神僧傳 3.36

3.36

釋曇超。姓張氏。清河人。形長八尺容正可觀。蔬食布衣一中而已。初止都龍華寺。元嘉末南遊始興。遍觀山水。獨宿松下。虎兕不傷。大明中還都。至齊太祖即位。被勅往遼東弘贊禪道。停彼二年大行法化。建元末還京。俄又適錢唐靈隱山。一定累日。忽見一人來禮曰。弟子居在七里灘。以富陽縣人鑿麓山下侵壞龍室。群龍共忿。誓三百日不雨。今已百日田地枯涸。欲屈道德前行必能感致甘雨。潤澤蒼生功有歸也。超許之。神乃去。超南行五日至赤城山。為龍呪願。至夜群龍化作人來禮拜。超更說法。因乞三歸。自稱是龍。超請其降雨。乃相看無言。其夜與超夢云。本因忿立誓。師既導之以善。不敢違命。明日晡當降雨。至期沾足歲以。大熟以永。明十年卒。春秋七十有四。

Shi Tanchao's surname was Zhang. He was a native of Qinghe. He was eight chi tall, with an upright and impressive countenance. He ate vegetarian food, wore cloth garments, and ate only once at midday. At first he stayed at Longhua Temple in the capital. At the end of Yuanjia he traveled south to Shixing, viewed its mountains and waters everywhere, and slept alone beneath pine trees, unharmed by tigers or wild oxen. In the Daming era he returned to the capital. When Emperor Taizu of the Qi ascended the throne, he was commanded by imperial decree to go to Liaodong to propagate and extol the way of dhyāna. He stayed there for two years, and the Dharma transformation flourished greatly. At the end of Jianyuan he returned to the capital. Soon afterward he went to Lingyin Mountain in Qiantang, where a single period of samādhi lasted for several days. Suddenly he saw a person come and pay homage, saying, "Your disciple lives at Qilitan. Because the people of Fuyang County quarreled and dug under Mount Lushan, encroaching upon and damaging the dragon dwellings, the dragons are all enraged, and have vowed that there shall be no rain for three hundred days. Now a hundred days have passed, and the fields are parched. We wish to ask your virtuous presence to go forth; it will surely move [the dragons] to bring sweet rain, moistening the people, and the merit will return to you." Tanchao agreed to it, and the spirit departed. Tanchao walked south for five days to Mount Chicheng, where he made incantations and vows for the dragons. When night fell, the dragons transformed into humans, came, and bowed in homage. Tanchao expounded the Dharma further to them, whereupon they begged for the three refuges, stating that they were dragons. Tanchao requested that they send down rain, but they looked at each other without speaking. That night they appeared to Tanchao in a dream, saying, "Originally we made the vow out of wrath. Since the Master has guided us with goodness, we dare not disobey your command. Tomorrow at the申 hour, rain shall fall." When the time came, rain fell abundantly, and the harvest that year was bountiful. He passed away in the tenth year of Yongming at the age of seventy-four.