續高僧傳 17.20

17.20

釋僧善。姓席氏。絳郡正平人。童少出家。便從定業。與汲郡林落泉方公齊名。各聚其類。依巖服道。往還駱驛白鹿太行抱犢林慮等山。振名四遠歸宗殷滿。有弟子僧襲者。愍斯汾曲往延通化。善以山眾常業恐有乖離。雖經頻請曾未之許。襲曰。前後邀迎三十餘度。元元之情情無已已。磨踵有盡誓心難捨。善乃從焉。居住馬頭山中大行禪道。蒲虞晉絳荷襆相諠。眾聚繁多遂分為四部。即東西二林杯盤大黃等處是也。皆零房別室星散林巖。宴坐所指十一切入而為標據。徒屬五百肅然靜謐。仁壽之歲其道彌隆。及疾篤將極。告弟子曰。吾患腹中冷結者。昔在少年。山居服業。糧粒既斷。嬾往追求。噉小石子用充日給。因覺為病耳。死後可破腸看之。果如所言。又累曰。各勤修業不勞化俗。癈爾正務。若吾終後不須焚燎外損物命。可坐于瓮中埋之。以大業初年三月十一日。加坐如生。卒于大黃巖中。道俗依言而殯。僧襲本住絳州。結心定業。承習善公不虧其化。晚住晉州寶嚴寺。充僧直歲。監當稻田。見殺水陸諸蟲不勝其酷。因擲棄公名追崇故業。以善師終日他行不在。借訪時人又並終沒。遂齎諸供度就山設會。悲慟先迹顧奉無由。尋其遺骸莫知所在。忽聞爆聲振裂。響發林谷。見地分涌瓮出于外。骸骨如雪唯舌存焉。紅赤鮮映逾於生日。因取骨舌兩以為塔。襲以貞觀十五年正月九日卒於山舍。春秋六十有四。臨終神思安隱稱念而逝。時晉州西小榆山有沙門僧集者。苦節山林聚徒禪業。養蛇畜鼠。馴附可以手持。常現左右驅逐不去。有俗人來輒便自隱。

Śramaṇa Sengshan, surnamed Xi, was a native of Zhengping in Jiang Commandery. He left home in his childhood and immediately engaged in meditative pursuits. He was equally famous as Master Fang of Linluoquan in Jiji Commandery. Each gathered his followers and, relying on the cliffs, practiced the Way, traveling back and forth in continuous succession among mountains such as Bailu, Taihang, Baodu, and Linlü. His fame shook far and wide, and those who took refuge and gathered were crowded and full. He had a disciple named Sengxi, who, pitying the people of the Fen River bend, went to invite him to spread the teaching. Shan, considering that the constant work of the mountain assembly might be disrupted, had never consented despite frequent requests. Xi said, 'I have invited you more than thirty times before; my humble sincerity knows no end. Even if my heels are worn to nothing, it is hard to abandon my vowed resolution.' Shan then complied. He dwelt in Matou Mountain, where he broadly practiced the path of meditation. People from Pu, Yu, Jin, and Jiang came clamoring with bundles on their backs. The assembly gathered in such large numbers that it was divided into four groups, namely the East and West Forests, Beipan, and Dahuang. They were scattered across forest cliffs in isolated chambers and separate huts. The targets of their tranquil sitting were marked by the ten kṛtsnāyatanas. His five hundred disciples were solemn and tranquil. In the Renshou era, his Way flourished even more. When he was gravely ill and near his end, he told his disciples, 'The reason I suffer from cold stagnation in my abdomen is that in my youth, when living in the mountains to practice, grain supplies were exhausted. I was lazy to go and seek food, so I ate small pebbles to serve as my daily sustenance, and from that I realized it became an illness. After I die, you may cut open my intestines to see.' It turned out just as he had said. He also repeatedly instructed them, 'Each of you must diligently cultivate your practice and not labor to convert the worldly, which would disrupt your primary task. When I pass away, there is no need for cremation, which externally harms living beings; you may place me sitting inside a jar and bury it.' On the eleventh day of the third month in the first year of the Daye reign, he sat cross-legged as if alive and died in the Dahuang Cliff. Clergy and laity buried him in accordance with his words. Sengxi originally lived in Jiangzhou and set his mind on meditative pursuits, inheriting and practicing Master Shan's teachings without falling short of his transformation. Later he resided at Baoyan Temple in Jinzhou, serving as the monastic comptroller (zhisui) overseeing the paddy fields. Seeing the slaughter of various creatures on water and land, he could not bear the cruelty; he therefore cast aside his official title and pursued his former vocation. Because he was traveling elsewhere on the day Master Shan died, he inquired of contemporaries, but they had also all passed away. He then brought various offerings to the mountain and held an assembly; weeping bitterly over the traces of the past, he had no means of paying homage. Searching for his master's remains, no one knew where they were. Suddenly, an explosive, tearing sound shook the forest and valleys. He saw the earth split open and well up, and the jar came out to the outside. The skeleton was like snow, and only the tongue remained, glowing bright red even more than in life. Thereupon, he took the bones and the tongue to make two stupas. Xi died in his mountain cottage on the ninth day of the first month in the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan reign, at the age of sixty-four. At his end, his mental state was peaceful and secure; reciting [the Buddha's name], he passed away. At that time, in Xiaoyu Mountain west of Jinzhou, there was a śramaṇa named Sengji, who practiced rigorous austerities in the mountain forests and gathered disciples for meditation. He kept snakes and raised mice, which were so tame they could be held in the hand; they constantly appeared beside him and would not leave when shooed away, yet whenever lay people arrived, they would immediately hide themselves.