續高僧傳 20.29

20.29

釋智聰。未詳何人。昔住楊都白馬寺。後住止觀專聽三論。陳平後度江住楊州安樂寺。大業既崩思歸無計。隱江荻中誦法華經七日不饑。恒有四虎遶之而已。不食已來經今十日。聰曰。吾命須臾。卿須可食。虎曰。造天立地無有此理。忽有一翁年可八十。掖下挾船曰。師欲度江栖霞住者。可即上船。四虎一時目中淚出。聰曰。救危拔難正在今日可迎四虎。於是利涉往達南岸。船及老人不知何在。聰領四虎同至栖霞舍利塔西。經行坐禪誓不寢臥。眾徒八十咸不出院。若有凶事一虎入寺大聲告眾。由此驚悟每以為式。聰以山林幽遠糧粒艱阻。乃合率楊州三百清信以為米社人別一石年一送之。由此山糧供給。道俗乃至禽獸通皆濟給。至貞觀二十二年四月八日。小食訖往止觀寺。禮大師影像執鑪遍禮。又往興皇墓所禮拜。還歸本房安坐而卒。異香充溢。丹陽一郭受戒道俗三千餘人。奔走山服哀慟林野。時年九十九矣。

Shi Zhicong—it is not known who he was. In the past, he resided at Baima Monastery in the capital of Yang, and later resided at Zhiguan, focusing on listening to the Three Treatises. After the pacification of Chen, he crossed the river to reside at Anle Monastery in Yangzhou. After the collapse of the Daye era, he had no way to return. Hiding among the reeds along the river, he recited the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra* for seven days without hunger. There were constantly four tigers merely encircling him. Since he had ceased eating, ten days had now passed. Zhicong said, "My life will last but a moment; you may eat me if you must." The tigers said, "Since the making of heaven and the establishment of earth, there has never been such a principle." Suddenly an old man of about eighty years appeared, holding a boat under his arm, and said, "If the master wishes to cross the river to dwell at Qixia, you may board the boat at once." Tears poured forth all at once from the eyes of the four tigers. Zhicong said, "Rescuing from peril and pulling out of distress is precisely for this day; you may welcome the four tigers." Thereupon he crossed smoothly and reached the southern bank; the boat and the old man were nowhere to be seen. Zhicong led the four tigers together to the west of the relics pagoda at Qixia, where he performed walking meditation and sat in dhyāna, vowing never to lie down to sleep. His eighty disciples none left the courtyard. If there was an ominous event, one tiger would enter the monastery and roar loudly to inform the assembly; thus alerted and awakened, they always took it as a model. Because the mountain forest was remote and grain was difficult to obtain, Zhicong gathered together three hundred faithful laymen in Yangzhou to form a rice association, each person contributing one shi delivered once a year. By this means, mountain provisions were supplied, and monastics, laity, and even birds and beasts were all sustained. On the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, after eating his morning meal, he went to Zhiguan Monastery, paid homage before the portrait of the Great Master, and walked around holding a censer to pay universal homage. He also went to the tomb of Xinghuang to pay homage. Returning to his original room, he sat peacefully and died. An extraordinary fragrance filled the room. More than three thousand ordained and lay people in the entire town of Danyang who had received the precepts hurried in mountain attire, lamenting sorrowfully in the woods and wilds. He was ninety-nine years of age.