[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [神僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064) › 4.29 # 神僧傳 4.29 神僧傳 4.29 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [4.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4.29) 陸法和。不知何許人也。隱於江陵百里洲。衣食居處一與戒行沙門同。耆老自幼見之容色常定。人莫能測也。或謂出自嵩高。遍遊遐邇。既入荊州汶陽郡。居高要縣之紫石山。無故捨所居山。俄有蠻賊文道期之亂。時人以為預見萌兆。及侯景始告降於梁。法和謂南郡朱元英曰。貧道共檀越擊侯景去。元英曰。侯景為國立效。師云擊之何也。法和曰。正自如此。及景渡江。法和時在清谿山。元英往問曰。景今圍城其事云何。法和曰。凡人取果宜待熟時。固問之曰。亦剋亦不剋。景遣將任約擊梁湘東王於江陵。法和乃詣湘東乞征約。召諸蠻弟子八百人在江津。二日便發湘東。遣胡僧祐領千餘人與同行。法和登艦大笑曰。無量兵馬。江陵多神祠。人俗恒所祈禱。自法和軍出無復一驗。人以為神皆從行故也。至赤沙湖與約相對。法和乘輕舟不介冑。沿流而下。去約軍一里。乃還謂將士曰。聊觀彼龍睡不動。吾軍之龍甚自踴躍。即攻之。若得彼明日當不損客主一人而破賊。然有惡處。遂縱火船。而逆風不便。法和執白羽扇麾風。風即返約。眾皆見梁兵步於水上。於是大潰皆投水。約逃竄不知所之。法和曰。明日午時當得。及期而未得人問之。法和曰。吾前於此洲水乾時建一剎。語檀越等。此雖為剎實是賊標。今何不向標下求賊也。如其言果於水中見約抱剎仰頭栽出鼻。遂禽之。約言。求就師目前死。法和曰。檀越有相必不兵死。且於王有緣決無他慮。王於後當得檀越力耳。湘東果釋用為郡守。及魏圍江陵約以兵赴救力戰焉。法和既平約。往進見王僧辨於巴陵。謂曰。貧道已却侯景一臂。其更何能為。檀越宜即逐取。乃請還。謂湘東王曰。侯景自然平矣。無足可慮。蜀賊將至。法和請守巫峽待之。乃總諸軍而往運石以填江。三日水遂不流。橫之以鐵鎖。武陵王紀果遣蜀兵來度峽口。勢蹙進退不可。王綝與法和經略一戰而殄之。軍次白帝謂人曰。諸葛孔明可謂為名將。吾自見之。此城旁有其埋弩箭鏃一斛許。因插表令掘之如其言。又嘗至襄陽城北大樹下。畫地方二尺。令弟子掘之得一龜長尺半。以杖叩之曰。汝欲出不能得已數百歲。不逢我者豈見天日乎。為授三歸龜乃入草。初八疊山多惡疾人。法和為采藥療之。不過三服皆差。即求為弟子。山中多毒蟲猛獸。法和授其禁戒不復噬螫（音栻）所泊江湖必於峯側結表云。此處放生。漁者皆無所得。才或少獲。輒有大風雷。船人懼而放之。風雨乃定。晚雖將兵猶禁諸軍漁捕。有竊違者中夜猛獸必來欲噬之。或亡其船纜。有小弟子戲截蛇頭。來詣法和。法和曰汝何意殺因指以示之。弟子乃見蛇頭齚袴襠而不落。法和使懺悔為蛇作功德。又有人以牛試刀一下而頭斷。來詣法和。法和曰。有一斷頭牛就卿徵命殊急。若不為作功德。一月內報至。其人弗信少日果死。法和又為人置宅相墓以避禍求福。嘗謂人曰。勿繫馬於碓。其人行過鄉曲。門側有碓因繫馬於其柱。入門中憶法和戒。走出將解之。馬已斃矣。梁元帝以法和為都督。郢州刺史封江乘縣公。法和不稱臣。其啟文朱印名上自稱居士。後稱司徒。梁元帝謂其僕射王褒曰。我未嘗有意用陸為三公。而自稱何也。褒曰。彼既以道術自命容是先知。梁元帝以法和功業稍重。遂就加司徒都督刺史如故。部曲數千人通呼為弟子。唯以道術為化。不以法獄加人。又列肆之所不立市丞。牧佐之法無人領受。但以空檻籥在道間。上開一孔以受錢。賈客店人隨貨多少。計其估限自委檻中。所受所掌之司夕方開取。條其孔目輸之於庫。又法和平常言若不出口。時有所論則雄辨無敵。然猶帶蠻音。善為攻戰。具在江夏。大聚兵艦。欲襲襄陽。而入武關。梁元帝使止之。法和曰。法和是求佛之人。尚不希釋梵天王坐處。豈規主位。但於空王佛所。與主上有香火因緣。見王上應有報至。故救援耳。今既被疑。是業定不可解也。於是設供食具大䭔薄餅。及魏舉兵。法和自郢入漢口。將赴江陵。梁元帝使人逆之曰。此自能破賊。師但鎮郢州不須動也。法和乃還州。堊其城門。著麁白布衫袴邪巾。大繩束腰坐葦席。終日乃脫之。及聞梁元敗滅。復取前凶服著之。哭泣受弔。梁人入魏果見䭔餅焉。法和始於百里洲造壽王寺。既架佛殿更截梁柱曰。後四十許年佛法當遭雷雹。此寺幽僻可以免難。及魏平荊州宮室焚燼。總管欲發取壽王佛殿。嫌其材短乃停。後周氏滅佛法。此寺隔此陳境故不及難。天保六年春清河王岳進軍臨江。法和舉州入齊。文宣以法和為大都督十州諸軍事太尉公。西南大都督五州諸軍事荊州刺史安湘郡公宋蒞為郢州刺史。官爵如故。蒞弟遣為散騎常侍儀同三司湘州刺史義興縣公。梁將侯瑱來逼江夏。齊軍棄城而退。法和與宋蒞兄弟入朝。文宣聞其有奇術。虛心想見之。備三公鹵簿。於城南十二里供帳以待之。法和遙見鄴城下馬禹步。辛術謂曰。公既萬里歸誠主上虛心相待。何作此術。法和手持香爐步從路車至於館。明日引見。給通幰油絡網車。詣闕通名不稱官爵。不稱臣。但云荊山居士。文宣宴法和及其徒屬於昭陽殿。賜法和錢百萬物萬段甲第一區田一百頃奴婢二百人生資什物稱是。法和所得奴婢盡免之曰。各隨緣去。錢帛散施一日便盡。以官所賜宅營佛寺。自居一房與凡人無異。三年間再為太尉。世猶謂之居士。無疾而告弟子死期。至時燒香禮拜佛。坐繩床而終。浴訖將殮。屍小縮止三尺許。文宣令開棺視之。空棺而已。法和書其所居屋壁而塗之。及剝落有文曰。十年天子為尚可。百日天子急如火。周年天子遞代坐。又曰。一母生三天。兩天共五年。說者以婁太后生三天子。自孝昭即位至武成傳位。後主共五年焉。 > Lu Fahe: it is not known where he was from. He lived in seclusion on Baili Isle in Jiangling. His clothing, food, and dwelling were entirely the same as those of a śramaṇa observing the precepts. Elders had seen him since their youth, and his countenance was ever unchanging; no one could fathom him. Some said he came from Mount Songgao and traveled far and wide. After entering Wenyang commandery in Jingzhou, he resided at Mount Zishi in Gaoyao county. Without any apparent reason, he abandoned the mountain where he lived, and soon after there was the rebellion of the Man barbarian rebel Wen Daoqi. People of the time thought he had foreseen the signs beforehand. When Hou Jing first announced his surrender to the Liang, Fahe said to Zhu Yuanying of Nanjun, "This poor monk shall go with you, dānapati, to attack Hou Jing." Yuanying said, "Hou Jing has performed meritorious service for the state. Why do you say we should attack him, Master?" Fahe said, "It is simply as it is." When Hou Jing crossed the Yangtze River, Fahe was at Mount Qingxi. Yuanying went to ask him, "Hou Jing is now besieging the city; how