7. Hui-chan
[OMITTED]
The nun Hui-chan (Deep Wisdom) of Establishing Blessings
Convent
Hui-chan's secular surname was Jen, and her family was originally
from the city of P'eng-ch'eng [long a home to Buddhists, in northeast
China]. Of extraordinary countenance and high moral standards,
Hui-chan took as her vocation the saving of living beings from the suffering
of birth and death. She found great joy in wearing her rough
clothing and eating vegetarian food. Once when she was carrying
rather than wearing her outer robe as she traveled over a mountain,
she encountered a band of robbers. They tried to attack her with
knives, but [as proof of the power of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin chapter
in The Flower of the Law Scripture, which promises that help will
be vouchsafed to those who call on Kuan-yin in times of distress] the
robbers' hands were paralyzed.[63]
Foiled in the attempt to kill her, they wanted to take the robe she
was carrying over her shoulder. Hui-chan laughed gaily and said to
them, "You wanted a lot, but what you are going to get is worth very
little," and she handed over not only the robe she was carrying but also
her new lower skirt from inside the robe she was wearing. Shamed, the
robbers tried to return both robes to her, but she tossed the clothing
aside and went on.
In the second year of the chien-yüan reign period (344), she went
south across the Yangtze River.[64] The minister of public works, Ho
Ch'ung (292-346), respected her greatly and requested her to live in
Establishing Blessings Convent.
[63]
The part of the sentence beginning "as proof" and ending "in times of
distress" does not appear in the Chinese text. Nevertheless, this exact circumstance,
i.e., one who is about to be harmed by a robber wielding a knife or
staff calls on the name of the bodhisattva Kuan-yin and is kept safe from harm
because the robber cannot then raise up his hands, is described in the Flower
of the Law Scripture, the earlier translation by Chu Fa-hu (d. 310+) of the
Western Chin dynasty (T. 9, no. 263, 129.a.11ff). The other translation of
this scripture (T. 9, no. 262), that by Kumārajīva (d. 409 or 413), does not
include the detail that the robber would be unable to raise up his hands against
his victim (T. 9, no. 262, 56.c.16ff).
[64]
Chien-yüan reign period (344) is a more likely date than 348 given in
biography 5 because Ho Ch'ung died in 346. See n. 55, above.
