宋高僧傳 20.4

20.4

釋處寂，俗姓周氏，蜀人也。師事寶修禪師，服勤寡慾，與物無競。雅通玄奧，居山北，行杜多行。天后聞焉，詔入內，賜摩納僧伽梨，辭乞歸山。涉四十年，足不到聚落。坐一胡床，宴默不寐。常有虎蹲伏座下，如家畜類。資民所重，學其道者臻萃。由是頗形奇異，如：無相大師自新羅國將來謁詵禪師，寂預誡眾曰：「外來之賓明日當見矣。宜灑掃以待之。」明日，果有海東賓至也。開元初，新除太守王曄——本黃冠也，景雲中曾立少功——刺于是郡，終於釋子苞藏禍心。上任處分，令境內應是沙門追集。唯寂久不下山，或勸寂往參，免為厲階。寂謂弟子曰：「汝雖出家，猶未識業，吾之未死，王曄其如吾何？」迨乎王公上官三日，緇徒畢至。或曰：「唯處寂蔑視藩侯，弗來致賀。」曄微怒也，屈諸僧，升廳坐已，將啟怒端，問寂違拒之由，慍色悖興，僧皆股慄。曄俄然仆地，左右扶掖歸宅，至廳事後屏樹，如被摑頰之聲，禺中氣絕。自此人謂為妄欲加諸道人，一至於此。寂以開元二十二年正月示滅，享年八十七。資中至今崇仰焉。

Shi Chuji, whose secular surname was Zhou, was a native of Shu. He served Chan Master Baoxiu as his teacher, was diligent in his service and had few desires, contending with nothing in the world. Being thoroughly conversant with the profound and arcane, he resided at Shanbei and practiced the dhūta austerities. The Heavenly Empress [Wu Zetian], having heard of him, summoned him to the imperial palace and bestowed on him a mona saṅghāṭī robe, but he took leave and begged to return to the mountain. For over forty years, his feet never set foot in a village. Sitting on a single corded chair, he remained in silent contemplation without sleeping. A tiger would often crouch below his seat just like a domestic beast. He was venerated by the people of Zizhou, and those who studied his Way gathered in flocks. For this reason, extraordinary events were quite manifest. For instance, when Grand Master Wuxiang was about to come from the kingdom of Silla to pay respects to Chan Master Shen, Ji warned the assembly in advance, saying: "A guest from abroad will be seen tomorrow. You should sprinkle and sweep to await him." On the morrow, a guest from Haedong truly arrived. In the beginning of the Kaiyuan era, the newly appointed prefect Wang Ye—who had originally been a Daoist priest and had achieved some minor merit during the Jingyun era—was appointed governor to this commandery, harboring deep malice toward the sons of Śākya. Upon taking up office, he issued instructions ordering all śramaṇas within his domain to be summoned and assembled. Only Ji had long refused to descend the mountain. Some urged Ji to go and pay his respects to avoid becoming a source of disaster. Ji said to his disciples: "Though you have gone forth from the household life, you still do not understand karma. Before I am dead, what can Wang Ye do to me?" By the third day after Lord Wang took office, the monks had all arrived. Someone said: "Only Chuji holds the regional commander in contempt and has not come to offer congratulations." Ye was slightly angered. He made all the monks bend their knees, ascended the hall and took his seat, and was about to initiate wrath by demanding the reason for Ji's disobedience and resistance. His resentful countenance flared up in fury, and the monks all trembled with fear. Suddenly Ye collapsed to the ground. His attendants supported him on both sides and helped him back to his residence; when they reached the screen wall behind the hall, a sound like a slap on the cheek was heard, and around midday his breath stopped. From then on, people said that because he had falsely intended to inflict harm upon a man of the Way, it had come to this. Ji manifested extinction in the first month of the twenty-second year of Kaiyuan, living to the age of eighty-seven. In Zizhong, he is revered to this day.