will the matter turn out?" Fahe said, "When ordinary men pick fruit, they ought to wait until it is ripe." When pressed with questions, he said, "He will conquer, and yet he will not conquer." Hou Jing sent his general Ren Yue to attack Xiao Yi, the Prince of Xiangdong of the Liang, at Jiangling. Fahe then went to the Prince of Xiangdong to request permission to campaign against Ren Yue. He summoned eight hundred Man barbarian disciples to the river ferry. In two days they set out. The Prince of Xiangdong sent Hu Sengyou leading over a thousand men to march with him. Fahe boarded the warship and laughed loudly, saying, "Countless soldiers and horses!" Jiangling had many spirit shrines where commoners constantly prayed; from the moment Fahe's army set out, not a single one had any efficacy left. People thought this was because all the spirits had followed him on the march. Reaching Lake Chasha, he faced Ren Yue. Fahe rode in a light boat without armor or helmet, floating downstream to within one li of Yue's army. He then returned and said to his generals and soldiers, "I merely observed that their dragon is asleep and motionless, while our army's dragon is leaping with great vigor. Attack them at once! If we can engage them tomorrow, we will rout the rebels without losing a single man from among either guests or hosts. Yet there is a hazardous spot." Thereupon fire-ships were launched, but the headwind was unfavorable. Fahe held a white feather fan and waved it at the wind; the wind immediately reversed direction toward Ren Yue. All of Ren Yue's host saw the Liang soldiers walking on the water. Thereupon they suffered a great collapse, and all threw themselves into the water. Ren Yue fled and went into hiding, and no one knew where he had gone. Fahe said, "He will be captured tomorrow at noon." When the time arrived and he had not yet been caught, people questioned him. Fahe said, "Earlier, when the water on this isle was dry, I erected a pole. I told you dānapatis, 'Although this is a pole, it is actually the rebels' marker.' Now why do you not look beneath the marker for the rebel?" Just as he said, they indeed saw Ren Yue in the water clasping the pole, with his head tilted upward just barely exposing his nose. They then captured him. Yue said, "I beg to die before the Master's eyes." Fahe said, "Dānapati, you have the physiognomy of one who will definitely not die by weapons. Moreover, you have a karmic bond with the Prince; there is definitely no other worry. The Prince will later obtain your assistance, dānapati." The Prince of Xiangdong indeed released him and appointed him a commandery governor. When Western Wei besieged Jiangling, Yue rushed to its relief with troops and fought valiantly. Having subjugated Ren Yue, Fahe went forward to see Wang Sengbian at Baling and said to him, "This poor monk has already broken off one of Hou Jing's arms; what more can he do? Dānapati, you should immediately pursue and capture him." He then requested to return, and said to the Prince of Xiangdong, "Hou Jing will naturally be pacified; he is not worth worrying about. The Shu rebels are about to arrive; this Fahe requests to guard the Wu Gorges to await them." He then gathered the various armies, went there, and transported stones to fill the river; in three days the water ceased to flow. He blocked it across with iron chains. Xiao Ji, Prince of Wuling, indeed sent Shu troops to cross the mouth of the gorges; pressed by circumstances, they could neither advance