宋高僧傳 20.12

20.12

釋難陀者，華言喜也，未詳種姓何國人乎。其為人也，詭異不倫，恭慢無定。當建中年中，無何至于岷蜀，時張魏公延賞之任成都。喜自言我得如幻三昧——甞入水不濡，投火無灼，能變金石，化現無窮。初入蜀，與三少尼俱行，或大醉狂歌，或聚眾說法，戍將深惡之，亟令擒捉。喜被捉隨至，乃曰：「貧道寄迹僧門，別有藥術。」因指三尼曰：「此皆妙於歌舞。」戍將乃重之，遂留連為置酒肉，夜宴，與之飲唱。乃假襦袴、巾櫛，三尼各施粉黛，並皆列坐，含睇調笑，逸態絕世。飲欲半酣，喜謂尼曰：「可為押衙蹋舞乎？」因徐進對舞，曳練迴雪，迅起摩趺，伎又絕倫。良久曲終而舞不已，喜乃咄曰：「婦女風邪？」喜忽起取戍將刀，眾謂酒狂，坐者悉皆驚走。遂斫三尼頭，皆踣於地，血及數丈。戍將大驚，呼左右縛喜。喜笑曰：「無草草也。」徐舉三尼乃笻竹杖也，血乃向來所飲之酒耳。喜乃却坐飲宴，別使人斷其頭，釘兩耳柱上，皆無血污。身即坐於席上，酒巡到即瀉入斷處，面色亦赤。而口能歌舞，手復擊掌應節。及宴散，其身自起，就柱取頭安之，輒無瘢痕。時時言人吉凶事，多是謎語，過後方悟。成都有人供養，數日，喜忽不欲住，乃閉關留之。喜即入壁縫中，及牽之，漸入唯餘袈裟角，逡巡不見。來日見壁畫僧影，其狀如日色，隔日漸落。經七日，空有墨迹。至八日，墨迹已滅。有人早見喜已在彭州界。後終不知所之。

Śramaṇa Nanda—in Chinese translated as "Joy" (Xi)—was a person of unknown caste, clan, and country. As a person, he was eccentric and peerless, his respect and insolence unpredictable. During the Jianzhong era, he unexpectedly arrived in Min and Shu, at the time when Duke of Wei Zhang Yanshang took up his post in Chengdu. Xi said of himself: "I have attained the illusion-like samādhi (māyopama-samādhi)—I have entered water without becoming wet, cast myself into fire without being burned; I can transmute metal and stone, and my manifestations are inexhaustible." When he first entered Shu, he traveled with three young nuns. Sometimes he would get heavily drunk and sing madly, and sometimes he would gather crowds to preach the Dharma. The garrison commander deeply despised him and promptly ordered him seized. Having been captured and brought along, Xi then said: "This poor monk has merely lodged his traces in the monastic order, but I possess other wondrous arts." He then pointed to the three nuns and said: "These are all marvelous at singing and dancing." The garrison commander then came to esteem him, and kept him to set out wine and meat; at a night banquet, they drank and sang with him. They lent them tunics, trousers, combs, and hairpins, and the three nuns each applied cosmetics. Sitting in a row, they cast glances and bantered, their transcendent elegance unexcelled in the world. When they were half-drunk, Xi said to the nuns: "Can you perform a tap-dance for the attendant officer?" Thereupon they slowly stepped forward and danced facing each other, trailing silks like swirling snow and swiftly leaping to rub feet, their artistry surpassing all peers. After a long while, the music ended, but the dancing did not cease. Xi shouted at them: "Are you women mad?" Xi suddenly rose, seized the garrison commander's sword—the crowd thought it was drunken madness, and all present fled in terror. He then severed the heads of the three nuns; they all fell to the ground, and blood splashed several zhang. The garrison commander was greatly alarmed and called his attendants to bind Xi. Xi smiled and said: "Do not be hasty." He slowly picked up the three nuns, and they were only Qiong bamboo staffs; the blood was merely the wine they had been drinking earlier. Xi then sat down again to drink and feast, and had someone else cut off his own head and nail both his ears to a pillar; yet there was no blood stain. His body sat upon the mat; whenever the wine-cup made its rounds, it was poured directly into the severed neck, and his complexion also grew flushed. Meanwhile, his mouth could sing and his hands clapped to the rhythm. When the banquet dispersed, his body rose of its own accord, went to the pillar to take the head and put it back on, and there was not even a scar. From time to time he would predict people's good and bad fortunes, mostly in riddles, which were only understood after the fact. Someone in Chengdu made offerings to him. After a few days, Xi suddenly no longer wished to stay, so the host locked the gate to keep him. Xi then entered into a crack in the wall. When they pulled at him, he gradually entered further until only the corner of his kāṣāya remained, and in a moment he was gone. The next day, a painted image of a monk appeared on the wall; its form was like the color of the sun, and on subsequent days it gradually faded away. After seven days, only ink traces remained. By the eighth day, the ink traces had disappeared. Someone had already seen Xi in the territory of Pengzhou earlier on. In the end, no one knew where he went.