法苑珠林 18
English (machine translation) 18
- Language
- English
18.1
Compiled by the Śramaṇa Shi Daoshi of Ximing Temple
18.2
Accounts of Sympathetic Resonances (briefly citing forty-one verifications)
18.3
The verified record of the Han's inner account of the Dharma;
Under the Jin, the layman Ding Dezhen;
Under the Jin, the layman Zhou Min;
Under the Jin, the layman Dong Ji;
Under the Jin, the layman Zhou Dang;
Under the Jin, the layman Xie Fu;
Under the Jin, the śramaṇa Shi Dao'an;
Under the Jin, the śramaṇa Shi Sengjing;
Under the Wei, the śramaṇa Zhu Shixing;
Under the Wei, the śramaṇa Shi Zhizhan;
Under the Wei, the śramaṇa, a monk of Wuhou Temple;
Under the Wei, a court eunuch during the Taihe era;
Under the Song, the śramaṇa Shi Huiyan;
Under the Song, the bhikṣuṇī Shi Zhitong;
Under the Song, the śramaṇa Shi Huiqing;
Under the Qi, the śramaṇa Shi Huibao;
Under the Liang, the layman He Gui;
Under the [Northern] Zhou, Gaozu, Emperor Wu;
Under the Chen, Yan Gong of Yangzhou;
In the early Sui, a monk of Yangzhou whose name is lost;
Under the Sui, the śramaṇa Shi Huiyi;
Under the Sui, the śramaṇa Shi Fazang;
Under the Sui, a visiting śramaṇa monk whose name is lost;
Under the Tang, the śramaṇa Shi Zhiyuan;
Under the Tang, the śramaṇa Shi Daoji;
Under the Tang, Shi Yisu;
Under the Tang, Linghu Yuangui of Longzhou;
Under the Tang, Shi Hashe of the southern suburbs;
Under the Tang, Scholar Xun of Yizhou;
Under the Tang, the śramaṇa Shi Tanyun;
Under the Tang, Su Chang, Commissioner of Waterways;
Under the Tang, Lady Doulu;
Under the Tang, Liu Jian, Marshal of Xingzhou;
Under the Tang, Zhao Wenxin, a native of Suizhou;
Under the Tang, Liu Bi, Assistant Magistrate of Pengzhou;
Under the Tang, Jia Daoxian, a native of Luozhou;
Under the Tang, Lu Huaisu, a native of Wujun;
Under the Tang, Qiao Qing, Marshal of Henei;
Under the Tang, Sun Shou, a native of Pingzhou;
Under the Tang, Li Qian of Zhengzhou;
Under the Tang, the verified record from Jiyin County in Caozhou.
18.4
The Han Inner Account of the Dharma's Origin states: Emperor Ming of the Han dispatched eighteen men, including Cai Yin, Qin Jing, and Wang Zun, to the country of India. They obtained [the monks Kāśyapa] Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna, as well as Buddhist scriptures and images, and returned. The emperor asked, "When the Dharma King appeared in the world, why did his transformation not reach here?" Mātaṅga said, "The country of Kapilavastu in India is the center of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world with its ten billion suns and moons. All Buddhas of the three periods of time appear there. Down to devas, dragons, humans, and ghosts who possess the power of vows and practice, all are born there to receive the Buddha's true transformation and all attain awakening to the Way. Living beings in other places lack the conditions to sense him; thus the Buddha did not go there. Although the Buddha did not go, wherever the light of his bodily marks reaches—whether after five hundred years, or after one thousand years, or beyond a thousand years—there are always holy ones who transmit the Buddha's vocal teachings and go to transform [them]." At that time, the emperor was greatly delighted.
18.5
Furthermore, on the first day of the first month in the fourteenth year of the Yongping era of the Han (71 CE), six hundred and ninety Daoists from the mountains of the Five Marchmounts submitted a memorial during the New Year audience, requesting to compete with the Buddhist teachings from the Western Regions to test their superiority and inferiority. An imperial decree ordered Director of the Chancellery Song Xiang to lead them in and announce: 'On the fifteenth day of this month, a great assembly will be held at the south gate of Baima Temple, where three altars shall be erected.' The Daoists from the Five Marchmounts and eight mountains placed three hundred and sixty-nine fascicles of their scriptures on the western altar; two hundred and thirty-five fascicles of the masters among the twenty-seven schools were placed on the central altar; and offerings of food for the hundred deities were placed on the eastern altar. Emperor Ming set up a traveling palace to the west of the road by the temple gate, where he placed the Buddha's relics and scriptures. The Daoists encircled their altars with firewood and reeds, faced their scriptures, and wept, saying, 'The sovereign of men has placed faith in heterodoxy, and the mysterious wind has lost its continuity. We dare to bring forth the teachings of our scriptures upon this altar to test them by fire, so as to distinguish the true from the false!' They then set fire to burn the scriptures, and all turned to ash and embers. The Daoists looked at one another and paled. Some wished to ascend to heaven or enter the earth, but their various spells and arts were entirely ineffective; they were greatly humiliated and submitted. Grand Tutor Zhang Yan said, 'You now have not a single verification; you ought to follow the Buddhist Dharma of the Western Regions and shave your hair.' At that time the non-Buddhists Chu Shanxin and others made no reply. Daoist Fei Shucai of the Southern Marchmount and others died of self-reproach. The Buddha's relics emitted five-coloured light that rose into the sky like a canopy, eclipsing the sun and shining upon the assembly. Dharma Master Moteng leapt high into the air, manifesting divine transformations with complete ease. At that time, precious flowers rained from heaven, something unprecedented. Dharma Master Falan preached the Dharma to the assembly, enlightening them to what they had never heard before. At that time, Minister of Works Liu Jun, officials and commoners of the capital, Consort Yin of the inner palace, Daoist Lü Huitong of the Four Marchmounts and various mountains, and over a thousand others all requested to leave household life. The Emperor consented to it. Ten temples were thereupon established: seven temples outside the city to accommodate monks, and three temples within the city to accommodate nuns. Thereafter the Buddha's Dharma flourished extensively, and the construction of temples increased ever more down to the present day. (This item is taken from the Han fa ben nei zhuan.)