nor retreat. Wang Lin and Fahe planned the strategy, and in a single battle exterminated them. When the army halted at Baidi, he said to the people, "Zhuge Kongming may truly be called a famous general. I have seen it myself: beside this city there is about one hu of his buried crossbow arrowheads." He then planted a marker and ordered them to dig; it was just as he had said. He also once went beneath a large tree north of the city of Xiangyang, drew a square of two chi on the ground, and ordered his disciples to dig; they found a tortoise a chi and a half long. Tapping it with his staff, he said, "You wished to come out but could not for several hundred years; had you not met me, how could you have seen the light of day?" After he conferred the three refuges upon it, the tortoise entered the grass. Earlier, Mount Badie had many people with virulent illnesses; Fahe gathered herbs for them and treated them, and within three doses all were cured. They immediately requested to become his disciples. In the mountains there were many poisonous insects and fierce beasts; Fahe conferred the prohibitive precepts upon them, and they no longer bit or stung. Wherever he moored on rivers and lakes, he would erect a marker beside the peaks, saying: "Life is liberated at this place." Fishermen would catch nothing; if they happened to catch a little, a great storm of wind and thunder would immediately arise. The boatmen, terrified, would release their catch, and the wind and rain would then subside. In his later years, even though he led troops, he still prohibited the various armies from fishing and hunting; if anyone secretly violated this, in the middle of the night fierce beasts would inevitably come seeking to devour them, or their mooring ropes would be lost. A young disciple playfully cut off a snake's head and came to see Fahe. Fahe said, "Why did you kill it?" and pointed to show him. The disciple then saw the snake's head biting onto the crotch of his trousers and not falling off. Fahe had him repent and make merit for the snake. There was another man who tested a sword on an ox, severing its head with a single stroke, and then came to see Fahe. Fahe said, "There is a headless ox demanding your life with great urgency; if you do not make merit for it, the retribution will arrive within a month." The man did not believe him, and in a few days he indeed died. Fahe also sited residences and examined graves for people to avert misfortune and seek good fortune. He once said to someone, "Do not tie your horse to a mortar." When that man passed through a village, there was a mortar beside a gate, so he tied his horse to its post. Upon entering the gate, he remembered Fahe's admonition; he ran out to untie it, but the horse was already dead. Emperor Yuan of the Liang appointed Fahe as Area Commander, Regional Inspector of Yingzhou, and enfeoffed him as Duke of Jiangcheng County. Fahe did not refer to himself as a subject; above his name with the red seal in his memorials, he called himself a lay practitioner (upāsaka), and later called himself Minister of Works (Situ). Emperor Yuan of the Liang said to his Vice Director of the Left, Wang Bao, "I have never intended to appoint Lu to the Three Excellencies, so why does he style himself thus?" Wang Bao said, "Since he considers himself master of the arts of the Way, it is likely that he has foreknowledge." Because Fahe's merits and achievements were growing increasingly substantial, Emperor Yuan of the Liang thereupon