Zhu Ruyi: Ten Years Embroidering the Lotus Sutra
Person：Zhu Ruyi
Period：Southern Song (Siming)
Southern Song; wife of a man of the Xue household in Siming; the Chiyan ji gives the fourth Shaoxi year.
Reading preferences
以下依所列原典轉述；神異內容均為原書所載。
故事
朱如一是四明薛氏之妻。《法華經顯應錄》記，她二十餘歲向丈夫表明清淨自居，以素服齋潔生活。她請經生在黃絹上書寫《法華經》七軸，再親手以碧色絲茸繡成文字，用了十年才完成。
原書還記她繡彌陀與觀音、禮敬經題、學會背誦《法華經》，並勸人念阿彌陀佛。文中所述二十萬人及大會供眾等數目，保留為原書的弘化敘述，不當成這次獨立查證的歷史統計。
《顯應錄》說，她微疾臨終時欲起跏趺，丈夫請她就寢，後來右脇而終，年三十七。《法華經持驗記》另有較短見證，增加刺繡時針鋒連獲舍利的記載，記紹熙四年，並載她臨終自稱往生已定。這些不同細節各留在自己的見證中，不拼成原書都說過的單一版本。
她的念佛脈絡，使本篇可列為淨土相關閱讀，但生前自述與臨終姿勢不是敘述者已證明往生極樂。此稿依「經解讀推斷」標示，翻譯仍是待獨立審校的編輯初稿。
編者省思（非原典）
長期手作與持續用心，是比宏大數量更容易連到生活的線索。今日可依能力選擇書寫、整理或協助流通，不必以刺繡年限、禮拜數量與疾病處理方式衡量信心。
Related stories
Master Bacheng: Sixty Years of Recitation, a Single Prayer for the West
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.
Master Huiming: A Vow Set Westward, "All Saw the Buddha Come"
HuimingNorthern 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 Yimin: "By the Power of This Sutra", Passing Away Facing West
Liu Chengzhi, styled YiminEastern 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.
Master Daoang: Declining Tuṣita, Choosing the West
DaoangSui–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.