Master Fatai: The Sutra That Fell into the River and Did Not Get Wet
Person：Fatai
Period：Sui dynasty (Meizhou)
The Chiyan ji files him under the Sui.
Reading preferences
事見《法華經顯應錄》「高僧」門「眉州泰法師」條，並見《法華經持驗記》隋朝「隋釋法泰」條。兩本文字大同。以下白話譯註依《持驗記》。
故事
法泰法師，眉州隆山人，常誦《法華經》，並手寫經一部，屢有靈瑞感應。
一次，他把寫好的經送往益州裝潢，途中經卷忽然墮入笮橋下的水中，怎麼找也找不到。法泰悲泣流淚，沿著河岸上下巡行。忽然，他望見小洲之上有一個包袱，命人取來——正是那部經卷：水草樹枝托著它，居然沒有一處沾濕。
法泰不勝歡喜，立即把經送到成都裝潢完成，以檀香木為經軸，備極莊嚴，迎還供養於本寺。從此每夜異香滿室。他持誦愈勤，每夜必誦一遍。
當時有位彪法師在寺中講經。一天晚上，他走到法泰誦經的地方，看見有許多人眾胡跪合掌，圍繞聽經——彪法師驚汗直流，退了出去。
編者省思
這是一則「物證式」的感應記載：經卷本身成為主角。寫經、裝潢、墮水、復得、不濕、異香、夜誦、人眾繞聽——每個環節都可感知、可檢驗。原書的用意，在於宣示經卷之神聖不可毀壞（草木擎之，宛無濕處），以及誦經者感召非人之護持（胡跪合掌的人眾，是感應錄慣見的「冥眾聽經」意象）。
附帶一提，本條是古代書籍流通史的有趣切片：寫經 → 裝潢（裝裱）→ 檀香軸 → 供養本寺，完整呈現一部唐代以前「豪華本」佛經的製作流程。
Related stories
Samantabhadra's Exhortation: Four Dharmas for Obtaining the Sutra
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva; Śākyamuni BuddhaWithin 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: The Translator Whose Tongue Did Not Burn
KumārajīvaEastern 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.
Master Huiqing: In the Storm, Hands That Seemed to Hold the Boat
HuiqingYuanjia 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.
Master Tanyi: Samantabhadra Comes to Test Him — a Mind Like the Moon in Water
TanyiEastern 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.