續高僧傳 27.25

27.25

紹闍梨者。梓州玄武人也。俗姓蒲氏。未出家前。山行見一蟲甚瘦。又將一子於㵎中取鰕子。鰕子又不可得。紹乃歎曰。此蟲應在深山。今乃出路。飢渴甚矣。等是一死。不如充此飢渴。乃脫衣往臥蟲前蟲乃避去。後方出家。唯誦經行道而已。更無異行。大業之初。汝州界蟲暴非常。三五十人持仗不敢獨行。害人既多。紹乃往到其處立茅苫坐。蟲並遠去。道路清夷。年一百九歲乃見疾。謂弟子曰。我欲露屍乞諸蟲鳥。而彪嫌我身。生尚不食。豈死能甞。可焚之無餘燼。弟子等不忍依其言。乃露屍月餘。鳥獸不犯。乃收葬之。

Master Shao was a native of Xuanwu in Zizhou, with the secular surname Pu. Before he left the household, while walking in the mountains he saw a tiger that was very emaciated, leading a cub in a ravine to catch freshwater shrimp; yet the shrimp could not be caught either. Shao then sighed, saying: "This beast should be in the deep mountains, but now it has come out to the path—its hunger and thirst are extreme! It is equally a death; it would be better to satisfy this hunger and thirst." He then took off his clothes and went to lie down before the tiger, but the tiger avoided him and walked away. Only afterward did he leave the household. He merely recited sūtras and circumambulated, and had no other unusual practices. At the beginning of the Daye era, in the territory of Ruzhou, tigers were extraordinarily fierce; thirty to fifty men bearing weapons did not dare walk alone. Seeing that they had harmed many people, Shao went to that place, set up a thatched hut, and sat there. The tigers all went far away, and the roads became peaceful and clear. At the age of one hundred and nine, he fell ill. He said to his disciples: "I wish to leave my corpse exposed to give it to the beasts and birds. Yet the tigers disdained my body, not eating it while I was alive; how could they taste it when I am dead? You may burn it leaving no remaining embers." The disciples could not bear to follow his words, so they exposed his corpse for over a month, yet birds and beasts did not violate it; they then collected and buried it.