrating. At the place where he had previously burned his body, there had been a large tree that had been withered and dead for over ten years; when the Dhyāna Master entered the mountain, he often sat beneath it, and the following spring it finally put forth branches and leaves. (This single proof is from the Liang Gaoseng zhuan.)