conferred on him the title of Minister of Works, while he remained Area Commander and Regional Inspector as before. His several thousand retainers were all called disciples; he transformed people solely through the arts of the Way, never subjecting them to penal laws or prisons. Furthermore, where marketplaces were arranged, no market directors were established; no one was assigned to handle the laws of pasturage and administration. There were merely empty locked chests along the roads with a single hole cut on top to receive money; merchants and shopkeepers, according to the amount of their goods, calculated their prices and limits and deposited it into the chests themselves. The officials who received and oversaw it unlocked and took it only in the evening, itemized the entries, and delivered them to the treasury. Furthermore, in ordinary times, Fahe spoke as if words could hardly leave his mouth, but whenever he held a discussion, his powerful eloquence was peerless, though still tinged with a Man barbarian accent. He was skilled at offensive warfare. Stationed at Jiangxia, he amassed a great force of warships, intending to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang and enter the Wu Pass. Emperor Yuan of the Liang sent word to stop him. Fahe said, "I, Fahe, am a seeker of the Buddha; I do not even covet the seat of Śakra, King of the Gods, or Brahmā—how could I plot against the position of the ruler? It is only that at the place of the Void King Buddha, I formed an incense-and-fire karmic bond with His Majesty; seeing that a retribution is due to arrive for the King, I came to his rescue. Now that I am suspected, this karma is fixed and cannot be undone." Thereupon he prepared an offering of food, consisting of large dumplings and thin pancakes. When the Wei mobilized troops, Fahe went from Yingzhou into Hankou, intending to rush to Jiangling. Emperor Yuan of the Liang sent someone to head him off, saying, "We can defeat the rebels ourselves; Master, merely guard Yingzhou, there is no need to move." Fahe then returned to the province, whitewashed the city gates, donned a coarse white cloth robe and trousers with a slanted kerchief, bound his waist with a thick rope, and sat upon a reed mat; only at the end of the day did he remove it. When he heard that Emperor Yuan had been defeated and destroyed, he again took up his former mourning garments, put them on, wept, and received condolences. When the Liang captives entered the Wei, they indeed saw the dumplings and pancakes. Earlier, Fahe built the Shouwang Monastery on Baili Isle; after framing the Buddha hall, he had the beams and pillars cut shorter, saying, "Some forty-odd years from now, the Buddhadharma will suffer a hailstorm; this monastery is secluded and remote, and will be able to escape the calamity." When the Wei pacified Jingzhou, the palaces were burned to ashes; the Commander-in-Chief wished to dismantle and take the Buddha hall of Shouwang Monastery, but disliked that its timbers were too short, so he stopped. Later, when the Northern Zhou suppressed the Buddhadharma, this monastery was separated by the Chen border, and so did not suffer the calamity. In the spring of the sixth year of the Tianbao era, King Yue of Qinghe advanced his army to the Yangtze River; Fahe surrendered the entire province to the Northern Qi. Emperor Wenxuan appointed Fahe as Grand Area Commander of the Military Affairs of Ten Provinces and Grand Commandant; and appointed Song Li, Southwest Grand Area Commander