18.6
Ding Cheng of Jiyin under the Jin, styled Dezhen, was Magistrate of Ningyin during the Jian'an era. At that time, a resident woman in the northern district went to an outer well to draw water. A foreigner with a long nose and deep-set eyes passed by the well on the left and begged a drink from the woman. Having finished drinking, he suddenly vanished. The woman then felt abdominal pain, which grew progressively worse, and she wept and screamed. After a short while, she abruptly sat up, speaking foreign words and gesturing with commands. Several dozen households in the settlement all came together to watch. The woman called out demanding paper and brush, wishing to write. Obtaining the brush, she immediately wrote foreign script, which ran horizontally, some looking like [the characters] yi or si. Having filled five sheets of paper, she threw them to the ground and instructed someone to read this text. No one in the settlement was able to read it. There was a young boy of about ten years of age; the woman pointed to this boy, saying he could read it. Receiving the text, the boy immediately read it in the foreign tongue. The onlookers were astonished and did not know what it meant. The woman told the boy to get up and dance; the boy immediately arose, raised one foot, and clapped his hands in rhythm. In a short while, each ceased. This was immediately reported to Dezhen. Dezhen summoned the woman and the boy and questioned them, but at the time they had been in a daze and unaware of anything. Dezhen, wishing to verify the matter, immediately dispatched an officer carrying the writing to a temple in Xuxia to show it to long-resident foreigners. The foreigners were greatly astonished and said, 'The Buddhist scripture had previously been lost; the road was so distant that we were worried we could not obtain it. Although we can recite it orally, it was incomplete. This is indeed the original text!' They then retained it and copied it down.
18.7
Zhou Min of the Jin was a native of Runan. He was Army-Guarding General of the Jin. His family had revered the Dharma for generations. During the rebellion of Su Jun, the gentlemen and scholars of the capital were all scattered and relocated east and west. Min's family possessed one set of the Large Perfection of Wisdom, written on both sides of eighty feet of half-width plain silk. There were also several bags of other scriptures, and the Large Perfection of Wisdom was mixed among them. As he had to flee the disaster traveling light and alone, he could not take them all with him. He was especially grieved over the Large Perfection of Wisdom, not knowing in which bag it was. Having to depart in haste, he had no opportunity to search, pacing back and forth and sighing. Without his realizing it, the Large Perfection of Wisdom suddenly came out of its own accord. Min was astonished and delighted, and took it away. The Zhou family thereupon treasured it for generations, and it is said to still exist today. Another account says: The wife of Zhou Song, of the Humu clan, had a Large Perfection of Wisdom written on silk. The silk was five inches wide, yet the entire Large Perfection of Wisdom was contained on it. There were also relics stored in a silver jar, all sealed within a deep chest. During the Yongjia disorder, Madame Humu was about to flee south to escape the soldiers; the scripture and relics came out of the chest on their own accord, whereupon she took them into her bosom and crossed to the east of the Yangzi. Furthermore, she once encountered a fire and had no time to retrieve the scripture; when the house was completely destroyed and the fire extinguished, she found it beneath the ash and embers, as intact as before. Prince of Kuaiji Sima Daozi went to Song's great-grandson Yun to ask for it in order to make offerings. Later it was once temporarily kept at Xinzhu Temple. Liu Jingshu said that he once saw this scripture with his own eyes; the characters were the size of hemp seeds, exquisitely dense and distinct. Xinzhu Temple is today's Tian'an Temple. This scripture was probably copied by the monk Shi Huize who had attained the Way. Some say it was once at Jianjing Temple, and the head nun of Jing chanted it.
