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

During the era of [Emperor] Wu-cheng of the [Northern] Qi (562-565), a person digging on the slope of Mount Kandong near Bingzhou came upon a patch of soil—yellowish white in color—that stood out in marked contrast from the ground around it. Probing further, he turned up an object that had the appearance of a pair of human lips, with a tongue, fresh red in color, sticking out between them. He reported the matter in a memorial [to the throne]. [The emperor] made inquiries among various learned scholars but could find no one who knew [the meaning of it]. When he heard of this, the mendicant Fashang (495-580), controller-in-chief [of the sangha], memorialized the throne saying, “This is the recompense of nondecay of the sense faculties that is achieved by devotees who [ritually] keep the Lotus Sūtra. It is proof that [this individual] recited [the scripture] more than a thousand times over.”

Subsequently, the emperor summoned the secretariat drafter, Gao Chen. “You are one inclined to faith,” he ordered, “go personally to look into this matter. Surely [this object] will have some sort of numinous power. Place it in a duly purified place, convene a maigre feast, and make offerings to it.”

Chen received the order and went to the site, where he assembled various Buddhist monks renowned for their devotion to the Lotus. Holding incense censers in hand and maintaining strict ceremonial purity, they circumambulated [the tongue] and offered prayers saying: “O Bodhisattva! Countless years have passed since you entered into nirvana. As one who has reverently received [the Lotus and kept it] flawlessly during this current age of the counterfeit dharma, we beseech you to manifest for us your [marvelous] stimulus and response (ganying).”

The instant they raised their voices the tongue and lips began to beat about on the altar top. Although no sound came forth, it looked as though it were chanting. Of those who witnessed it, there was not one whose hair didn’t stand on end. Chen reported the phenomenon. The [throne] ordered that it be stored away in a stone casket and moved to a stūpa chamber.