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Lotus Sutra Stories
S023Peace & Well-being

Zhang Qing: Care for Prisoners as Part of Daily Responsibility

Person:Zhang Qing

Period:Northern Song, Xiangfu era (Bianjing)

Northern Song, Xiangfu era; Bianjing.

Reading preferences

以下依所列原典轉述;神異內容均為原書所載。

故事

《法華經持驗記》記北宋祥符年間,汴京有司獄張慶,平日以慈心與謹慎自持。他留意囚人的飲食、湯藥和臥具是否精潔,暑月尤其勤於照顧及清理。

他常提醒同事,人遭逢刑法,本已不幸;若管理者不知體恤,受刑者還能向何處申訴?他自己長年持誦《法華經》,遇到重囚將被處決,便為之齋素誦經一個月。對囚人,他又勸有罪者承認己過,不要誣指良善而加重自己的罪責。

同一條還記妻袁氏四十八歲染疫去世,三日後復甦,自述有白衣大士引她離開污穢之處,並提到張慶陰德與子嗣。其後生子、子孫仕宦及張慶八十二歲無疾而終,都是原書續述的內容,不能轉成行善必得子嗣、顯官或長壽的保證。

這則故事最適合先讀見的,是一位在家管理者如何把慈慎放進對人的責任:不因對方是囚人,就省略清潔、飲食、醫藥與申訴處境。它所描述的持誦,也與這些具體照顧並列。

編者省思(非原典)

在自己的工作範圍內,照顧容易被忽略者的基本需要,是可供今天思考的方向。現代職務仍應依法律與專業要求履行,不能用宗教功課代替實際照護。

The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging: "I Dare Not Disparage You" — Read story

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

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.

Peace & Well-beingScriptural narrativeDraft translation1 primary witness
Samantabhadra's Exhortation: Four Dharmas for Obtaining the Sutra — Read story

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.

Peace & Well-beingScriptural narrativeDraft translation1 primary witness
The Monk Fada: 'When the Mind Awakens, It Turns the Lotus Sutra' — Read story

The Monk Fada: 'When the Mind Awakens, It Turns the Lotus Sutra'

Fada; the Sixth Patriarch HuinengTang 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.'

Peace & Well-beingDraft translation1 primary witness
Master Zhicong: Four Tigers Cross with Him; He Passes Away Seated — Read story

Master Zhicong: Four Tigers Cross with Him; He Passes Away Seated

ZhicongSui–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.

Peace & Well-beingDraft translation2 primary witnesses