法苑珠林 97.61

97.61

The śramaṇa Huiyuan of the Song was a monk of Changsha Temple in Jiangling. His teacher Huiyin was adept in the methods of meditation and was known as a meditation master. Yuan was originally Yin's servant, named Huang Qian. When he was twenty, whenever Yin entered meditative absorption, he would consistently see Qian's previous life, revealing that he had in fact been his teacher; therefore, Yin ordained him as a disciple. [Huiyuan] often lodged at the house of Yang Daohan west of the Jiangling market to practice the pratyutpanna-samādhi. After more than a year of bitter exertion, he consequently had considerable miraculous transformations. In the span of a single day, he might attend vegetarian feasts in over ten places. Although he walked the path and chanted scriptures all day and through the entire night, every family saw Huang Qian present with them. The community gradually came to revere him as extraordinary, considering him to have attained the Way. One morning in the second year of Xiaojian, he announced the time of his own death, saying to Daohan: "Tomorrow evening I shall pass away at your home." When the day came, Daohan set up the eight precepts and lit lamps throughout the night. During the first watch and the middle watch, Qian still led the assembly in walking the path, relaxed and without difference from normal. After the fourth watch, he said he was fatigued and lay down. His complexion changed slightly, and after a moment he passed away. The entire district held three seven-day vegetarian feasts for him and erected a stupa; the stupa still exists today. Long after his death, his form manifested at Duobao Temple. He said to the Daoist monk Tanxun: "Next year on the twenty-third day of the second month, I shall come together with the deities to welcome you." Having spoken, he departed. Tanxun then set up a vegetarian feast for ninety days in the meditation chamber of Changsha [Temple], giving up his person in donation. When that day arrived, he suffered from a breathing ailment and knew he would certainly expire. He broadly invited the clergy and laity and held a grand Dharma gathering. In the middle of the third watch, he called out and asked the gathered monks: "Does anyone hear or see anything?" The assembly replied: "We perceive nothing unusual." Xun said: "In the sky is the sound of performing music, and the misty clouds have an extraordinary fragrance. Huang Qian's appointed promise has arrived at its term today." Just as the gathered monks were returning to the hall to take their seats, Xun had already passed away. (The above evidential miracle is from the Mingxiang ji.)