18.8
Dong Ji of the Jin was a native of Yuqian. His family had revered the Dharma for three generations, and with Ji they became especially vigorous. He regularly kept the dietary purifications and chanted the Śūraṅgama-sūtra. Whenever anyone in the village fell ill, they would invite Ji to recite the scripture, and most of those he sought to save recovered. He Huang of the same county was also a gentleman who revered the Dharma. During the Xianhe era, he suddenly contracted a toxic mountain illness and was critically afflicted. Huang's elder brother hurriedly galloped over to invite Ji. The two dwellings of Dong and He were sixty or seventy li apart, separated also by a large torrent. In the fifth month, there were heavy rains. When Huang's brother first crossed, the flood had not yet arrived. Ji agreed to arrive by midday. By the time he went, the mountain waters had surged violently and were no longer fordable. Ji could not swim; he hesitated and sighed, sitting on the bank for a long while, wishing to wade in but not daring to cross. Being trustworthy and upright, Ji was determined to make the appointment. Feeling deep compassion, he made a vow, saying: 'To rescue someone in urgent distress, I do not consider my own body or life. I rely on the expectation that the Tathāgata and Mahāsattvas will illumine this sincerity of mine.' He then stripped off his clothes, placed the bagged scripture upon his head, and stepped straight into the water. Judging its depth, it should have reached his neck, but when Ji crossed, it was merely up to his knees. After reaching the bank, he lost the scripture bag. Deeply lamenting, he proceeded to Huang's house, made three prostrations of repentance, and wept in self-reproach. In the blink of an eye, he saw the scripture bag on the high seat. With mixed sorrow and joy, Ji picked it up and inspected it; it was damp as though with moisture, but when he opened the bag to examine the scripture, it was still dry as before. Thereupon the villagers all revered the Dharma at once. To the northwest of Ji's dwelling was a high and precipitous mountain, wherein were many spirits and spectres that harmed the residents. Relying on the power of the scriptures and precepts, Ji wished to subdue them. On four or five mu of land at the mountain's edge, he cleared the trees with his own hands, constructed a small hut, installed a high seat, and recited the Śūraṅgama-sūtra. For over a hundred days, there was complete silence, and the harm to the people gradually ceased. Later, several men came to Ji's place and spoke with him for a long time. Ji reflected that the speech of these visitors was not that of Yuqian people; how could they have come to such remote and secluded mountains? Suspecting they were ghosts or spirits, he said to them: 'Could you gentlemen be the spirits of this place?' They replied: 'Indeed we are. Hearing of your pure and solemn virtue, we have come to observe you, and also to ask one thing, which we imagine you will certainly grant. We have held this mountain for generations as our dwelling place. Since you came to reside here, we feared there might be conflict, and have constantly harboured unease. Now we wish to establish a new boundary; we shall kill trees to mark the division.' Ji said: 'I covet this quietude to chant the scriptures, and have no wish to infringe upon you. Being your neighbor, I hope for your assistance.' The spirits replied: 'We likewise rely on you not to encroach upon us.' When their words ended, they departed. After one night, outside the four borders of the land he had previously cleared, the trees were all withered and dead, looking as if scorched by fire. Ji died at the age of eighty-seven.
18.9
Zhou Dang of the Jin was a native of Shan in Kuaiji. His family had revered the Dharma for generations. When Dang was sixteen, he ate only vegetarian food, observed the purifications, and fully mastered chanting scriptures. When it came time to recite scriptures, having completed the long purification of the first month, he invited monks to hold an eight-precept purification retreat. He went to the Xiangshi Temple to invite his masters, Zhu Fomi and Zhi Fajiē. Zhu Fomi instructed that they should take the Small Perfection of Wisdom to read aloud on the retreat day. When the day came, three monks arrived for the retreat but forgot to bring the Small Perfection of Wisdom. Only after the midday meal was finished and they wished to recite the scripture did they remember it, feeling very disappointed. Dang's home was in Banyicun, thirty li away from the temple, and there was no one to send to retrieve it. By the time people settled to rest and the incense burning was finished, the whole household lamented that they had not obtained the scripture, and Fomi became increasingly uneasy. After a short while, they heard someone knocking at the door, saying he had brought the Small Perfection of Wisdom. Dang was surprised and delighted. Opening the door, he saw a youth dressed in a single unlined silk garment, whom he had never known before; moreover, it was not an hour for visitors. Suspecting divine anomaly, he knelt prostrate to receive the scripture and invited him to come sit forward. The youth did not enter, saying he would come to listen to the scripture that night. By the time the monks came out, he had suddenly vanished, and a fragrant scent filled the whole residence. When they subsequently examined it, it was indeed Fomi's scripture. Monks and laity were astonished and delighted. Fomi's scripture had previously been in a cabinet, locked very securely; returning to inspect the lock, it was as intact as before. Thereupon more than ten households in the village all revered the Buddha, and respected and loved Dang even more. Dang subsequently left household life, receiving the dharma name Tanyi; he chanted various scriptures to the extent of two hundred thousand words.
18.10
Xie Fu of the Jin, styled Qingxu, was a native of Shanyin in Kuaiji. He was the nephew of Army-Guarding General Xie You. In his youth he possessed lofty integrity and lived as a recluse in the Eastern Mountains. Devoutly faithful to the Great Dharma, he was energetic and tireless. He copied the Śūraṅgama-sūtra by hand. When it was kept in Baima Temple in the capital, the temple was caught in a fire; utensils and other scriptures were all reduced to ash and embers, but this scripture was scorched only outside the margins of the paper. The text was entirely preserved without any destruction or loss. When Fu died, his friends suspected he had attained the Way, and upon hearing of this scripture, they were even more astonished. In the eighth year of the Yuanjia era (431 CE), a great fire disaster occurred in Puban City of Hedong; the fire flew in across the river and could not be extinguished. The barbarian garrisons and civilian residences were completely consumed, yet only the monasteries and stupa temples escaped burning. Among the small houses in the wards, those that had scriptures and images mostly did not burn either. Or, even if a house was burned and destroyed, beneath the ash and embers, complete scriptures were frequently recovered, their paper and silk unchanged. The entire city marveled at the anomaly, and together came to revere and believe. (These five verifications are taken from the Mingxiangji.)
18.11
Prior to Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin, the śramaṇa Shi Dao'an of Changshan passed through the disorders of Shi Le's Zhao state and sought refuge in Xiangyang. He commented on various scriptures, including the Perfection of Wisdom, Daoxing, and Miji, producing over twenty fascicles of analysis of doubts and discerning explanations. Fearing they might not accord with the principle, he vowed: 'If what I have expounded does not contradict the principle, may I see an auspicious sign.' He then dreamed of a foreign monk with white hair and long eyebrows, who said to An: 'The scriptures you have commented upon accord extraordinarily well with the principle. I have not been permitted to enter nirvāṇa and reside in the Western Regions; I shall assist you in propagating them widely, and you may offer me food from time to time.' Later, when the Daśādhyāya-vinaya arrived, Master Yuan said, 'The one whom the Upādhyāya dreamed of in the past was none other than Piṇḍola.' Thereupon he set up a seat and offered food to him, which subsequently became an everlasting rule.
