宋高僧傳 24.30

24.30

釋志玄者，河朔人也。攻五天禁呪，身衣枲麻布耳。行歷州邑，不居城市寺宇，唯宿郊野林薄。玄有意尋訪名迹，至絳州，夜泊墓林中。其夜月色如晝，見一狐從林下將髑髏置之於首，搖之落者不顧，不落者戴之。更取艿草墮葉，遮蔽其身，逡巡成一嬌嬈女子，渾身服素練，立于道左。微聞東北上有鞍馬行聲，女子哀泣，悲不自勝。少選，乘馬郎遇之，下馬問之曰：「娘子野外深更號咷，何至於此耶？」女子掩淚，紿之曰：「賤妾家在易水，前年為父母娉與此土張氏為婦，不幸夫婿去載夭亡，家事淪薄，無所依給。二親堂上，豈知妾如此孤苦乎！有一于此，痛割心腑，不覺哀而慟矣。妾思歸寧，其可得乎？郎君何怪問之？」乘馬郎曰：「將謂娘子哀怨別事，若願還鄉，某是易定軍行，為差使迴還易水，娘子可乘其麁乘。」女子乃收淚感謝。方欲攀踏次，玄從墓林出曰：「君子，此女子非人也，狐化也。」彼曰：「僧家豈以此相誣？莫別欲圖之乎？」玄曰：「君不信，可小住。吾當與君變女子本形。」玄乃振錫，誦胡語數聲，其女子還為狐走，而髑髏草蔽其身。乘馬郎叩頭悔過：「非師之救，幾隨妖死。」玄凡救物行慈，皆此類也。

Śramaṇa Zhixuan was a native of Heshuo. He studied the incantations and spells of the Five Indies and wore only coarse hemp cloth. He traveled through prefectures and counties, not staying in city temples, but lodging only in the groves and thickets of the wilderness. Xuan intended to visit famous sites, and when he reached Jiangzhou, he stayed overnight in a cemetery grove. That night, the moonlight was as bright as day. He saw a fox emerge from beneath the trees and place a skull upon its head; if it shook and fell, the fox ignored it, but if it did not fall, the fox wore it. The fox further took weeds and fallen leaves to cover its body, and in a moment turned into an enchanting young woman, entirely dressed in white silk, standing on the left side of the road. Faintly from the northeast came the sound of horses and saddles traveling; the woman wept mournfully, overcome with sorrow. Before long, a young gentleman on horseback encountered her, dismounted, and asked: 'Why is a lady wailing aloud in the deep of night in the wilderness? How did you come to this?' The woman masked her tears and lied to him: 'My humble family is at the Yi River. The year before last, my parents married me off as a wife to the Zhang family of this land. Unfortunately, my husband died untimely last year; my family circumstances have declined to poverty, and I have nothing to rely on. How could my two parents in the family hall know that their daughter is so solitary and destitute! With all this upon me, my heart and bowels are cut with pain, and I could not help but weep with grief. I long to return home—can that be achieved? Why do you, sir, wonderingly inquire of it?' The young gentleman said: 'I had thought, lady, that you were grieving over some other matter. If you wish to return home, I am on an expedition with the Yiding army and am returning to the Yi River on an official mission; you may ride upon my spare mount.' The woman wiped her tears and gave thanks. Just as she was about to climb onto the stirrup, Xuan emerged from the cemetery grove and said: 'Sir, this woman is not human; she is a fox transformed.' The gentleman said: 'How could a monk slander someone like this? Are you not scheming to take her for yourself?' Xuan said: 'If you do not believe me, wait a moment. I will show you the woman's original form.' Xuan then shook his staff and recited several words in a foreign tongue; the woman turned back into a fox and fled, with only the skull and weeds covering her body. The gentleman on horseback kowtowed and repented of his error: 'Were it not for the Master's salvation, I would have nearly died at the hands of this monster.' All of Xuan's acts of rescuing beings and practicing compassion were of this kind.