神僧傳 4.35

4.35

釋僧安。不知何許人。戒業精苦坐禪講解。時號多能。齊文宣時在王屋山。聚徒二十許人。講涅槃。始發題有雌雉來座側伏聽。僧若食時出外飲啄。日晚上講依時赴集。三卷未了遂絕不至。眾咸怪之。安曰。雉今生人道不須怪也。武平四年安領徒眾至越州行頭陀。忽云。往年雌雉應生此徑。至一家遙喚雌雉。一女走出如舊相識。禮拜歡喜。女父母異之。引入設食。安曰。此女何故名雌雉耶。答曰。見其初生髮如雉毛。既是女故名雌雉也。安大笑。為述本緣。女聞涕泣苦求出家。二親欣然許之。為講涅槃。便領解一無遺漏。至後三卷茫然不解。

Śramaṇa Seng'an: It is not known where he was from. Pure and austere in his observance of the precepts, he practiced seated meditation and lectured on the texts, being known in his time as versatile. During the reign of Emperor Wenxuan of the Qi, he stayed at Mount Wangwu, gathering some twenty disciples, and lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. When he first introduced the title, a female pheasant came to the side of the seat and crouched down listening. When the monks ate, it went outside to drink and peck; when the evening lecture commenced, it returned on time. Before the third fascicle was finished, it ceased coming. The assembly all thought it strange. Seng'an said, 'The pheasant has now taken rebirth in the human realm; you need not marvel at it.' In the fourth year of the Wuping era, Seng'an led his assembly to Yuezhou to practice the dhūtas. He suddenly said, 'The female pheasant from former years should be born along this path.' Arriving at a house, he called from afar, 'Female pheasant!' A girl ran out as if meeting an old acquaintance, bowing in joy. The girl's parents thought it strange, invited him in, and offered food. Seng'an asked, 'Why is this girl called Female Pheasant?' They replied, 'When she was born, we saw her hair resembled pheasant feathers, and since she was a girl, we named her Female Pheasant.' Seng'an laughed heartily and recounted her previous existence. Hearing this, the girl wept and earnestly begged to renounce household life; her parents gladly permitted it. He lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra for her, and she grasped and understood it without missing a thing, yet when it came to the final three fascicles, she was completely at a loss.