釋氏要覽 3.322

3.322

比人風俗每至重午等毒節日皆以盆盛水。內插柳枝。置之門前辟惡按灌頂經云。昔維耶黎城民遭疫。有一年少比丘名禪提奉佛教。持摩訶神呪。往為辟之疫人皆愈。其禪提住彼國。二十九年。民安。至其遷化。民復遭疫。民思禪徥。遂往其住處。但見所嚼齒木擲地成林。林下有泉。民酌其水。折楊枝掃拂洒。病者皆愈。毒氣消亡。辟除眾惡。萬事吉祥故。

Recent popular customs dictate that on noxious festivals such as the Double Fifth, people always fill a basin with water, insert willow branches inside, and place it before the door to ward off evil. According to the Abhiṣeka-sūtra: "In the past, the people of the city of Vaiśālī suffered an epidemic. There was a young monk named Chanti (Kṣānti?) who, upholding the Buddha's instruction and keeping the Mahā-divine mantra, went to ward it off for them, and all the afflicted recovered. This Chanti lived in that country for twenty-nine years, and the people were peaceful. When he passed away, the people again suffered an epidemic. Longing for Chanti, the people went to where he had lived, but saw only the tooth-cleaning wood (dantakāṣṭha) he had chewed, which had been cast to the ground and grown into a forest. Under the forest was a spring. The people ladled its water, snapped off willow branches to sweep and sprinkle [the water], and all the sick recovered; the poisonous vapours dispersed and vanished, repelling all evil and making all affairs auspicious."