高僧傳 10.44

10.44

Shao Shuo had the original surname Shao and the personal name Shuo, and was a native of Shikang. He had no fixed dwelling and was bewildered as if mad, having a large mouth and coarse, unsightly facial features. Young children liked to pursue and tease him. Sometimes he entered taverns and drank deeply with others. Yet by nature he loved the Buddhadharma; whenever he saw images, he never failed to bow in veneration, utter praises, and weep with poignant emotion. Shuo originally had three sons and two daughters; his eldest son, Huisheng, had also renounced the household. At the beginning of the Song dynasty, Shuo also renounced the household to enter the path, calling himself Master Shuo. When coming and going, he did not distinguish day from night. Traveling through the various counties of the Yi region and going among the Man tribes, he made jokes according to circumstance, adapting them to encourage good deeds. When he went to someone's house and slept on the ground, someone in that house was sure to die. When he begged someone for a fine mat, a young child was sure to perish; the people of the time all took these as omens. On the eighth day of the fourth month, when images were paraded in Chengdu, Shuo crawled on the ground in the crowd imitating the shape of a lion. That day, other commanderies and counties also reported seeing Shuo assume the shape of a lion, and they then realized he was bilocating.