法苑珠林 24.65

24.65

Under the Sui, Shi Huiyuan of Jingying Temple in the capital was surnamed Li and was a native of Dunhuang, later settling in Gaodu of Shangdang. He was thoroughly conversant with the tripiṭaka and deeply understood the nine streams of thought. Endowed by nature with open-mindedness, his demeanor was balanced and harmonious. Taking lecturing and guiding as his vocation, people from across the realm flocked to him. Formerly, while at Qinghua Temple, he kept a goose that made listening to lectures its duty. In the seventh year of the Kaihuang era, an imperial decree summoned Huiyuan to the capital. The goose roosted along the corridors of its original temple, calling out day and night, so that the assembly all pitied it. It was entrusted to an envoy to reach the capital, and when released at the main gate of Jingying Temple, it called out and leapt forward, rushing straight into Huiyuan's room. As before, it tamely listened, avoiding neither cold nor heat. Whenever it heard the bell for the Dharma assembly, whether morning or evening, it would enter the lecture hall and crouch silently to listen. When the monks completed their chanting and dispersed, it would walk out of the hall, soaring and honking. But when it came to the sounding of the bell for the fortnightly poṣadha, it would never enter to listen; people of the time all marveled at this. When Huiyuan engaged in his regular lecturing, it secretly listened in accordance with the Dharma; during intervals when he spoke of other matters, it would call out, flap its wings, and leave. We truly know that the Way depends on people to be broadened, and that spiritual birds offer auspicious responses. One must not say that because one's body has not realized the Dharma, one will definitely fall into hell if one rashly ascends the Dharma seat; this is also a provisional statement spoken for a particular occasion, and one should not uniformly discard everything on that account. He passed away at Jingying Temple during the Kaihuang era.