神僧傳 5.16

5.16

釋智曠。姓王氏。初母將孕。夢入流浴。童子乘寶船來投便覺有娠。及生長敏而重行。梁末為壯士。後離俗從道學長生術。及值高僧授戒為佛弟子。德行動人漸示潛迹。江陵張詮者二世眼盲。曠曰。爾家塚內棺枕古井。移墳開甃必獲禳焉。因即隨言瞽者見道。請求剃落。眾咸憚之。便伐薪施僧空閑靜慮。又言。澗有古鍾可掘出懸寺。仁州刺史謂為詭惑。鞭背百下無慘無破。便送出臺拘在尚方。有力者試以八尺械懸來捶膝。傍觀謂言糜碎。而曠容既無撓肉亦無痕獄吏云。承居士能忍飢。便絕食七日。身色如故市衢見行驗獄猶有。方信分身。大定三年從人乞草屩。今夜當急行。及三更合城火發。四門出人不泄。燒殺七千。曠在獄引囚二百安步而出。年將不惑始蒙剃落。進戒以後頭陀。蛇弭床側。每夕山隅四燈同照。士俗雲赴奄成華寺。有一宰鴨而為齋者。鴨神夜告便曰。何有殺牲而充淨供。自爾便斷。曾度夏水徒侶數十欲住不可欲去無從。前岸兩船無人將至。曠笑而舉聲呼之。船自截流直到。遂因濟水。誡以勿傳。又於咸陽造佛迹寺。有牛產犢出首還隱。已過信次母將亡。僧告曠知惻。答曰。此犢是寺居士。侵用僧物今來償債。其羞不出牛母無他。因執爐呵戒犢子。疾當償報何恥生乎。應言便出。神異冥徵不可備載。以開皇二十九年九月二十四日終于四望開聖寺。自剋終期。天香滿室。合寺音樂。西南而去。

Shi Zhikuang had the secular surname Wang. Earlier, when his mother was about to conceive, she dreamed of entering a stream to bathe, where a boy riding a jeweled boat came toward her; she then realized she was pregnant. When he grew up, he was quick-witted and valued righteous conduct. At the end of the Liang dynasty, he was a brave warrior. Later he left secular life to follow the Dao, studying the arts of longevity. Upon meeting an eminent monk who conferred the precepts on him, he became a disciple of the Buddha. His virtuous conduct moved others, and he gradually revealed his hidden traces. Zhang Quan of Jiangling had been blind for two generations. Kuang said, "In your family tomb, the coffin rests against an old well. If you move the tomb and open the well brickwork, you will surely ward off the curse." Following his words, the blind man regained his sight. He requested to shave his head, but the assembly was apprehensive of him. He then cut firewood to offer to the monks, practicing quiet contemplation in solitude. He also said, "There is an ancient bell in the ravine that can be dug up and hung in the monastery." The governor of Renzhou considered him a deceitful trickster and had his back whipped a hundred times, yet he showed no grief and his skin was unbroken. He was then sent out to the palace agency and detained in the Shangfang. A strong man tried hanging an eight-foot cangue on him and beating his knees; onlookers thought they would be crushed to pulp, yet Kuang's countenance showed no distress and his flesh bore no trace. A jailer said, "I hear the layman can endure hunger," and ceased feeding him for seven days, yet his bodily complexion remained unchanged. He was seen walking in the marketplace, while inspection showed he was still in jail; only then did they believe in his bilocation. In the third year of the Dading era, he begged someone for straw sandals, saying, "Tonight I must walk swiftly." At the third watch, a fire broke out throughout the entire city. People fleeing the four gates could not get through, and seven thousand were burned to death. Kuang, while in prison, led two hundred prisoners and walked out calmly. When he was near forty years of age, he was finally granted tonsure. After receiving the full precepts, he practiced dhūta, and snakes curled peacefully beside his bed. Every night at the corner of the mountain, four lamps shone together. Scholars and commoners flocked like clouds, swiftly turning it into a splendid monastery. Someone slaughtered a duck to prepare a vegetarian feast. The spirit of the duck appeared at night and said, "How can one kill a creature to supply a pure offering?" From then on, the practice ceased. Once, when crossing a river in summer, his several tens of companions wished to stay but could not, and wished to cross but had no means. Two boats were on the opposite shore with no one aboard. Kuang laughed and called out to them; the boats cut across the current of their own accord and arrived directly before them. They thereupon crossed the water, and he admonished them not to tell others. Furthermore, he built the Foji Monastery in Xianyang. A cow gave birth to a calf whose head emerged and then retreated. More than two days had passed, and the mother cow was about to die. A monk informed Kuang, seeking his pity. He replied, "This calf was formerly a lay patron of the monastery who misappropriated the sangha's property and has now come to repay the debt. Out of shame it does not come forth; the mother cow has no other ailment." Holding a censer, he scolded and admonished the calf, "You should swiftly repay the retribution; why be ashamed of being born?" Responding to his words, it immediately came out. His divine marvels and unseen proofs cannot be fully recorded. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the twenty-ninth year of the Kaihuang era, he passed away at the Kaisheng Monastery in Siwang. He had set the date of his passing himself; heavenly fragrance filled the room, music sounded throughout the monastery, and he departed toward the southwest.