18.12
During the Western Jin, the śramaṇa Monk Jing of Shu Commandery left household life in his youth and became renowned for his ascetic practices. Serving as the abbot of Sanxian Temple in Shu, he chanted the Lotus Sūtra. Constantly reciting the scripture in the mountains, when the time came at night, he would consistently inspire tigers to come and crouch before him to listen, leaving only when the fascicle was concluded. Whenever he chanted, four attendants were consistently seen standing by his side. Although advanced in years, his diligent devotion became even more strenuous, and he thus concluded his career.
18.13
In the fifth year of the Ganlu era of the Deposed Emperor of the Former Wei (260 CE), the śramaṇa Zhu Shixing was lecturing on the Small Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra. Regretting that its chapters and verses were incomplete, he went to the Western Regions in this year in search of it and obtained it. People there obstructed him, not permitting it to be taken east. Shixing held the scripture at the royal court and said: 'If the Great Dharma is not meant to be transmitted, let it follow the fire and be transformed.' He then cast the palm-leaf scripture into the fire, and it suffered no damage whatsoever. The entire country revered this anomaly, and they then allowed it to reach the Eastern Xia; this is the Fangguang jing. He died at the age of eighty. When he was cremated according to the Dharma, his corpse would not burn. Monks and laity marveled at it, and then fully incanted: 'If he truly attained the Way, according to the Dharma it should disintegrate.' Immediately upon the utterance of the words, it broke into pieces. They then gathered [the relics] and erected a stupa for him.
18.14
At the end of the Latter Wei, there was the monk Zhizhan of Qizhou. He resided at Xiancao Temple in a deep ravine of Rentou Mountain, north of Mount Tai. He simplified his affairs and spoke little; neither people nor birds disturbed him. He read and recited the Lotus Sūtra, and people could not fathom his former karma. When he was about to pass away, the divine monk Baozhi said to Emperor Wu of the Liang: "Today, the srotāpanna holy monk of Xiancao Temple in the north enters extinction." At Zhan's passing, he transformed without affliction. On each of his two hands, he extended one finger. An Indian monk said: "This was a person of the first fruit." He was brought back and buried in the mountains. Later, when they opened the tomb to inspect it, only his tongue remained as before. Thereupon they erected a stupa to commemorate it; the stupa still exists today. Birds and beasts dare not trample or defile it.
18.15
In the Latter Wei, there was a monk of Wuhou Temple in Fanyang whose name has been lost. Reciting the Lotus Sūtra was his constant practice. When he first died, he was temporarily encoffined beneath an embankment; later, they moved his burial. His skeleton had completely withered, yet only his tongue was undamaged. In Yongzhou, there was also a monk who recited the Lotus Sūtra; he lived in seclusion on Bailu Mountain, and his practice moved a young boy to serve and supply him. When he died, his corpse was placed beneath a cliff. The rest of his skeleton completely withered, yet only his tongue did not rot.
18.16
During the reign of Emperor Wuling of the Qi, a man looking over the eastern mountains dug and found yellowish-white earth. He also saw an object shaped like two lips, inside of which was a tongue of fresh, vivid red color. The matter was reported to the throne. The emperor questioned both clergy and laity. The śramaṇa Fashang said: "This was a keeper of the Lotus Sūtra; his six sense faculties do not decay. When one recites it a full thousand times, this is the manifest sign." Thereupon they gathered keepers of the Lotus Sūtra to surround it and recite the sūtra. Just as they began to raise their voices, these miraculous lips and tongue stirred at once. All who beheld it felt their hair stand on end. The matter was memorialized to the throne, and it was sealed in a stone casket. (The above six verifications are taken from the Liang Biographies of Eminent Monks and Miscellaneous Records).
18.17
During the Taihe era of Emperor Gaozu of the Latter Wei, a palace eunuch in the capital Dai lamented that he was physically mutilated, and memorialized to request permission to enter the mountains to practice the contemplation of the Way. An imperial decree granted it. He then took the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and read it day and night, making repentance without rest. Before a single summer retreat was over, by the end of the sixth month, his mustache and beard had grown, and he obtained the physical marks of a man. The circumstances were memorialized to the throne, and the emperor revered him greatly. Thereupon the whole country generally revered the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, venerating it even more than ordinary days. (Recorded in Hou Junsu's Jingyi ji).
18.18
In the Song, the monk Huiyan was a monk of Dong'an Temple in the capital. His theoretical thinking was harmonious and unimpeded, and he was regarded as a vessel of talent by clergy and laity alike. He once disliked that the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra had too many words, and so he edited and excised it, making it into a few scrolls. He copied two or three sets to show to like-minded friends. While half-asleep, he suddenly saw a person over two zhang tall, of magnificent and imposing bearing, who said to him: "The noble Nirvāṇa Sūtra is the sovereign of all canonical collections! How can you use your petty thoughts to carelessly weigh and cut it?" Yan felt despondent and troubled, yet still held to his original intent, stubbornly seeking extensive knowledge. The following evening, as he was about to lie down, he saw the person from the previous day again, looking extremely angry, who said to him: "'To err and know to reform—this is called having no error.' I purposefully informed you yesterday, yet you still have not stopped? Not only does this sūtra [of yours] lack correct principle, but disaster will also soon reach you!" Yan awoke with a start, losing his composure. Before dawn broke, he dispatched a messenger to retrieve all copies and burn them completely. The monk Daoyan of Chenwai Hermitage heard the full account.
