大唐內典錄 10.65

10.65

隋開皇中。蔣州人嚴恭者。於郭下造精舍寫法華經。清淨供給。書生歡喜。常有十人道俗送直。恭親撿挍勞不告倦。甞有人從貸經錢一萬。恭不獲已與之。貸者得錢船載。中路傾覆錢失而人不溺。是日恭入錢庫。見一萬錢濕如水澆怪之。後見所貸錢人。方知其沒溺。又商人至宮亭湖祭神上物。夜夢神云。倩君以所送物與嚴法華。令經用也。及覺所上之物在前。又恭至市買紙少錢。忽有人持三千錢授恭曰。助君買紙。言訖不見。又有漁人。夜見江中火焰焰浮來。以船迎之。乃是經函。及明尋視。乃是嚴家經。其後發願。略云。無一字而不經眼。無一字而不用心。及大業末子孫猶傳經業。群盜相約不入其里。里人賴之。至今故業猶爾。

During the Kaihuang era of the Sui, Yan Gong, a man of Jiangzhou, built a vihāra beneath the outer wall to copy the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. The supplies provided were pure, and the scribes rejoiced. Often there were ten people, monastic and lay, who sent payments. Gong personally inspected and collated, never complaining of fatigue. Once someone borrowed ten thousand cash of sūtra funds from him; Gong, having no alternative, gave it to him. The borrower obtained the money and loaded it onto a boat, which capsized midway; the money was lost, but the person did not drown. On that day Gong entered the treasury and saw ten thousand cash wet as if drenched with water, and marveled at it. Later he met the man who borrowed the money and only then learned of the capsizing. Furthermore, a merchant went to Lake Gongting to sacrifice and present goods to the deity. That night he dreamed that the deity said, "I trouble you to take the presented goods and give them to Yan of the Lotus Sūtra for sūtra expenses." When he awoke, the presented goods were before him. Furthermore, when Gong went to the market to buy paper and was short of money, someone suddenly held out three thousand cash, gave it to Gong, and said, "To assist you in buying paper." Having spoken, he vanished. Furthermore, a fisherman at night saw blazing flames floating down the river; meeting it with a boat, it was a sūtra casket. At dawn he inspected it, and found it was a sūtra belonging to the Yan family. Later he made a vow, roughly stating, "Not a single character will fail to pass before my eyes; not a single character will fail to be mindfully attended to." By the end of the Daye era, his descendants still transmitted the sūtra enterprise. Bandits agreed among themselves not to enter their village, and the villagers relied upon them. Even today, the old enterprise continues as such.