of the Military Affairs of Five Provinces, Regional Inspector of Jingzhou, and Duke of Anxiang Commandery, as Regional Inspector of Yingzhou, with their ranks and peerages as before. Li's younger brother Song Qian was appointed Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, Specially Advanced with the Threefold Protocol, Regional Inspector of Xiangzhou, and Duke of Yixing County. When the Liang general Hou Tian came to press Jiangxia, the Qi army abandoned the city and retreated. Fahe, together with the brothers Song Li and Song Qian, entered the imperial court. Emperor Wenxuan, hearing that he possessed marvelous arts, open-mindedly wished to meet him; he prepared the ceremonial retinue of the Three Excellencies and set up tents twelve li south of the city to await him. Seeing the city of Ye from afar, Fahe dismounted and performed the Pace of Yu. Xin Shu said to him, "Since Your Excellency has pledged allegiance from ten thousand li away and His Majesty treats you with an open mind, why do you perform such arts?" Fahe, holding an incense burner in his hands, walked following the imperial carriage until he reached the guesthouse. The next day he was granted an audience. He was provided with a fully screened carriage veiled with an oiled netting. When he went to the palace to submit his name, he did not mention his official titles or peerage, nor did he call himself a subject, but merely said: "The Lay Practitioner of Mount Jing." Emperor Wenxuan feasted Fahe and his disciples in the Zhaoyang Hall. He bestowed upon Fahe one million cash, ten thousand bolts of textiles, a first-class mansion, one hundred qing of fields, two hundred male and female slaves, and a matching quantity of provisions and utensils. Fahe freed all the slaves he received, saying, "Go each according to your own conditions." The money and silk were distributed in dāna and exhausted in a single day. Using the residence bestowed by the government, he constructed a Buddhist monastery, residing himself in a single room no different from an ordinary person. Within three years, he was twice made Grand Commandant, yet the world still called him a lay practitioner. Without illness, he announced to his disciples the time of his death. When the time arrived, he burned incense, made obeisance to the Buddha, sat upon a rope-strung bed, and passed away. After he was bathed and about to be encoffined, his corpse shrank slightly, measuring only about three chi. Emperor Wenxuan ordered the coffin opened to inspect it; it was merely an empty coffin. Fahe had written on the wall of the room where he lived and then plastered over it; when the plaster peeled away, there was writing that said: "A Son of Heaven for ten years is still passable; a Son of Heaven for a hundred days is urgent as fire; Sons of Heaven for a full year sit successively on the throne." It also said: "One mother gives birth to three heavens; two heavens share five years." Commentators took this to mean that Empress Dowager Lou gave birth to three Sons of Heaven, and from Emperor Xiaozhao's accession to Emperor Wucheng's abdication of the throne, together with the Latter Master, it was five years in all. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 4.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4.28) - [Next: 4.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4.30) - [Up: 4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064~en-mt.4.29) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.4.29) · Pramāṇa