18.19
In the Song, the nun Zhitong was a nun at Jianjing Nunnery in the capital. Her age and appearance were youthful and attractive, and her faith in the Way was not firm. In the ninth year of the Yuanjia era, after her master died, she returned to lay life, marrying Liang Xifu of Wei Commandery as a concubine, and gave birth to a boy. When he was seven years old, the family was exceedingly impoverished, having nothing to clothe him with. When Tong had been a nun, she possessed several scrolls of sūtras on plain white silk, such as the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life and the Lotus Sūtra. She boiled, washed, and pounded all of them to make clothes for her child. After one year, she fell ill, becoming delirious and terror-stricken, and her whole body peeled and rotted, resembling fire blisters. Minute white worms, more than a sheng a day, came out of her. In excruciating pain and toxic affliction, she wailed day and night. She constantly heard a voice in the air say: "For destroying sūtras to make clothing, you receive this severe retribution!" In a little over ten days, she died. (The above two verifications are taken from the Mingxiang ji).
18.20
In the Song, at Mount Lu, there was the monk Huiqing, a native of Guangling. He left home and stayed at Mount Lu Temple. His learning encompassed the sūtras and vinaya; he was pure and possessed disciplined conduct. He recited the Lotus Sūtra, Daśabhūmika, Viśeṣacintā, and Vimalakīrti. Whenever he chanted at night, he often heard the sound of snapping fingers and praises from the darkness. He once encountered violent wind and waves at Xiaolei, and the boat was about to capsize. Qing only recited sūtras without ceasing. He felt the boat amid the waves as if someone were pulling it, and suddenly it reached the shore. Thereupon he redoubled his diligence with earnest exertion. At the end of the Yuanjia era of the Song, he died at the age of sixty-two.
18.21
In the Qi, the monk Huibao of Taiyuan was of unknown ancestry. He could recite two hundred scrolls of sūtras, and his virtue surpassed earlier sages, being widely known at the time. In the third year of the Wuping era of the Qi, while traveling from Bing toward Ye, he reached Aizhou and lost his way. Following a path into the mountains, he lodged under a cliff at dusk. The chamber seemed inhabited, yet looking afar nothing was seen. Bao sat upright before the chamber and looked up at the pine trees; he saw a stone chime suspended from a horizontal branch more than a zhang above the ground. At the second watch of the night, a person wearing clothes made of grass arrived from outside, saying: "Why is there worldly stench in here?" Bao related the circumstances in full and showed deference, engaging in discussion with him. The mountain monk asked Bao: "What family name currently rules the state?" He answered: "The Gao family, named the Qi state." Bao asked: "When did the venerable master take up mountain dwelling?" He replied: "I came during the Latter Han. What sūtra practice have you mastered, elder?" Bao, relying on his extensive recitations, was somewhat conceited. The mountain monk said: "A practitioner of the Way should not be like this. What sūtra do you wish to hear? I shall recite it for you." Bao said: "I delight in hearing the Avataṃsaka." The monk then recited it briefly; in a moment, it was completed, its tone and melody harmonious and resonant, unlike anything heard in this world. When asked to recite other sūtras, it was consistently like this. Bao marveled and said: "How could such vast sūtra texts be finished so swiftly?" He answered: "Yours is an intentional mind; mine is an unintentional mind. One who forgets the mind toward the myriad things naturally attains unity between self and other." Bao knew he was an extraordinary spirit and begged with sorrow to remain. The mountain monk said: "Offerings in the country call upon you; how could you be at ease here? Moreover, your emotional entanglements are not yet shed; staying would be of no benefit." At dawn, he departed. Bao turned to trace his footprints, but did not know where he went. Bao reprimanded himself as a human being. Later, when he arrived at Ye, he recounted this. (The above two verifications are taken from the Liang Biographies of Eminent Monks).
18.22
In the Liang, there was He Gui, a native of Nanhai Commandery in Guangzhou. In the year Xieqia and the month corresponding to the Huangzhong pitch pipe, on the twenty-third day of the tenth month in the fourteenth year of the Tianjian era, he was gathering herbs on Mount Huyi in Yuzhang. Fortunately, he was neither an exile nor an outcast, but rather seemed like one seeking immortals and summoning recluses. Climbing the peak for ten-odd li, [stepping through] dust as if arriving somewhere, he was about to follow a winding path when he was first obstructed by a clear stream. It was still like standing water in some parts, and suddenly a pure torrent; he was just about to wade through it and lift his garments. Before crossing, suddenly, without realizing it, he saw an elder on the western bank of the stream, who told Gui not to cross. Gui then stayed where he was. The man's face was pure blue-green; he went barefoot without shoes. He was about to be eighty or ninety years old, his face already wrinkled, his beard five or six inches long, his mustache half the length of his beard, his ears protruding above his eyebrows, and his eyebrows drooping all the way down. The long hairs of his eyebrows were two to three inches long, fluttering with the wind. His lips were very red, and his voice was resonant and clear. His fingernails were pure yellow, and the hair on his fingers was also two to three inches long. He wore a cloth cape and a niwasana of ochre cloth beneath it. Holding a roll of text in his hand, he tossed it from afar to Gui. Gui received it respectfully, bowed thrice from afar, and [the elder] told Gui: "You may give this sūtra to Prince An'an," also stating the prince's surname and given name. "When this sūtra arrives, a retreat of three times seven days should be held. If he does not understand the method of the retreat, he may ask Master Fu of Xialin Temple. Dharma Master Fu's precepts and conduct are rigorous and ascetic; he is serene and non-acting, having abandoned desires, regarding the noble and humble as equal. He satisfies himself with wild greens and beans, and never slacks in meditative stillness." When this elder finished speaking, he departed. Walking a dozen paces, he suddenly vanished. Gui opened and viewed the roll; the title was the Wisdom Seal Samādhi Sūtra. The purport of the sūtra takes the utmost, the signless Dharmakāya, as its essence. Its principle transcends the hundred negations, and its meaning surpasses names and signs. It is quiet and identical with the nature of phenomena, wondrous and equal to tathatā. As for its wisdom illumination: compared with principle, it is like a complete seal, the mind merging into frozen stillness; hence it is named 'samādhi'. (Recorded in Vinaya Master Sengyou's Hongming ji of the Liang dynasty).
