續高僧傳 25.45

25.45

Śramaṇa Senglang was a native of Liangzhou. When the Wei invaders attacked Liang, the citizens within the city were originally few, so they pressed and conscripted the religious practitioners to fill the ranks of the army, adding them to every squad. When the assault carts were applied, the entire city fell. Three thousand monks who had mounted the city walls were seized and brought to the army camp, before the ruler of Wei, who said to them: 'Religious practitioners ought to sit in dhyāna and practice the Way; instead, you act as rebels. You thoroughly deserve public execution. They shall be beheaded tomorrow.' When the appointed mealtime arrived, a red vapor several fathoms long pierced the sun and passed straight through it. The Celestial Master, Kou Qianzhi, who was trusted by the emperor, submitted a memorial: 'The heavens sending down an anomaly is precisely for the sake of the religious practitioners; it was truly not their original intent. I pray that you do not kill them.' The emperor's younger brother, Prince Chijian, likewise joined in admonishing and pleading. The emperor then issued an edict to halt it, yet the captives were plundered and dispersed into forced-labor gangs; only Lang and several other monks were separately assigned to the imperial quarters. When the Wei army marched back eastward, Lang and a fellow student rebelled together on the way. The battle lines and defenses were strictly arrayed, offering no place to flee; to the east and west were sheer cliffs of unfathomable depth. Above, there was a large tree drooping over the side of the precipice, so they tied ropes from the drum and banner poles to the tree and suspended themselves down. At the time, the night was pitch-dark, and the bottom of the cliff was nothing but thorns, offering nowhere to set foot. Wishing to climb back up to the top, they feared being discovered by the army. Panicked at their lack of a plan, they clung to the rope and hung suspended, a posture that could not endure for long. They said to each other: 'Now disaster has arrived; our only recourse is to recollect Guanshiyin.' They then knocked their heads against the rock, single-mindedly concentrated. In a short while, a radiant light emerged from the direction of the sun, illuminating heaven and earth, revealing a place amid the thorns where they could descend. Following the light they reached the ground, whereupon it suddenly grew dark again. Knowing this was divine, they rejoiced in their spiritual encounter and lay down to sleep. After a long while it dawned, and only then did they hear the army stirring and preparing to depart. However, with myriad folds of mountain valleys, they knew not the way out; they could only walk toward the sun. They encountered a large tiger that emerged before them. They said to each other: 'Though we escaped the peril of the invaders, we have entered the tiger's mouth again.' Lang said: 'It is not as you say. Precisely because we had spiritual resonance, the light was manifested; meeting this tiger now, might it not be a sage pointing out the way?' Thereupon, the two walked straight toward the tiger, which immediately went ahead; if Lang lagged slightly behind, the tiger also paused briefly. By morning they finally reached an outlet, whereupon the tiger's whereabouts were lost. Following the road, they proceeded forward; in seven days they reached Qiuchi, then went on to Liang and Han, emerging in Jingzhou. His final end is unknown.