續高僧傳 25.140

25.140

釋法施。姓江。武當人。少而弘直。神智難測。形無定方。出處不滯。遊巴陵顯安寺。娑羅樹下宴默。而人亦莫之顧也。依荊南記云。晉永康元年。僧房床下忽生一樹。隨伐隨生。如是非一。樹生逾疾。咸共異之。置而不剪。旬日之間植柯極棟。遂移房避之。自爾已後。樹長便遲。但極晚秀夏中方有花。葉秋落與眾木不殊。多歷年稔人莫識也。後外國僧見攀。而流涕曰。此娑羅樹也。佛處其下涅槃。吾思本事所以泣耳。而花開細白不足觀採。元嘉十一年。忽生一花。形色如芙蓉樹。今見在此。亦一方之奇迹也。隋末喪亂。稱兵非一。蕭銑時為羅縣令。施拊背指巴陵城曰。此天子城也。後果王之米極平賤。施誡深藏。人不測其言。於後米斗直萬五千。飢餒者眾。如此記授來事若指諸掌。趙郡王伐偽梁。銑問。今事如何。施遺雙銅筯。銑曰。令我同矣。遂舉眾歸化。百姓咸賴。其德弘矣。嘗於江陵北頭陀。虎來床側。人來語虎曰。佛子閉目。虎即低頭閉目。斯遇猛獸如家犬者。斯人在斯。誦勝天王一部。靜念出觀誦而美之。而精進牢強越於常伍。後潛形高邁。

Śramaṇa Fashi's secular surname was Jiang, and he was a native of Wudang. In his youth he was magnanimous and upright, and his spiritual wisdom was hard to fathom. His bodily appearance had no fixed abode, and his comings and goings were unhindered. He wandered to Xian'an Temple in Baling, resting in silent meditation beneath a sāla tree, yet no one paid him any regard. According to the Record of Jingnan: In the first year of the Yongkang era of the Jin dynasty, a tree suddenly sprouted beneath a bed in a monastic cell. As soon as it was chopped down, it sprouted again, and this happened more than once. The tree grew ever more rapidly, and all were astonished by it. Leaving it alone without pruning, within ten days its branches reached up to the roof-beams, so they moved the cell to avoid it. From that time onward, the tree's growth slowed down; it blossomed only very late, bearing flowers only in midsummer, and its leaves fell in autumn no differently from other trees. Through many years and harvests, no one recognized it. Later, a foreign monk saw it, clutched it, and wept, saying, 'This is a sāla tree! Underneath it the Buddha entered nirvāṇa. Recalling those ancient events is why I weep.' Its flowers bloomed tiny and white, hardly worth picking to view. In the eleventh year of the Yuanjia era, it suddenly brought forth a blossom whose shape and colour resembled a lotus tree. It is still there at present, an extraordinary marvel of the region. At the end of the Sui dynasty, there was ruin and chaos, and many rose in arms. Xiao Xian was at that time the magistrate of Luo County. Shi patted his back and pointed to the city of Baling, saying, 'This is an emperor's city.' Later, Xiao Xian indeed became king there, and rice was extremely cheap and plentiful. Shi admonished people to store it deeply, but people did not understand his words. Afterward, a dou of rice was worth fifteen thousand [coins], and those starving were multitudinous. His foretelling of future events in this way was as clear as pointing to the palm of his hand. When the Prince of Zhao Commandery attacked the illegitimate Liang, Xian asked, 'How will the matter fare now?' Shi sent him a pair of bronze chopsticks. Xian said, 'He is telling me to agree [to surrender].' Thereupon he led his host to submit to authority, and the common people all relied upon it; his virtue was truly vast. Once, when he was practicing dhūta north of Jiangling, a tiger came to the side of his bed. Someone came and said to the tiger, 'Disciple of the Buddha, close your eyes!' The tiger immediately bowed its head and closed its eyes. For him to meet fierce beasts as if they were house dogs—such was the man in this regard! He recited the entire Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra of the Victorious Heavenly King; in quiet mindfulness he emerged from meditative vision, reciting and praising it, and his vigorous exertion and firm resolve surpassed the ordinary ranks. Later he concealed his traces and ascended afar.