宋高僧傳 22.16

22.16

釋狂僧者，晉開運中遍於邑下乞石礦灰，日夜驅荷入大、小留二山中，謂行人鄉叟曰：「要造宮闕。」然莫之測也，皆謂為「風狂，有何准據？」如是運至數千石，封閉甚固。其後鄉人不意此僧絕乎蹤跡。屬乾祐初，漢祖既入今東京即位，不逾年而崩。當是時也，詔卜叡陵於大留山下，計慮者云：「甎瓦數百萬，此山之內可陶而燒。其如礦灰烏可得乎？」俄有里胥曰：「此地元有僧積藏灰可數千石，准用應足。」按行使山陵畢，用無孑遺，其僧也非狂，由此方證之矣。又鎮州釋曹和尚者，恒陽人也。不常居處，言語紏紛，敗襦穿屨，垢面黯膚，號風狂散逸之倫也。齊、趙人皆不測，而多重旃。或召食，食畢默然而去，其狀猶不醉而怒歟！府帥安重榮作鎮數年，諷軍吏州民例請朝廷立德政碑。碑石將樹之日，其狀屹然。曹和尚指之大笑曰：「立不得，立不得。」人皆相目失色，主者驅逐，曹猶口不絕聲焉。至重榮潛萌不軌，秣馬利兵，垂將作逆，朝廷討滅，碑尋毀之。凡所指斥，猶響答聲也。後不測所終。

Śramaṇa "the Crazy Monk": during the Kaiyun era of the Later Jin, he begged for mineral lime throughout the county, carrying it day and night into the two mountains of Greater and Lesser Liu. He said to travelers and village elders, "I intend to build a palace." Yet no one could fathom him; all called him "insane—what foundation does he have?" Transporting it in this way, he accumulated several thousand shi, sealing it very firmly. Thereafter, the villagers unexpectedly lost all trace of this monk. When the Qianyou era began, after Han Gaozu entered the present Eastern Capital and ascended the throne, he passed away in less than a year. At that time, an imperial edict ordered divination for the Rui Tomb below Greater Liu Mountain; the planners said, "Several million bricks and tiles can be fired and baked within this mountain. But how can lime be obtained?" Soon a village officer said, "In this place there was originally a monk who stored several thousand shi of lime, which should be sufficient when applied." When the commissioners inspected the imperial mausoleum upon its completion, the lime had been used with not a trace left; that the monk was not crazy was thereby verified. Furthermore, Śramaṇa Monk Cao of Zhenzhou was a native of Hengyang. He had no fixed dwelling, spoke in tangled disorder, wore ragged robes and broken shoes, had a grimy face and dark skin, and was called one of the crazy and undisciplined kind. The people of Qi and Zhao could not fathom him, yet many respected him. Some invited him to eat; when the meal was finished, he left in silence, his demeanor resembling one who was not drunk yet angry! The military governor An Chongrong, having governed the garrison for several years, hinted to the military officers and prefectural populace to follow standard practice and petition the imperial court to erect a stele celebrating his virtuous governance. On the day the stone stele was about to be erected, its shape stood towering. Monk Cao pointed at it, laughed heartily, and said, "It cannot be erected, it cannot be erected!" Everyone looked at one another and lost colour; the officials drove him away, yet Cao still spoke incessantly. When Chongrong secretly harboured treason, feeding horses and sharpening weapons, and was about to rebel, the imperial court suppressed and exterminated him, and the stele was soon destroyed. Whenever he pointed out or rebuked something, it was like an echo answering a sound. Later it was not known where he ended his life.