All Stories

The monk Never Disparaging (a previous incarnation of Śākyamuni Buddha)|Remote past, within the Lotus Sutra narrative (during the semblance-dharma of Buddha Bhīṣmagarjitasvara)

As told in the Lotus Sutra: in the semblance-dharma age a monk bowed to everyone he met, saying "I dare not disparage you, for you shall all become Buddhas." Though mocked and stoned, he never altered his practice; at the end of his life he heard the Lotus Sutra proclaimed in open space and attained purity of the six senses. The Buddha identifies that monk as his own former self.

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva; Śākyamuni Buddha|Within the Lotus Sutra narrative (the assembly on Vulture Peak)

In the sutra's final chapter, Samantabhadra arrives from the eastern realm of the Buddha Jewel-Majesty-Virtue-Sovereign-King to ask how beings will obtain the sutra after the Tathāgata's passing. The Buddha names four dharmas; Samantabhadra then vows to protect upholders of the sutra in the later evil age, manifesting mounted on his six-tusked white elephant, and teaching back any line or verse they forget.

Kumārajīva|Eastern Jin / Later Qin (344–413)

The Kuchean monk Kumārajīva, invited to Chang'an by Yao Xing, translated the Lotus Sutra at Caotang Monastery. Before dying he vowed that if his translations were without error, his tongue would remain unburnt after cremation — and so it proved. Both response-compilations used by this site open with him.

Bacheng (printed in the source with a variant glyph of 跋)|Eastern Jin (Chang'an)

Bacheng became a monk at twenty with dull faculties, vowing to recite the Lotus Sutra for rebirth in the West. He memorised a line a day, sometimes half a verse, completing the sutra only at eighty. When a heavenly envoy came to invite him to Trāyastriṃśā he declined — his prayer was solely for Ultimate Bliss. He later dreamt of a jeweled pagoda and the welcoming stairway of the Western jeweled city, arranged a communal offering, asked his disciples whether they saw the thousand Buddhas and smelled the uncanny fragrance, then passed away facing west.

Huiming|Northern Zhou (d. 569)

Master Huiming of Northern Zhou memorised the Lotus Sutra at fifteen and devoted himself to the repentance rites. Studying meditation with Chan master Fayin, the two walked one evening in a pine grove, talking and smiling as they set their vow westward. In the eleventh month of the third Tianhe year he sat cross-legged facing west reciting the Buddha's name; everyone present saw the Buddha come as he joined his palms and passed away amid uncanny fragrance and music. Eight days later Fayin too died seated, with the same auspicious signs.

Liu Chengzhi, styled Yimin|Eastern Jin (d. 410)

Liu Chengzhi of the Eastern Jin left office for Mount Lu, joining Huiyuan's Lotus Society to practise the Pure Land path together. In the samādhi of Buddha-recollection he repeatedly saw the Buddha's light, Amitābha's welcoming touch, and himself drinking the water of eight virtues in the jeweled pool. At the end he offered incense before the sacred images — first to Śākyamuni, then to Amitābha, and third to the Lotus Sutra: "By the power of this sutra I shall be reborn." He passed away facing west with palms joined; the fragrance lasted seven days.

Daoang|Sui–early Tang (Xiangzhou)

Master Daoang of Kaiyuan Monastery in Xiangzhou regularly lectured on the Lotus Sutra. Mid-lecture one day, a host of sages with banners and music descended from the sky, announcing that the Tuṣita heaven had come especially to welcome him. 'Heaven is the root of birth-and-death,' he replied; 'I have never aspired to it — my aspiration is the West alone.' They vanished. Presently music resounded from the west; he charged the assembly to 'recite Amitābha diligently and be born together in the pure land', the incense burner dropped from his hand, and he closed his eyes on the high seat. The source cites the Wangsheng lüezhuan.

Kejiu|Northern Song (d. after 1093)

Kejiu of Kaiyuan Monastery in Siming constantly recited the Lotus Sutra and was known as 'Master Jiu of the Lotus'. A close friend of Su Shi, he died without illness in 1093 and revived after three days, reporting that he had travelled in spirit to the Pure Land: what he saw matched the Contemplation Sutra exactly, and on the lotus platforms of the jeweled pool were written the names of those yet to be born — a purple-gold platform for the monk Xun (already born), golden platforms for Sun the Twelfth and for Kejiu himself, a silver platform for the nun Xu. Five years on, the nun died with fragrance filling her room; seven years on, Sun died to celestial music — each just as he had said.

Guanjing (Zhang'an Zongchi)|Sui–Tang (561–632)

Guanjing of Zhang'an set down in writing every doctrine the Tiantai master Zhiyi expounded. For a dying villager thirty li away he recited the Lotus Sutra and burned sandalwood — the patient smelled it from afar and recovered; he vowed that the islet of Anzhou might be levelled, and white sand welled up smooth as a jade mirror; lecturing the Nirvana Sutra amid sea-raiders, the brigands saw weapon-bearing giants a zhang tall and fled. In 632, ill, with uncanny fragrance in his room, he quoted the Maitreya Sutra ('when the Buddha enters nirvana, incense-smoke like clouds') and passed away. Years earlier the Chan master Zhixi had already recorded a vision: in Tuṣita, beside Zhiyi's seat, one seat stood empty — 'six years hence, Master Guanjing ascends to teach here.' The source cites Gu Shan's Xianju bian.

