法苑珠林 38.60

38.60

In Wangzhuang Village, Huayang Township, Qishan County, Qizhou, there was a man named Feng Xuansi. Formerly crude and violent, he had no faith or reverence. When his mother and elder brother heard that the śarīra had arrived from the Eastern Capital and was about to be interred, Xuansi would not allow them to go. His mother and elder brother did not heed his words, went to the place of the śarīra to pay homage, and returned home. Xuansi said angrily: 'What efficacy is there in this that you went to pay homage? If the śarīra possesses merit, the Buddha image in my house also possesses merit.' He immediately took the Buddha image and burned it, [saying]: 'What efficacy does it have in the end?' His mother and elder brother tried to rescue it, but the lower half was already burned. Xuansi suddenly collapsed and unexpectedly died suddenly. After three days he revived, saying: 'Suddenly I reached a place that seemed to be hell. Huge birds flew down to peck out my eyes and eat my tongue, and I entered a great fire pit. Tortured by burning and searing, my body felt itchy and suffocated. When I rubbed my face with my hands, my eyebrows and hair fell off with it; looking at the earth, my eyes had completely lost their clear vision.' The relatives watching at his side all knew this was the proof of his transgression. People said to him: 'You committed the sin yourself; none can substitute for you.' Xuansi's consciousness was unlike that of an ordinary person; he merely said: 'Fire burns my heart! Because I adopted the words of Daoists, they taught me not to believe. The sin of slandering the Buddha now brings disaster upon my body.' Running east and west, he was also beaten, and cried out in terror. He only kowtowed, snapped his fingers, repented, and begged for his life, yet day and night he wailed and ran without pausing for a moment. On the thirteenth day of the second month, his relatives took pity on him, invited monks to perform repentance, vowed to make statues, and brought him to the stupa site. At that time, venerable elders in the capital were exceedingly numerous. Dharma Master Xingqian was expounding the Dharma for the assembly. Bhikṣuṇī Pei Shanggong and several hundred others, along with lay men and women numbering nearly ten thousand, all saw Xuansi prostrate all five limbs before the śarīra, wailing, throwing himself down, and with utmost sincerity repenting his sin of disbelief. He also repented transgressing against the pure practice of nuns, beating and scolding monks, and stealing and eating the monks' fruit. After he repented, his sleep and dreams were slightly more peaceful, yet his severe illness still did not recover. Before a year had passed, he finally died.