18.23
When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou destroyed the Dharma, sūtras and books turned to ashes. In a later year, five or six objects as large as round granaries were suddenly seen in the sky, flying up into the air until they were lost from sight. They formed a single piece, drifting up and down with the wind. The court ministers stood watching, unable to fathom what it was. After a long while, it fluttered down and landed atop an earthen wall. Upon inspection, it was the thirteenth scroll of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra.
18.24
In the Chen dynasty, Yan Gong of Yangzhou was originally a native of Quanzhou. His family was wealthy, and he had no brothers. His parents doted on him and never went against his words. At the beginning of the Taijian era of the Chen, when Gong was about twenty years old, he requested from his parents, wishing to obtain fifty thousand cash to go trade in the markets of Yangzhou. His parents granted it. Gong loaded a boat with goods and traveled downstream. A few dozen li from Yangzhou, he encountered a boat on the river carrying softshell turtles, about to go to the market to sell them. Gong reflected that the turtles were going to die, and thereupon requested to redeem them. He said to the owner of the turtles: "I happen to have fifty thousand cash; I wish to redeem them with it." The owner of the turtles was delighted, took the cash, handed over the turtles, and departed. Gong released all the turtles into the river and proceeded with an empty boat to Yangzhou. The owner of the turtles, having parted from Gong for ten-odd li, capsized his boat and drowned. On that day, Gong's parents were at home. At dusk, fifty guests clad in black robes came to their gate seeking lodging, and delivered fifty thousand cash, handing it to Gong's parents, saying: "Your son in Yangzhou sends this money back; please accept it according to the count." The father was startled and feared Gong had died, and so questioned them. The guests said: "Your son is without harm; he simply had no need for the cash and so sent it back." Gong's father accepted it and noted it was the original money, but all slightly damp. He kept the guests and prepared food for them; the guests stayed and took leave the next morning. More than a month later, Gong returned home. His parents were overjoyed. When he settled, they asked the reason for sending the money, and Gong answered that he had not done so. His parents described the guests' appearance and the month and day the money was handed over, which was precisely the day the turtles were redeemed. Thereupon they knew that the fifty guests were all the redeemed turtles. Father and son marveled in wonder. Thereupon they went together to Yangzhou to build a hermitage, dedicated exclusively to copying the Lotus Sūtra. They then relocated their family to Yangzhou. His family became increasingly wealthy, constructing large halls and corridors as sūtra-copying chambers, adorned and pure, with lavish supplies, constantly hosting several dozen scribes. The clergy and laity of Yangzhou collectively revered them, naming him "Lotus Yan." Once, an acquaintance borrowed ten thousand cash of the sūtra funds from him; Gong could not refuse and gave it. The borrower received the money and carried it home by boat. Mid-route, the boat capsized; the borrowed money fell into the water, yet the boat sank without the person drowning. On that day, Gong entered the treasury and saw ten thousand cash, wet as if freshly brought out of the water. Gong found it extremely strange. Later, he met the borrower from before, and only then learned that the damp money was what had been borrowed. Furthermore, a merchant came to Lake Gongting and offered wine, food, and goods at the spirit shrine. That night, he dreamed the spirit returned the goods to him, saying: "I ask you to take this money on my behalf and present it to Lotus Yan to provide for the sūtras." At dawn, the offered sacred items were all before him. Thereupon the merchant marveled, delivered them to Gong's place, and doubled his lavish donations. Later, Gong went to the market to buy sūtra paper but lacked money. Suddenly he saw a person holding three thousand cash, who handed them to Gong, saying: "To assist you in buying paper." Having spoken, he disappeared, but the money remained. Such strange marvels were not singular. At the end of the Kaihuang era, Gong died, and his descendants carried on his vocation. At the end of the Sui, when bandits reached Jiangdu, they made a pact with each other: "Do not enter Lotus Yan's neighborhood!" The people of the neighborhood relied on this to preserve their households. To this day, the copying of sūtras has not ceased; the prefectures and cities have all witnessed it, and the scholars and gentry of the capital know it thoroughly. (The above one verification is taken from the Mingbao ji).
