神僧傳 5.22

5.22

釋法喜。南海人也。形容寢陋短弱迂踈。可年四十許人。嶺表耆老咸言。兒童時見識之。顏貌如今無異。蠻蜒（音但）間相傳云。已三百歲矣。亦自言舊識廬山遠法師。說晉宋朝事歷歷如信宿前耳。平素時悄默無語。語必含深意。吉凶之徵有如影響。人亦不欲與喜相見。懼直言災惡忤逆意也。陳朝馬靜為廣州刺史。方上任。喜直入州。上廳事畫地作馬頭形。以示其子而去。靜本名族多武略。到州行部從甲士數萬。旌旗劍戟以威邊徼。其侈僭過度。被人誣告謀反。帝使臨汝侯按之。利其財產擒而斬之。此畫地之明效也。喜之先見皆此類。煬帝聞之取來揚州。帝令宮內安置。于時內造一堂新成。師忽昇堂觀看。因驚走下階。迴顧云。幾壓殺我。其日中夜天大雨堂崩。壓殺數十人。其後又於宮內環走索羊頭。帝聞而惡之以為狂言。命鏁著一室。數日三衛於市見喜坦率遊行。還奏云。法喜在市。勅責所司檢驗所禁之處。門鎖如舊。守者亦云。師在室內。於是開戶入室見袈裟覆一聚白骨鎖在項骨之上。以狀奏聞。勅遣長史王恒驗之皆然。帝由是始信非常人也。勅令勿驚動。至日暮師還室內。或語或笑。守門秦聞。勅所司脫鎖放師出外隨意所適。其後帝遇弒於江都。方悟索羊頭之驗。有時一日之中凡數十處齋供。師皆赴會。在在見之。其間亦飲酒噉肉。俄而見身有疾。常臥床去薦席令人於床下鋪炭火甚熱。數日而命終。火炙半身皆焦爛。葬於香山寺至大業四年南海郡奏云。法喜師見還在郡。勅遣開棺視之則無所有。

Shi Faxi was a native of Nanhai. His physical appearance was ugly and uncouth, short, frail, and eccentric, looking to be about forty years of age. Elders beyond the southern ridges all said that when they were children they had already known him, and his countenance was no different from what it was now. Among the Dan barbarians it was traditionally said that he was already three hundred years old. He himself also claimed to have been an old acquaintance of Master Yuan of Mount Lu, and spoke of events of the Jin and Song dynasties distinctly, as if they had occurred only a night or two before. In ordinary times he was quiet and spoke not a word, but whenever he spoke it invariably contained profound meaning. His omens of good and ill fortune were like shadows and echoes. People also did not wish to meet Xi, fearing that his blunt speech about disasters and evils would offend their wishes. Under the Chen dynasty, Ma Jing became the inspector of Guangzhou. Just as he was taking up his post, Xi walked straight into the prefecture. Ascending to the administrative hall, he drew the shape of a horse's head on the ground, showed it to Jing's son, and left. Jing was originally from a renowned clan and had great military acumen. When he arrived in the prefecture to inspect his command, his retinue included tens of thousands of armored soldiers, with flags, banners, swords, and halberds to overawe the border regions. Because his extravagance and presumption were excessive, he was falsely accused by someone of plotting rebellion. The Emperor sent the Marquis of Linru to investigate him; desiring his property, [the Marquis] seized and beheaded him. This was the clear verification of the drawing on the ground. Xi's foreknowledge was all of this kind. Emperor Yang [of the Sui], having heard of this, brought him to Yangzhou. The Emperor ordered him housed within the palace. At that time, a hall had newly been completed within the palace. The Master suddenly went up to the hall to look at it, whereupon he fled down the steps in alarm, looked back, and said, "It almost crushed me to death!" That day at midnight, there was a great downpour of rain, and the hall collapsed, crushing several tens of people to death. After that, he also ran around inside the palace demanding a sheep's head. The Emperor heard of this, detested it, and considered it mad talk; he ordered him locked in a room. A few days later, the Imperial Guards saw Xi strolling leisurely in the marketplace. They returned and memorialized, "Faxi is in the market." An imperial decree reprimanded the relevant authorities to inspect the place where he was confined. The door lock was as before, and the guards also said, "The Master is inside the room." Thereupon they opened the door and entered the room, where they saw a kāṣāya covering a pile of white bones, with the lock around the neck bone. They memorialized this state of affairs. An imperial decree dispatched Chief Clerk Wang Heng to verify it, and everything was indeed so. From this the Emperor first believed that he was no ordinary man. An imperial decree ordered that he not be disturbed. At nightfall, the Master returned to the interior of the room, alternately speaking and laughing. The gatekeeper reported this in a memorial. An imperial decree ordered the authorities to remove the lock and release the Master outside, to go wherever he pleased. Later, when the Emperor was assassinated at Jiangdu, people finally realized the verification of his demanding a sheep's head. Sometimes, within a single day, there were vegetarian feasts and offerings at several tens of places, and the Master attended every gathering, being seen everywhere. At times he also drank wine and ate meat. Soon after, he manifested illness in his body; he constantly lay on his bed, removed the mats, and had charcoal fire laid very hot beneath the bed. In a few days his life ended; half of his body was scorched and decayed by the fire. He was buried at Xiangshan Temple. In the fourth year of Daye, Nanhai Commandery memorialized: "Master Faxi is currently back in the commandery." An imperial decree was sent ordering that the coffin be opened and inspected, whereupon nothing was found.