宋高僧傳 25.13

25.13

釋守素者，立性高邁，與群不同。居京興善寺恒以誦持為急務。其院幽僻，庭有青桐四株，皆素之手植。元和中，卿相多遊此院。青桐至夏中無何發汗，頗污人衣，如輠脂焉，而不可浣。時相國鄭公絪甞與丞郎數人避暑，且惡其滴瀝，謂素曰：「弟子為師伐此樹，各植一松，可乎？」及暮，素戲呪之曰：「我種汝二十餘年，汝以汗之淋瀝，為人所惡，同惡木之不可休其下也。來歲若然，我必薪之。」自爾絕蹤矣！素誓不出院，誦《法華經》三萬七千部。夜恒有狢子馴擾，來聽經。齋時則烏鵲就掌取食。他僧以食誘，群羽皆驚噪而逝。長慶初，有僧玄幽題此院云：「三萬蓮經三十春，半生不踏院門塵。」當時以為佳句也。素之終代，罔得詳焉。

Śramaṇa Shousu possessed an elevated and transcendent nature, standing out from the crowd. Residing at Xingshan Temple in the capital, he always took recitation as his urgent task. His cloister was secluded and quiet; in the courtyard were four Chinese parasol trees, all planted by Su's own hand. During the Yuanhe era, high ministers often visited this cloister. In midsummer, the parasol trees would inexplicably sweat a secretion that severely stained people's clothes, like axle grease, and could not be washed out. At that time, Prime Minister Zheng Yin once escaped the summer heat there with several vice ministers and directors; disliking the dripping, he said to Su: 'May this disciple fell these trees for the master and plant a pine in place of each?' When evening came, Su jokingly admonished them, saying: 'I have grown you for over twenty years; because your dripping sweat is loathed by people, you are like ill-omened trees under which no one can rest. If it is so again next year, I will certainly turn you into firewood!' From then on, all traces [of the secretion] ceased! Su vowed never to leave the cloister, and recited the Lotus Sūtra thirty-seven thousand times. At night, wild raccoons were constantly tame and docile, coming to listen to the sūtra. At the midday meal, crows and magpies would take food directly from his palms. When other monks tried to entice them with food, the flock of birds would all squawk in fright and fly away. At the beginning of the Changqing era, the monk Xuanxiou inscribed on this cloister: 'Thirty thousand Lotus Sūtras in thirty springs, / Half a lifetime without treading the dust outside the cloister gate.' At the time, this was considered a fine couplet. The details of Su's demise could not be learned.