法苑珠林 86.80

86.80

The Tang monk Demei of Huichang Temple in the capital was surnamed Wang and was a native of Linqing County in Qinghe. When he was a child, he was naturally fond of goodness; whenever he uttered words, he would constantly sing verses and praises. When gathering dust and playing, he would always first make a stūpa. Whenever he saw icons, he innately knew to pay homage and respect. Because of this, his relatives secretly marveled at him, knowing he was not an heir for continuing secular lineage. They let him follow a master to study. At nineteen he left the household. Although he perused the sūtras and treatises in full, he held the essentials of the vinaya close to his heart; hence he thoroughly mastered the entire Four-Part [Vinaya] in his mind. He went to Mount Taibai and recited the twelve-fascicle scripture of the Names of the Buddhas; each time he practiced repentance, he would recite it and add prostrations, wearing cloth garments, eating vegetables, and never wearing leather or silk. At first, he relied on Chan Master Sengyong of Jiulong and Taibai to receive instruction; later he resided at Huiyun Temple in the capital, where he met Chan Master Jingmo and again requested instruction from him. Each summer, when he performed repentance and the ritual arena was about to conclude, seven days before the end date he would vigorously intensify his efforts, completing the fifteen thousand Buddhas once each day; his pure sincerity was hard to match, and he had many sympathetic resonances and auspicious signs. From his youth to his end, Demei bowed a thousand times. Succeeding his master Jingmo, he had vast blessings and virtue. Once at Xingshan [Temple], he held a seven-day circumambulation of the Way for a thousand monks each year; when the period ended, he gave generous donations, presenting each person with ten lengths of silk, and on the morning of departure, outside [donors] arose to double it. Thus from the end of Kaihuang until the tenth year of Daye, he gave great alms each year, and all followed this pattern. When [Jing]mo was about to enter cessation, he entrusted the universal field of merit to Demei. Demei received it atop his head and practiced it: for both fields of compassion and respect, he held an assembly each year. Furthermore, at the end of summer he always distributed the universal basin funds. At the end of Daye, in midsummer, he summoned a thousand monks for a seven-day circumambulation of the Way. Suddenly an unusual man appeared, his appearance and clothing plain yet elegant, who came and said to Demei, 'The weather is hot now; why not make cakes to use as an offering? Knead twenty decaliters of flour to prepare a two-day supply.' The next morning they were about to set it out; rising at midnight, they beat the flour and moved the tables, with people bustling about in disorder, and also made chopped gruel to provide for the great assembly. In a moment, the chopped noodles were ordered to be boiled and became cooked immediately; a thousand people were all sated, and everyone rejoiced together. The cakes were also firm and pliable, completely unbroken. When they tried to find and look for the artisan, asking everywhere, his whereabouts were lost. The whole assembly marveled with sorrow at this sympathetic resonance brought about by his induction. Furthermore, at the beginning of Wude, Huichang [Temple] was founded, and Demei was invited to reside there. Thereupon in the western compound he built a Hall of Repentance; the icon arrangements were majestic and the halls were magnificent, and he vowed to sever all evil karma together with all sentient beings. He continually paid homage and repented, keeping the Fangdeng pure; anyone who wished to ascend the altar needed to rely on Demei's repentance. Also at one time, the well suddenly dried up, and the repentant practitioners stood stranded without means to wash for repentance. Demei held an incense burner, approached the well, and prayed; responsive to the moment, the spring gushed forth, surpassing its former abundance. Everyone at the time marveled at how the power of his merit supported him. As for the śarīra he kept, he stored them in a jeweled casket, and wherever he went, he always carried them to make offerings. Whenever a stūpa was erected and there was a request for them to be distributed, his dedicated prayer brought forth resonance, and he granted them all upon request. Furthermore, during autumn and summer he always walked barefoot, fearing he might step on insects and ants, compassionately saving sentient beings. Also, each year he practiced the Pratyutpanna-[samādhi], not sitting for an entire summer; or he would halt faults of speech, not speaking for three years; or he would practice Sadāparibhūta, paying homage universally to the seven assemblies; or he would economize his food and clothing by a quarter. Such ascetic practices were indeed numerous. Or throughout life he ceased other thoughts, dedicating himself exclusively to the Western Direction, reciting Amitābha with his mouth until his life ended. On the twenty-sixth day of the second month of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, he joined his palms, invoked the Buddha, and passed away at Huichang, at the age of sixty. His corpse was sent to Chiming Mound in the Southern Mountains. His disciples collected his relics, erected a stūpa, and raised a stele at Huichang, with an inscription written by Attendant of the Center Yu Zhining. (This single verification is from the Tang Gaoseng zhuan.)