神僧傳 7.30

7.30

嬾殘者。唐天寶初衡嶽寺執役僧也。退食即收所餘而食。性嬾而食殘。故號嬾殘也。晝專一寺之工。夜止群牛之下。曾無倦色。已二十年矣。時鄴侯李沙寺中讀書。察嬾殘所為曰非凡物也。聽其中宵梵唱響徹山林。李公情頗知音能辨休戚。謂嬾殘經音先悽惋而後喜悅。必謫墮之人。時將去矣。候中夜李公潛往謁焉。望席門通名而拜。嬾殘大詬仰空而唾曰。是將賊我。李公愈加謹敬。唯拜而已。嬾殘正撥牛糞火出。芋啗之良。久乃曰可。以席地取。所啗芋之半以授焉。李公捧承盡食而謝。謂李公曰。慎勿多言。領取十年宰相。公又拜而退。居一月刺史祭嶽修道甚嚴。忽中夜風雷而一峯頹下。其緣山磴道為大石所欄。乃以十牛縻絆以挽之。又以數百人鼓噪以推之。物力竭而石愈固。更無他途可以修事。嬾殘曰。不假人力我試去之。眾皆大笑以為狂人。嬾殘曰。何必見嗤。試可乃已。寺僧笑而許之。遂履石而動。忽轉盤而下。聲若震雷。山路既開。寺僧皆羅拜。一郡皆呼至聖。刺史奉之如神。嬾殘悄然乃懷去意。寺外虎豹忽爾成群。日有殺傷無由禁止。嬾殘曰。授我箠為爾盡驅除之。眾皆曰。大石猶可推虎豹當易制。遂與之荊挺。皆躡而觀之。纔出門見一虎[嘟-者+缶]之而去。嬾殘既去虎亦絕蹤。後李公果十年為相也。

Lancan was a monk who did manual labor at Hengyue Monastery during the early Tianbao era of the Tang dynasty. When meals were over, he would collect what remained and eat it; being by nature lazy and eating leftovers, he was therefore called "Lancan" [Lazy Leftovers]. By day he devoted himself entirely to the monastery's chores, and by night he rested beneath the herd of oxen, never showing the slightest sign of weariness; this had already gone on for twenty years. At that time, Li Bi, the Marquis of Ye, was studying in the monastery. Observing what Lancan did, he said, "He is no ordinary person." Listening to him chant Sanskrit hymns at midnight, the sound resounded through the mountains and forests. Lord Li had an ear for music and could discern fortune and woe; he considered that Lancan's recitation of the scriptures was sorrowful at first and joyful afterward, indicating he was certainly a person descended from heaven who had been banished, and the time for his departure was drawing near. Lord Li waited for midnight and secretly went to pay him a visit. Facing the woven-mat door, he announced his name and bowed. Lancan cursed loudly, spat toward the sky, and said, "This one will do me harm!" Lord Li grew all the more reverent and respectful, merely bowing and nothing more. Lancan was just poking through cow dung ashes to retrieve a taro; he ate it for a long while, and then said, "You may sit on the ground." Taking half of the taro he was eating, he handed it to him. Lord Li received it with cupped hands, ate it completely, and thanked him. Lancan said to Lord Li, "Be careful not to speak much; receive and hold ten years as Prime Minister." The Duke bowed again and withdrew. A month later, the Regional Inspector offered sacrifice to Mount Heng and repaired the mountain path with great solemnity. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, amid wind and thunder, a peak collapsed, and the stone-step path along the mountain was blocked by a huge rock. They harnessed ten oxen with ropes to drag it, and several hundred men shouted and clamored to push it, but their resources were exhausted while the boulder stood even firmer; there was no other route by which they could carry on their work. Lancan said, "Without relying on human strength, let me try to remove it." The multitude all laughed loudly, taking him for a madman. Lancan said, "Why must you ridicule me? Let me try, and if it fails, let it end." The monastery monks laughed and permitted him. Thereupon he placed his foot on the rock and moved it; suddenly it rolled and tumbled downward with a sound like pealing thunder. Once the mountain path was cleared, the monks of the monastery all lined up and bowed, the entire commandery hailed him as an utmost sage, and the Regional Inspector venerated him like a spirit. Lancan quietly harbored the thought of leaving. Outside the monastery, tigers and leopards suddenly gathered in packs, injuring and killing daily, with no way to put a stop to it. Lancan said, "Give me a staff, and I will drive them all away for you." The crowd all said, "Even a great rock could be pushed; tigers and leopards should be easy to tame." They gave him a thorn branch; all followed on tiptoe to watch. No sooner had he stepped out of the gate than a tiger seized him in its mouth and carried him away. Once Lancan was gone, all traces of the tigers vanished as well. Later, Lord Li indeed served as Prime Minister for ten years.