續高僧傳 25.128

25.128

襄州禪居寺岑闍梨者。未詳何人。住寺禪念為業。有先見之明。而寺居山藪。資給素少粒食不繼。岑每日將坩入郭。乞酒而飲。又乞滿坩。可三斗許。將還在道行飲達寺。坩亦空竭。明日復爾。在寺解齋。將篤坩。就厨請粥三升。仍挂杖頭入眾。以杖打僧頭。從上至下。人別一擊。日日如是。人以其卓越異常。或疑打已災散。不辭受之。岑將粥入房。舊養黧犬一頭。并一寺內鼠乃有數千。每旦來集。犬鼠同食。庭中堛滿。道俗共觀。一時失一鼠。岑悲惋無聊。必是犬殺。便告責犬。犬便銜來。岑見懊惱。以杖捶犬。將鼠埋已悲哀慟哭。寺僧被鼠囓衣及箱。以告於岑。岑總召諸鼠。各令相保。一鼠無保。岑曰。汝何囓人衣。杖捶之。鼠不敢動。今為寺貧。便於講堂東北白馬泉下濼中遷記。某處為厨庫某處為倉稟。人並笑之。經宿水縮地出。如語便作。遂令豐渥。又遙記云。却後十六年。當有愚人於寺南立重閣者。然寺基業不虧。鬪訟不可住耳。永徽中恰有人立重閣。由此相訟。如其語焉。

Regarding Ācārya Cen of Chanju Temple in Xiangzhou, it is unknown who he was. Residing in the temple, dhyāna contemplation was his vocation. He possessed foreknowledge. Since the temple was located in a mountainous wilderness, provisions were usually scarce and grain was not replenished. Everyday Cen would take a jar into the city wall, begging for wine to drink; he would beg until the jar was full—about three dou. Carrying it back, he walked along the road drinking, and when he reached the temple, the jar was completely empty. The next day he did the same again. When the morning meal ended in the temple, he would take a deep jar to the kitchen and request three sheng of gruel; hanging it on the tip of his staff, he entered the assembly and struck the monks' heads with the staff from top to bottom, one blow for each person. He did this every day. Because of his outstanding and extraordinary nature, some suspected that after being struck, disasters would disperse, so they accepted it without demur. Cen would carry the gruel into his chamber. He had long raised a dark-brown dog, and within the temple there were several thousand rats; every morning they would gather, and the dog and rats ate together. The courtyard was completely packed, and monastics and laypeople watched together. Once, when a rat was lost, Cen grieved and was dispirited, [saying], 'It must have been killed by the dog!' He reprimanded the dog, and the dog brought the rat in its mouth. Seeing it, Cen was distressed and beat the dog with his staff; after burying the rat, he wept and wailed with sorrow. When a monk of the temple had his robes and chests gnawed by a rat, he reported it to Cen. Cen summoned all the rats together and made each of them stand surety for one another; one rat had no surety. Cen said, 'Why did you gnaw someone's robes?' and struck it with his staff; the rat dared not move. Now, because the temple was poor, Cen marked out sites in the marsh beneath White Horse Spring to the northeast of the lecture hall: 'Such-and-such place will be the kitchen storehouse, and such-and-such place will be the granary.' Everyone laughed at him. Overnight, the water receded and land emerged; building according to his words, the temple subsequently became affluent. He also made a distant prophecy, saying, 'Sixteen years from now, a foolish person will erect a multi-storied pavilion to the south of the temple. Although the temple's estate and foundation will not suffer loss, because of litigation it will become uninhabitable.' During the Yonghui reign, someone indeed erected a multi-storied pavilion, and litigation arose from it, exactly as he had foretold.