18.25
In the early Kaihuang era of the Sui, there was a monk of Yangzhou whose original name is forgotten. He recited the entire Nirvāṇa Sūtra by memory and prided himself on this practice. In a village at the foot of the eastern mountain of Qizhou, a novice monk recited the Guanyin Sūtra. Both died suddenly. The region beneath their hearts remained warm, and together they arrived before King Yama. [The king] placed the novice on a high golden seat and respected him greatly, while he placed the Nirvāṇa monk on a silver high seat, showing little reverence. When the matter was concluded and he investigated the remaining lifespans of both, both were released to return. That Nirvāṇa monk harboured great resentment in his heart, presuming upon the vastness of his recitation. He asked the novice where he lived. Thereupon both took their leave and each revived in his respective place. That [monk] came from the south to Qizhou, located him, and questioned him thoroughly about the reasons. The novice said, "Whenever I recite [the sūtra of] Guanyin, I change my clothes, go to a separate chamber, burn incense, and make vows, and only then do I recite it. I am never negligent in this practice, and have no other art." The other thanked him, saying, "My transgressions are deep indeed! When I recited the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra], my deportment was disordered, and my body and mouth were impure; I only recited to keep it from being forgotten. The ancients left the saying: 'Abundant evil is not equal to a little good.' Today this has been verified!" Repenting his past, he returned.
18.26
During the Sui, Shi Huiyi of Jingkong Temple in Xiangzhou was secularly surnamed Li, a native of Linyuan. He traveled south to Mount Xiancheng in Liangxing, where he and Huiming studied under the same master, inquiring into the essentials of mind and specialising in the practice of meditation. Later he resided at Jingkong [Temple], continuing his practice in the old hall of Master Cong. Constantly dwelling there, he used neither lamps nor candles, yet day and night it was always bright. There was a local who did not believe it, and so invited him to a separate courtyard for a hundred-day practice of the Way. Every night he secretly went to watch him; his whole family together saw that the meditation chamber was radiantly bright. The local submitted in faith and led his family to take the precepts. In the early Kaihuang era he died, foreknowing his end; he sat upright and passed away. Also in Xiangyang during the Kaihuang era there was Dhyāna Master Fayong. When he was about to die, music and an extraordinary fragrance filled the temple for seven days and seven nights. Thereupon he died while seated. They carried him to Mount Sangai to sit exposed [to the open air]. Vinaya Master Quan of the same temple went before the corpse and said, "May you keep your spirit conscious and wait until the seven days are fulfilled." When the appointed time came, Quan died. His corpse was brought beside Yong's, and Yong's corpse suddenly withered and changed. There was also Ācārya Cen, surnamed Yang, a native of Linyuan. At a spring on Mount Sangai west of the temple, he built a sūtra-recitation hall. Whenever he recited the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra, he moved the Four Heavenly Kings to come and listen. Later he read the canon of sūtras and forgot none of them, reciting in total more than three thousand fascicles. He wore coarse cloth and begged for food. The leftovers in his bowl he fed to the rats in his room; more than a hundred of them were all tamed, circling around and vying to approach people. If a rat was sick, Master Cen would stroke it with his hand and it would be healed. Together with fellow śramaṇa Zhixiao, they looked after one another and gathered meditation disciples; he personally transformed the laity and provided for those studying meditation. Knowing the day of his end, [Zhixiao] urgently summoned Dhyāna Master Tai to entrust matters to him. He went up to the Buddha hall to pay homage and take his leave, and throughout the temple asked all the monks to be joyful. At Chanju Temple, as a great vegetarian feast was about to disperse, he said to Cen, "I am going to Tuṣita Heaven to listen to the Prajñā [teaching]." Cen said, "You just go ahead, brother; I shall come in seven days." That night at the third watch, [Zhixiao] died while seated. At the fourth watch, his conscious spirit went to the Bianxue Temple, which was ten li away. Coming before Dhyāna Master Tai's bed, the light was as bright as day. He said, "Xiao is about to depart far away, so I have come to bid farewell; I cannot stay long." Tai saw him out past the triple gate. After parting, he returned to his room and sat on the bed; suddenly it became dark again. He called his disciples and asked, "I heard the master speaking with someone." They brought fire to illuminate the place: the triple gate was completely closed. Only then did he realise that Xiao's spiritual power could pass through without obstruction. He immediately sent someone to inquire, and as expected they said he had already passed away. Seven days later, Cen died while seated without illness; his cranium was completely whole without seams. Hence we know that ordinary beings and sages dwell together, and their deeds cannot be distinguished. (The above two are from the Tang Gaoseng Zhuan.)
18.27
During the Sui, the śramaṇa Fazang of Baoshi Temple in Fuzhou kept the precepts purely and was of an upright nature. In the thirteenth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, he built a temple in the walled town of Weichuan in Luojiao County. The Buddha hall was exquisite, the monastic quarters splendid, and the sacred images, banners, and flowers were all fully adorned. In the fifth year of the Daye era, by imperial decree [smaller] temples and pagodas were merged and transferred to the great temples of the prefectures. For those that were damaged, Master Zang repaired them all and built halls to house them. In addition, he produced a complete canon of scriptures, having already copied eight hundred fascicles. Fearing that his home prefecture lacked fine paper and brushes, he went to the former Yue'ai Temple in the capital to copy them. In the intercalary second month of the second year of the Wude era, he fell ill for more than twenty days. He then saw a person dressed in fine blue-green garments atop a high pavilion, holding a sūtra scroll in his hand, who told Fazang, "Since you established yourself, although you have performed great acts of merit and all have been exquisite, you have on a few occasions misapplied the property of the Three Jewels, incurring immeasurable guilt. What I am now holding is the Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā. If you can personally produce one fascicle of it, the guilt incurred by your misapplication of the property of the Three Jewels will be completely expiated." At that moment, Master Zang replied in response, "I will make it!" Although Master Zang had copied other scriptures, he had not yet copied the Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā. [He thought:] "I only hope my illness will be cured; I dare not disobey the command. Since I have been made aware, I, this disciple, have no other belongings; I have only my three robes, bowl, pitcher, upper garment, and inner robe. I renounce them all and entrust them to the Venerable Ones and my disciples to produce the Prajñā [Sūtra]." He produced one hundred fascicles. Within three to five days, when he was about to give up his life, he saw Amitābha Buddha come to welcome him. Through the mighty power of the sūtra, he attained rebirth in the Western [Pure Land] and did not enter the three destinies.
