The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging: "I Dare Not Disparage You"

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.

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.

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.