大唐內典錄 10.60

10.60

Formerly in Xi Prefecture, I knew Chan Master Tanyun, a man of Dingzhou. He was seventy years old. In the chaos at the end of the Sui, he secluded himself on Mount Bigan in Lishi. He constantly recited the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and wished to copy the sūtra, but there was no one of like mind. Years accumulated in this way, when suddenly a scholar arrived out of nowhere, saying, "Whatever purity you desire, I am able to practice it all." Thereupon, early in the morning after eating, he bathed, donned clean robes, received the eight precepts, and entered the clean chamber. Holding sandalwood incense in his mouth, burning incense, and hanging banners, he copied it in complete silence. Only at dusk did he emerge. The next day was again like the first, and he never complained of fatigue. When the sūtra copying was completed, Tanyun offered him donations according to the Dharma, and escorted him out the gate; in an instant, he vanished. Even the mounting and paper-treating were entirely in accord with the saddharma. Yun received, upheld, and read it; it was wrapped in seven layers of knots, and at each layer he washed his hands once with fragrant water, never temporarily neglecting this. Later, encountering barbarian bandits, he placed the sūtra in a box and set it upon a high cliff. After a year, when the bandits quieted down, he searched for it but could not find it. Searching everywhere in anxiety, he finally obtained it beneath the cliff. The box and cloth were rotten and decayed; sifting through the rot, he saw the sūtra fresh and fine as before. In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, I personally saw it.