大唐內典錄 10.62

10.62

河東有練行尼。常讀誦法華訪工書者寫之。價酬數倍。而潔淨翹勤有甚餘者。一起一浴然香熏衣。筒中出息通於壁外。七卷之功八年乃就。龍門寺僧法端。集眾講經。借此尼經以為揩定。尼固不與。端責之。事不獲已。乃自送付端。端開讀之。唯見黃紙了無文字。餘卷亦爾。端愧悔還尼。尼悲泣受已。香水澆函頂戴繞佛。七日不休。開視文字如故。即貞觀二年端自說之。

In Hedong there was a nun of refined practice who constantly read and recited the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, seeking someone skilled in calligraphy to copy it. The payment she offered was several times the ordinary rate, and her purity and diligent devotion surpassed that of others. For every single rising, she bathed once, burning incense to perfume her robes, and exhaled her breath through a tube leading outside the wall. The work on the seven fascicles took eight years to complete. The monk Faduan of Longmen Si gathered an assembly to lecture on the sūtra, and wanted to borrow this nun's sūtra as a standard text. The nun firmly refused to give it. Duan reproached her, and with no alternative, she personally delivered and gave it to Duan. When Duan opened and read it, he saw only yellow paper with no characters whatsoever; the other fascicles were also like this. Ashamed and remorseful, Duan returned it to the nun. Weeping with sorrow, the nun received it, poured fragrant water over the casket, bore it upon her head, and circumambulated the Buddha for seven days without rest. When she opened and looked at it, the characters were as before. In the second year of Zhenguan, Duan himself recounted this.