法苑珠林 18.26

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.)