續高僧傳 25.138

25.138

釋法通。姓關。京兆鄠人。小出家。極尫弱。隨風偃什似任羅綺。由是同侶頗輕之。通輒流淚。一朝對觀音像慨慷曰。通聞菩薩聖鑒所願剋從。乞垂提誘免斯輕侮。因斯誦觀音經晝夜不捨。後歲餘歸本生覲母。旦食訖。假寐於庭樹下。少間口中涎沫流液。向有三升。母以為物忤。遽呼覺問。何事如此。通曰。向見有人遺三驢馱䈥。通噉始一驢。孃呼遂覺。餘二失之。自爾覺身力雄勇肌膚堅䩕。密舉大木石不以為重。寺有僧戡者。膂力之最。通竊取袈裟安在柱下。戡初不見。謂是神鬼所為。通笑為舉梁抽取。戡大駭服。有大石臼重五百餘斤。通於南山負來供僧用。今見在貯水施禽鳥。隋高祖重之。有西蕃貢一人。云大壯。在北門試相撲無得者。帝頗恧之云。大隋國無有健者。召通來令相撲。通曰。何處出家人為此事。必知氣力。把手即知。便喚彼來。通任其把捉。其人努力把捉。通都不以為懷。至通後捉。總攬兩手急搦。一時血出外灒。彼即蟠臥在地乞命。通放之曰。我不敢殺捉。恐爾手碎去。於是大伏。舉朝稱慶京邑弄力者聞而造之。通為把豆麥便碎。倒曳車牛却行。當時壯士命為天力士也。煬帝末。避亂隱南山。乃負一具磑并犢子。大神通也。未幾丁母憂出山歸葬。事了返山。雖力兼百夫。未曾忤物。精誠節約。時輩推之。以武德初卒。春秋五十六。

Shi Fatong was surnamed Guan and was a native of Hu in Jingzhao. He renounced the household when young and was extremely frail and weak, swaying with the wind, seeming barely able to bear fine silk. Because of this, his companions rather despised him. Fatong would always weep. One day, facing an image of Avalokiteśvara, he said with deep emotion, "Tong has heard that through the Bodhisattva's holy illumination, whatever is wished for will surely be fulfilled. I beg you to deign to guide me and free me from this slight and humiliation." Because of this, he recited the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra day and night without abandoning it. Over a year later, he returned to his birth home to visit his mother. After having morning meal, he took a nap under a tree in the courtyard. In a short while, saliva and froth flowed from his mouth, amounting to nearly three sheng. His mother thought he had been possessed by something and hurriedly called him awake, asking what was the matter. Fatong said, "Just now, I saw someone give me three donkey-loads of sinews. Tong had just eaten one donkey-load when Mother called out and I awoke, losing the remaining two." From that time on, he felt his physical strength become mighty and bold, and his skin and flesh became hard and solid. In secret, he lifted large logs and stones without finding them heavy. In the monastery, there was a monk named Kan who possessed the greatest physical strength; Fatong secretly took his kaṣāya and placed it beneath a pillar. Kan did not see it at first and thought it was the work of spirits and ghosts. Fatong smiled and lifted the beam to extract it, and Kan was greatly terrified and submitted in admiration. There was a large stone mortar weighing more than five hundred jin; Fatong carried it on his back from the Southern Mountains to supply the monks' use; it is now present, storing water to provide for birds. Emperor Gaozu of the Sui valued him. A Western barbarian tributary group presented a man called "Great Strongman"; in the northern gate, tests of wrestling found none who could match him. The Emperor was rather ashamed, saying, "Does the Great Sui state have no robust men?" He summoned Fatong and ordered him to wrestle. Fatong said, "Where does a renunciant do such things? If he must know my strength, he will know it as soon as we clasp hands." He then called that man forward; Fatong let him seize him. The man exerted all his strength in gripping, but Fatong took no notice of it at all. When it came to Fatong grasping him afterward, he gripped both of his hands and squeezed tightly; at once, blood sprayed outward. That man immediately coiled and lay upon the ground, begging for his life. Fatong released him and said, "I dared not grip with killing intent, fearing your hands would be shattered to pieces." Thereupon the man greatly submitted. The entire court celebrated, and those in the capital who practiced feats of strength came to visit him upon hearing of it. Fatong would squeeze beans and wheat in his fist and crush them instantly; he could drag a cart and ox backwards so that they walked in reverse. Strongmen of that time called him the "Heavenly Strongman." At the end of Emperor Yang's reign, fleeing the chaos, he hid in the Southern Mountains; he carried on his back a complete millstone together with a calf, showing great supernormal power. Before long, he underwent mourning for his mother, leaving the mountain to return and bury her; once the affair was finished, he returned to the mountain. Although his strength equaled a hundred men, he never offended anyone. Sincere and restrained, his contemporaries revered him. He passed away at the beginning of the Wude era at the age of fifty-six.