Fatai|Sui dynasty (Meizhou)

Fatai of Meizhou in Sui times constantly recited the Lotus Sutra and copied it out by hand. Sent to Yizhou for mounting, the scroll fell from the Zao bridge into the water and could not be found; he wept and searched along the bank — then saw a bundle on a small islet. It was the sutra, held up by grass and branches, without a single wet spot. Mounted with sandalwood rollers and returned, it filled the room each night with uncanny fragrance. Master Biao, visiting his recitation hall at night, saw a crowd kneeling with palms joined — and withdrew in a sweat.

Fada; the Sixth Patriarch Huineng|Tang dynasty (Caoxi)

Fada of Hongzhou left home at seven and spent his life reciting the Lotus Sutra. Visiting the Sixth Patriarch at Caoxi, he was asked what the sutra's purport was; told to unfold and read it, he had barely begun the Parable chapter when the Patriarch stopped him, expounded the 'one great matter' as the Buddha's insight — 'your own mind itself, nothing else besides' — and gave the verse 'when the mind is deluded it is turned by the Lotus Sutra; when the mind awakens, it turns the Lotus Sutra'. Fada wept, awakened, and confessed: 'Three thousand recitations of the sutra — undone by one sentence at Caoxi.'

Tanwujie (Dharmodgata)|Early Yuanjia era, Liu Song (a pilgrim to the Western Regions)

In the early Yuanjia era of the Liu Song, the monk Tanwujie of Huanglong, austere and diligent, constantly recited the Universal Gate chapter of the Lotus Sutra. With twenty-five followers he travelled west to India through every peril. Near Srāvastī the party met a herd of elephants; Tanwujie recited with devotion, and a lion charged from the forest, putting the elephants to flight. Next a roaring herd of wild buffaloes bore down; he recited with redoubled vigour, and a great vulture swooped down, scattering the buffaloes without a trace — and so the party escaped. The source cites the Fayuan zhulin.

Huiqing|Yuanjia era, Liu Song (Mount Lu)

Huiqing of the Liu Song, a Guangling man living on Mount Lu, had mastered both sutras and Vinaya and kept the precepts with rigour. Reciting the Lotus Sutra at night, he would hear fingers snapping in the dark in applause. Crossing the river in the Yuanjia era his boat met a gale and was on the point of capsizing; he only recited on without break, and felt the boat borne through the waves as if hands were pulling it — in a moment it reached the bank. From then on he recited without tiring into old age. The source cites the Fayuan zhulin.

Zhicong|Sui–Tang transition (533–631?)

When Sui collapsed, Zhicong could find no way home and hid in the reeds by the river, reciting the Lotus Sutra — seven days without hunger, four tigers tame about him. An old man came with a small boat to ferry him across; the tigers crouched and would not leave. 'Are you coming too?' he asked, and they rose, crossed with him to the south bank, where boat and old man vanished. He settled at Qixia Monastery; in the Zhenguan era, ninety-nine years old, he died seated upright, and the tigers went away mourning.

Fazhi (and the listening pheasant / the future Tanyi)|Eastern Jin (Yuhang)

In the Eastern Jin, Fazhi built a hut in the Yuhang hills and recited the Lotus Sutra. A pheasant nested beside the hut; whenever it heard the recitation it flew down and stood by his seat as though listening — so for seven years. One day it drooped, and he stroked it: 'Though you are of the feathered kind, you listen to the sutra; shed this karmic body and you shall be born among humans.' Next dawn it died. That night a boy bowed twice in a dream: 'I am that pheasant; by listening to the sutra I escaped the feathered kind and am now born a boy in the Wang family before the hill; three down-feathers remain under my right arm as proof.' At daybreak Fazhi went to ask — it was so. The boy ordained at seven, took the tonsure at sixteen; because of the feathers he was named Tanyi ('Wing'), and received the Lotus without missing a word. When Fazhi died, Tanyi became the second patriarch of that mountain.

Tanyi|Eastern Jin (d. after c. 421)

Tanyi (the pheasant of Fazhi's sutra-recitation in a former life, S015) entered Mount Qinwang in Kuaiji, built the Lotus Hermitage, and recited the Lotus Sutra there for twelve years. One evening a woman in embroidered robes arrived carrying a basket with a white piglet and two stalks of garlic, begging a night's lodging; at midnight she cried out with belly-pain and begged him to massage her — he wrapped his staff in cloth and massaged from a distance. At dawn her robes turned to auspicious cloud, the pig to a white elephant, the garlic to twin lotuses, and she declared: 'I am Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. You shall soon join my assembly, and I have come to test you: your mind is like the moon in water — it cannot be stained.' Flowers rained from heaven, the earth trembled. Governor Meng Yi reported to the throne, which decreed the building of Fahua Monastery — today's Tianyi Monastery. After his death his true body remained on the mountain.

