大唐內典錄 10.45

10.45

Under the Former Qi, during the Yongming era, there was Shi Huijin of Gaozuo Monastery in the capital Yang[zhou]. In his youth, he was bold and valiant, an errant knight. At the age of forty, he suddenly awakened to impermanence. Thereupon, he left the household, wore coarse cloth robes, ate vegetables, and vowed to recite the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Straining his mind with arduous effort, he would fall ill whenever he took up the scrolls. He then made a vow to produce one hundred copies [of the sūtra] to repent of his past obstacles. When he had just gathered one thousand six hundred coins, thieves came to demand property. Huijin showed them the sūtra money; the thieves felt ashamed and retreated. Thereafter, he eventually completed the one hundred copies, and his chronic illness also abated. Having both recited the sūtra to completion and fulfilled his vow, he redirected this merit of recitation to aspire for rebirth in the Land of Peace and Sustenance (Sukhāvatī). He heard a voice in the sky announcing: 'Your vow has been fulfilled; you will certainly attain rebirth.' He then died without illness at the age of more than eighty.