宋高僧傳 18.4

18.4

Master Tante, also named Huifeng, was a man of unknown origin. Although he had shaved his head and donned monastic robes, he was unconstrained by discipline: he drank alcohol, ate meat, and spoke or fell silent unpredictably. Whenever he foretold future affairs, events always turned out as he had predicted. Living in Wuwei, he indulged his impulses in mad abandon. At that time, Yuwen Zhonghe was the regional inspector; he invited him into the regional office and took him to tour the stables and storehouses, whereupon Tante remarked, 'Why are you keeping someone else's official property?' Zhonghe did not understand his meaning, grew angry at him, and forbade him from staying in the city. Shortly afterward, Zhonghe refused to be replaced; the court ordered Dugu Xin to capture him. Zhonghe was killed, and his wealth and property were confiscated by the government. When King Wen of Zhou heard of this, he issued an order summoning him. When Tante arrived in Qi Prefecture, it happened that Emperor Shenwu of Qi came to invade Yubi. Tante said, 'How could a dog reach the Dragon Gate?' Shenwu indeed did not reach Longmen and retreated. Before Hou Jing rebelled against Eastern Wei, Tante suddenly picked up a staff whose head was carved in the shape of a monkey; he kept its face constantly pointing west and played with it day and night. He also asked for a horn bow and drew it. Soon afterward, Hou Jing submitted a surrender, and shortly thereafter rebelled again and fled to Liang—all of which matched his omens. In the early spring of the seventeenth year of Datong, he suddenly donned a cloth hat. The attendants of King Wen of Zhou asked him in surprise about it, and Tante said, 'You will wear it, and the King will wear it too.' In the third month, Emperor Wen of Wei passed away. Then he took a white silk hat and wore it; the attendants asked him again. Tante said, 'You will wear it, and the King will wear it too.' Shortly afterward, the wife of the Prime Minister died. Later he wore it again, and his answer was the same as before; soon the second son of the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wuyi, passed away. His prophetic proofs were mostly of this kind. Soon after, he fell ill and died, and King Wen of Zhou ordered him buried.