續高僧傳 25.146

25.146

釋僧明者。不知何人。在五臺娑婆古寺。所營屋宇二十餘間。守一切經。禪誦為業。自云。年十七時從師上五臺。東禮花林山訪文殊師利。至一石谷。漸深見有石臼木杵。又見兩人形大無影眉長披髮眼瞼上掩。師便頂禮請救。其人曰汝穀臭小遠從何來。答昭果寺僧。習禪樂道。隱在娑婆已數十年。然食五穀願真人救苦報。曰待共眾議。須臾更一人來。長大著樹皮衣。云汝來已久。可遂我至寺。行大石側。忽見山谷異常廊院周遶狀若天宮。有十四五人同坐談笑。問所來方。言議久之。送出後重尋失路。還舊業定。以貞觀十六年卒。八十一矣。今娑婆寺二甎塔存。

As for Śramaṇa Sengming, it is not known who he was. At the ancient Suopo Temple on Mount Wutai, he maintained more than twenty bays of buildings, guarding the entire Buddhist Canon and taking dhyāna recitation as his vocation. He himself said: When he was seventeen, he followed his master up Mount Wutai to pay homage to Mount Hualin in the east and seek Mañjuśrī. Reaching a stone valley, as they went deeper, they saw a stone mortar and a wooden pestle. They also saw two people of massive build who cast no shadows, with long eyebrows, disheveled hair, and eyelids covering their eyes from above. His master made prostrations and begged for rescue. Those people said, 'You have the stench of grain; stand back a little. Where have you come from?' He replied, 'A monk of Zhaoguo Temple. I practice dhyāna and delight in the Path, having secluded myself in Suopo for several decades. Yet eating the five grains, I pray the Realized Ones will rescue me from this karmic retribution of suffering.' They said, 'Wait until we deliberate together with the assembly.' Presently, another person came, tall and large, dressed in tree-bark garments, who said, 'You have been here for a long time. You may follow me to the temple.' Walking beside a large boulder, they suddenly saw that the mountain valley was extraordinary: corridors and cloisters wound around like a heavenly palace. Fourteen or fifteen people sat together, chatting and laughing. They asked what direction they had come from and conversed for a long time. After sending them out, when they sought the path again, they lost their way. He returned to his former vocation of samādhi. He died in the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era at the age of eighty-one. Two brick stūpas still survive today at Suopo Temple.