18.28
During the Daye era of the Sui, a traveling monk arrived at the Mount Tai shrine seeking lodging for the night. The temple keeper said, "There are no other quarters here; you can only lodge under the veranda of the shrine. However, those who have lodged here recently have always died." The monk said, "There is no harm in it." Having no choice, [the keeper] complied and set up a bed for him under the veranda. When night fell, the monk sat upright and recited sūtras. Around the first watch, he heard the sound of ringing pendants in the room. In a short while, the deity came out and bowed to the monk. The monk said, "I have heard that most of those who lodge here die; could it be that the dānapati harms them? I hope you will protect me." The deity said, "Those who met their deaths, upon hearing my voice as I approached, died of their own fear; I did not kill them. May the master have no worries." The monk then invited him to sit, and they talked for the duration of a meal. During this, [the monk said], "I have heard worldly people pass on the legend that Mount Tai governs ghosts; is this truly so?" The deity said, "Because of my meager merit, it is indeed so. Would you like to see those who have previously died?" The monk said, "Two of my fellow monk students died previously; I wish to see them." The deity asked their names and said, "One has already been reborn among humans; the other is in hell, and his guilt is too heavy to summon him here. The master may go and see him." Hearing this, the monk was very glad, so he got up and went out. Not far away, they arrived at a place where he saw many shrine prisons with fires blazing fiercely. The deity led the monk into a courtyard; in the distance he saw a person amidst the flames, wailing and unable to speak, his form changed so that he was no longer recognizable, and the stench of scorched flesh and blood was heart-rending. [The deity said], "This is he. Does the master not wish to look around?" Grieved and compassionate, the monk asked to leave. Presently they returned to the shrine and sat again with the deity. He then asked, "If I wish to save my fellow student, is there a way?" The deity said, "It is possible: if you can copy the Lotus Sūtra for him, he will be freed." Soon dawn was approaching; the deity took his leave of the monk and entered the hall. At dawn, the temple keeper saw that the monk had not died and marveled at it. The monk told him the reason, and thereupon copied one complete set of the Lotus Sūtra for him. When the sūtra was completed and its adornment finished, he went again to lodge at the shrine. That night, the deity came out as before, bowed with joy, and inquired about the purpose of his coming. [The monk] told him of the matter. The deity said, "I already knew of it: when the master copied the sūtra, as soon as you wrote the title, he was already freed; now he has also been born into the human realm. However, this place is not pure and the sūtra cannot be placed here; may the master take it back and deliver it to a monastery." After talking for a long time, as dawn approached he said farewell and departed. [The monk] delivered the sūtra to a monastery. Zhang Deyan, Vice Prefect of Hangzhou, previously served in Yanzhou and knew this matter in detail.
18.29
During the Tang, the śramaṇa Shi Zhiyuan of Youzhou was refined, practiced, and learned. In the Daye era of the Sui, he resolved to carve a complete canon of stone scriptures in preparation for the disappearance of the Dharma. Thereupon, in the Western Hills of Youzhou, he quarried the cliffs into stone chambers; he then polished the four walls and wrote the scriptures on them. He also took square stones, polished and inscribed them separately, and stored them within the chambers. Whenever a chamber was full, he blocked the door with stone and sealed it with molten iron. At that time, Emperor Yang of the Sui visited Zhuo Commandery. Xiao Yu, Vice Director of the Palace Secretariat, was the Empress's younger brother; naturally a devout believer in the Buddhadharma, he reported the matter to the Empress. The Empress donated a thousand bolts of silk and other money and goods to help bring it to completion. Xiao Yu donated five hundred bolts of silk. When the court and the public heard of it, they vied to contribute donations, so Yuan was able to accomplish his work. Yuan once considered that because the laborers were numerous and clergy and laity flocked together, he wished to build a wooden Buddha hall along with a refectory and sleeping quarters in front of the cliff, but he reflected that wood and tiles were hard to obtain, and he feared incurring excessive expense to the scriptures' funds, so he had not yet been able to undertake the construction. One night there was torrential rain, and thunder shook the mountain. The next morning when it cleared, they saw at the foot of the mountain several tens of millions of large timber pine and cypress trees, washed down by the water and piled beside the road. East of the mountains timber was scarce, and pine and cypress were especially rare; clergy and laity were astonished, not knowing where they had come from. Tracing the trail, [they found] they had come from far to the west: the mountain had collapsed, the cliff fallen, and the current had washed them here. Thereupon people near and far were moved to admiration, [knowing that] were it not for the power of his merit, who could have moved divine assistance? Yuan then had the carpenters select and take the timber, and the remainder was all distributed to the townships and villages. The villagers, delighted and ashamed, helped build the halls and buildings. Before long they were completed, just as he had wished. The stone scriptures carved by Yuan already filled seven chambers. He died in the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era. His disciples continued his work. Li Xuanjiang, Assistant Director of the Palace Buildings, and Cai Xuanming, Assistant in the Court of Judicial Review, both described it to [Tang] Lin. When Lin accompanied the imperial retinue to Youzhou in the nineteenth year, he personally questioned the locals, and all agreed it was not false. (The above three verifications are from the Mingbao Ji.)
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- 法苑珠林 — 道世, Classical Chinese