法苑珠林 35.71

35.71

Shi Fachun of Jingzhu Temple in the Western Capital under the Sui was surnamed Zhu, a man of Shiping in Fufeng. By nature he loved the grove of concentration, and his feelings were also devoted to rescuing the drowning. Once, lighting lamps in the bodhimanda, he stimulated the lamp-light to sustain its flame through seven nights, without adding oil or wicks, yet its brightness was twice normal. Privately he found it marvelous, taking it as an auspicious sign of destroying defilements. Furthermore, the oil vat was kept inside the Buddha hall; suddenly it disappeared, and after two nights it returned to its original place, with the oil full as before. Often in the quiet of the night, sounds of expounding the Dharma and instructing were heard, and an unusual fragrance followed the crevices, its scent wafting outside. Approaching to inspect, nothing was seen. Those who understood considered it to be the gathering of unseen spirits. In the third year of Renshou, he fell ill. Closing his room, he sat quietly without any localized pain. A boy in white clothes held a bright light in his hands, standing in attendance to his right. His disciple Huijin entered to ask: 'Who is this person?' He replied: 'This is the sixth heaven of desire repeatedly coming to summon me. But because the heavens are attached to pleasure, I ultimately did not grant it, as it would hinder cultivating the Path. I always vow to be born in a place without the Buddha-dharma to teach and transform sentient beings. Be careful not to proclaim this.' After his death, the disciples held a vegetarian feast for him to cultivate blessings; monastics and laypeople gathered together before Chun. A pair of pigeons flew into Chun's room, perched on the clothes rack, and gazed intently at Chun; even when people touched and grabbed them, they had no fear at all. Chun said: 'Leave them be, do not catch them; they will depart only at dusk.' Taking leave of the assembly, without perceiving any other thoughts, he passed away at Jingzhu at the age of eighty-five, on the twelfth day of the fifth month of the third year of Renshou.