神僧傳 4.31

4.31

釋尚圓。姓陳氏。廣漢人。出家以呪術救物。梁武陵王蕭紀宮中鬼怪魅諸婇女。或歌或哭紛然亂舉。王乃令善射者控弦擬之。鬼乃現形。即放箭射鬼便遙接還返擲人。久而不已。聞圓持呪。請入宮中諸鬼競作諸變現龍蛇百獸。倏忽前後在空在地怪變多端。圓安坐告曰。汝小家鬼何因敢入王宮。能變我身則可自變萬種。秖是小鬼可住聽我一言。諸鬼合掌住立。圓始發云。南無佛陀。鬼皆失所在。自爾安靜。武帝聞召大蒙賞遇。年八十一終所住城。

Shi Shangyuan, whose secular surname was Chen, was a native of Guanghan. He renounced household life and used dhāraṇī arts to rescue living beings. In the palace of Xiao Ji, Prince of Wuling of the Liang, ghosts and specters bewitched the palace women; singing and weeping, they caused chaotic disturbances. The Prince then ordered skilled archers to draw their bows and aim at them. When the ghosts manifested their forms, they shot arrows at the ghosts, but the ghosts caught them from afar and hurled them back at the people; this went on for a long time without ceasing. Hearing that Shangyuan upheld dhāraṇīs, he invited him into the palace. The ghosts vied with one another to perform various transformations, manifesting dragons, snakes, and hundreds of beasts, flickering suddenly in front and behind, in the air and on the ground, with manifold strange transformations. Shangyuan sat calmly and addressed them, saying, "You petty domestic ghosts, for what reason do you dare to enter the Prince's palace? If you can transform my body, then you may transform yourselves into ten thousand kinds; but you are merely petty ghosts. You may halt and listen to my single word." The ghosts joined their palms and stood still. Only when Shangyuan uttered, "Namo buddhāya," did all the ghosts vanish from their places. From then on, all was peaceful and quiet. When Emperor Wu heard of it, he summoned him and rewarded him with great favor. At the age of eighty-one, he passed away in the city where he lived.