Note: This is another in the monthly excerpts from “Tales of the Lotus Sutra.”

The Buddhist monk Zhiye had the secular surname of Yang. He left home as a small boy and took up residence at Changle Monastery in Yangzhou. He kept the monastic precepts assiduously and learned to recite the Lotus Sūtra with such fluency that the lines flowed from his mouth like a stream of water from a vase. At the end of the Daye era of the Sui [617], Yuwen Huaji committed the heinous act of murdering Emperor Yang in the palace bathhouse. Thereupon the world fell apart and the populace was thrown into famine. Residents scattered and [the region] became a maelstrom [of chaos], with the price of rice soaring to ten thousand cash amidst the tumult. Zhiye at the time was living in a small room of a detached cloister, where he was engaged in uninterrupted recitation of the Lotus Sūtra. Consequently, he died of starvation in his chamber. There was no one to bury him, and the room itself collapsed around him, trapping his remains beneath it.

When peace was finally restored during the Yining era [617-618], a single stalk of lotus flower suddenly appeared on the spot. Its radiantly colored petals opened forth to display the most extraordinary freshness and beauty. Monks and laity alike were struck with awe, and no one could think of an explanation for it. At that time, an old monk who was a former resident of the monastery realized what was going on and said, “There was once a monk who devoted himself exclusively to recitation of the Lotus Sūtra on this site. He must have perished here as a result of the turmoil of the times. Since there would have been no one to bury him, his bones are probably still here, and [this lotus has appeared] as a result of the monk’s spiritual potency.”

They cleared away the debris around the stalk of the flower until they un covered his skeleton. It turned out that the blue lotus flower had grown up through the skull and was rooted beneath the tongue. The tongue itself was as though still alive, showing no sign of decomposition whatsoever. The monastic assembly took the tongue and blossom to the head of the hall. They rang the bell, gathered the monks, and performed cyclic recitation of the Lotus. When the tongue heard the scripture it appeared to be able to move about. Once local monks and laymen heard of it, sightseers gathered around forming a solid human wall. There wasn’t one who didn’t sigh in admiration. All made the supreme resolution [to seek buddhahood].