Zhu Daosheng|Eastern Jin (d. 434)

Zhu Daosheng, ordained under Zhu Fatai, dwelt seven years in seclusion on Mount Lu, constantly reciting the Lotus Sutra. He later studied under Kumārajīva in Guanzhong; his dialectic surpassed all, and men called his understanding divine. Lecturing at Huqiu on the theme that even icchantikas possess buddha-nature, the very stones nodded. At Bantang, while he recited the sutra, a pheasant came regularly to listen; he later heard it had been reborn as a boy who ordained, recited the Lotus, and died young — at the grave a light shone one night, and on opening it a tongue was found bearing a green lotus, whereupon a stupa and later a monastery arose (today's Bantang Monastery). His theses — 'merit receives no recompense' and 'awakening is sudden' — the textualists damned as heresy; so he swore before the assembly: if his teaching did not contradict the sutras, he would die seated upon the lion seat. When the Great Nirvana Sutra arrived and confirmed him, he ascended the seat to teach; as the session closed, his chowry dropped from his hand, and he passed away sitting upright, composed as in meditation.

Fache|Tang dynasty (Puzhou)

Fache of the Tang, a Jiangzhou man, had mastered the Lotus Sutra and used it constantly to draw and convert people. He settled on the lone hill of Puzhou and founded a hermitage; the site was high and dry without a spring, but after years of devoted practice clear water burst forth, and Prefect Fang Renyu inscribed the plaque 'Sunken Spring' for the monastery. On the road he met a leper, led him into the hills, dug him a cave, fed him, and set him to reciting the Lotus Sutra. The man could not read and was dull of mind besides; the master taught him line upon line and never once wearied. By the sixth fascicle the disease was visibly receding; when the sutra was complete, eyebrows and beard had grown again, and his skin was as it had been.

Fayun|Liang dynasty (467–529)

Fayun of the Liang, of the Zhou family of Yangxian, was born with cloud-vapour filling the room, and ordained at seven. At thirty he lectured on the Lotus and the Vimalakīrti with dialectic like a rising wind, and students flocked to him; Emperor Wu of Liang placed him over Guangzhai Monastery. Alone in a secluded cliff he once lectured the sutra to rows of stones, breaking a pine twig for a whisk. Lecturing it, celestial flowers fell like flying snow filling the sky, drifted into the hall, hung in the air without falling, and departed only when the lecture ended. The master Zhi Gong begged him to expound the 'lion's roar', and snapped his fingers in praise at the telling. When the emperor prayed for rain during a drought, Zhi Gong advised summoning Fayun; lecturing, at the phrase 'its moisture pervades all' the sky poured down its bounty. At Yuan Ang's home a resident monk vowed to attain wisdom like Fayun's, and dreamt of a monk who told him: Master Fayun was already lecturing this sutra in the days of Dipankara Buddha — how could you hope to rival him at a stroke? The source cites the Xu Gaoseng zhuan.

Wang Fanxing|Sui (Linyi)

Blind from childhood, Wang Fanxing learned the Lotus Sutra orally from his mother. The source describes continued blindness, daily handwork and sustained recitation, followed by an account of an intact tongue after death.

Yan Gong|Sui (Yangdu)

Yan Gong established a sutra-copying hall at home, supported scribes and checked their work. The account also relates religious stories of support and the preservation of scriptures.

Shi Heshi|Tang (capital region)

A clerk named Shi Heshi kept compassion and patience in mind while reciting alongside his duties. A difficult phrase remains unresolved; signs at death are attributed to the source.

Zhang Qing|Northern Song, Xiangfu era (Bianjing)

Prison official Zhang Qing attended to prisoners’ food, medicine and bedding, urged honesty and recited for people facing execution. Accounts of his wife’s revival and descendants remain religious testimony.

Elder Lu|Song (Huzhou)

Elder Lu left inherited slaughter work, learned two sutras and dedicated his repentance to beings he had killed. The source’s duration is inconsistent and does not explicitly declare his completed Pure Land rebirth.

An unnamed attendant in Su Chang’s household|Tang, Wude era

An unnamed attendant in Su Chang’s household regularly read the sutra. The source reports her survival with its case during a shipwreck and continued practice after marriage; she is not the prefect’s daughter.

Yang Yun|Period unknown (Huzhou)

Yang Yun prepared respectfully before copying. The account uses two dreams and an infant’s reaction to narrate human rebirth in the Cai household, not completed rebirth in Sukhāvatī.

Lady Shen|Southern Song, early Shaoxing era (Mingzhou)

Lady Shen listened steadily to her mother-in-law’s recitation. Her wish to meet in an assembly of the Buddhas does not name the Western Pure Land; the source continues with accounts of seated death and relics.

Zhu Ruyi|Southern Song (Siming)

Zhu Ruyi spent ten years embroidering the Lotus Sutra and encouraged Amitabha-recitation. The two witnesses remain separate; a statement made before death does not establish completed rebirth.

Lady Lu|Song (Qiantang)

Lady Lu, wife of Wang Yu, sustained recitation, repentance and Buddha-recitation for thirty years. Her Pure Land intention is explicit, but the signs at death do not explicitly establish completed rebirth in Sukhāvatī.