神僧傳 9.2

9.2

僧金剛仙者。西域人也。居于清遠峽山寺。能梵音彈舌搖錫而呪物。物無不應。善囚拘鬼魅束縛蚊螭。動錫杖一聲。召雷立震。是日峽山寺有李朴者。持斧翦巨木。刳而為舟。忽登山見一盤石上有穴。覩一大蜘蛛足廣丈餘。四蛇齧卉窒其穴而去。俄聞林木有聲暴猛吼驟。工人懼而緣木伺之。果覩枳首之虺長可數十丈。屈曲蹙怒環其蛛穴。東西其首。俄而躍西之首吸穴之卉團。而飛出穎脫俱盡。後迴東之首大畫其目大呀其口。吸其蜘蛛蜘蛛馳出。以足擒穴之口。翹屈其毒。丹然若火。焌虺之咽喉去虺之目。虺懵然而復蘇。舉首又吸之。蛛不見更毒虺。虺遂倒於石而殞。蛛躍出緣虺之腹咀。內齒折二頭俱出絲而囊之。躍出穴去。朴訝之返峽山寺語金剛仙。仙乃祈朴驗穴振環杖而呪之。蛛即出於僧前儼若神聽。及引錫觸之。蛛乃殂於穴側耳。及夜僧夢見老人捧匹帛而前曰。我即蛛也。復能織耳。禮僧曰。願為福田之依。語畢遂亡。僧及覺布已在側。其於精妙奇巧非世繭絲之所能製也。僧乃製而為衣。塵垢不觸。後數年僧欲往番禺泛舶歸天竺。乃於峽山金鎖潭畔搖錫大呼而呪水。俄而水闢見底矣。以澡瓶張之。有一泥鰍魚可長三寸許。躍入瓶中。語眾僧曰。此龍矣。吾將至海門以藥煮為膏塗足則渡海若履坦途。是夜有白衣叟挈轉關榼詣寺。家人傳經曰。知金剛仙好酒。此榼一邊美醞一邊毒醪。其榼即晉惠帝曾用酖牛將軍者也。今有黃金百兩奉公。為持此酒毒其僧也。是僧無何。取吾子欲為膏恨伊之深痛貫骨髓。但無計而奈何。傳經喜受金與酒。得轉關之法詣金剛仙。仙持盃向口次。忽有數歲小兒躍出就手覆之。日酒是龍所將來而毒師耳。僧大駭詰傳經。傳經遂不敢隱。僧乃問小兒曰。爾何人而相救。兒曰。我昔日之蛛也。今已離其惡業。而託生為人七稔矣。吾之魂稍靈於常人。知師有難故飛魂奉救。言訖而沒。眾僧聆之。共禮金剛仙。求捨其龍子。僧不得已而縱之。後仙果泛舶歸天竺矣。

The monk Jingangxian was a man of the Western Regions. He dwelt at Xiashan Monastery in Qingyuan. He was skilled in Sanskrit incantations, clicking his tongue and shaking his staff to chant spells over things, and there was nothing that did not respond. He excelled at imprisoning ghosts and specters, binding goblins and hornless dragons; with a single shake of his pewter staff, he would summon thunder that instantly rumbled. That day at Xiashan Monastery, a man named Li Pu took an axe to cut down a gigantic tree and hollow it out for a boat. Suddenly climbing the mountain, he saw a hole in a flat boulder and beheld a giant spider whose legs spread over a zhang wide. Four snakes held herbs in their mouths to plug the hole and departed. Soon he heard violent and fierce roaring sounds amid the woods. The workman, terrified, climbed a tree to observe. Indeed, he saw a two-headed viper several tens of zhang in length, coiled and fuming with rage, encircling the spider's hole and turning its heads east and west. Soon the western head sprang up and inhaled the herbs plugging the hole into a ball, which flew out completely exposed and cleared away. Then the eastern head turned back, its eyes opened wide and its mouth gaping wide, and inhaled the spider. The spider dashed out, seized the edge of the hole with its legs, and bent its venom upward; glowing red like fire, it scorched the viper's throat and destroyed its eyes. The viper fell stunned, but soon revived; raising its head, it inhaled again. The spider disappeared, and its venom struck the viper even further. The viper then collapsed upon the stone and died. The spider leapt out, climbed onto the viper's belly to chew it, broke its teeth, and from both ends produced silk to encase it, then leapt out and departed into the hole. Pu was astonished and returned to Xiashan Monastery to tell Jingangxian. Xian then requested Pu to verify the hole, and, shaking his ringed staff, he chanted a spell. The spider immediately emerged before the monk, appearing as if listening devoutly. When he extended his staff and touched it, the spider died beside the hole. That night, the monk saw an old man in a dream holding a bolt of silk who stepped forward and said, "I am that spider; I can also weave." Bowing to the monk, he said, "I wish to serve as a reliance for the field of merit." When he finished speaking, he disappeared. When the monk awoke, the cloth was already at his side; its exquisite and wondrous craftsmanship was something that could not be made by the cocoon silk of the worldly realm. The monk made it into a robe, which dust and grime could not touch. Several years later, the monk wished to go to Panyu to board a ship and return to Tianzhu. By the Golden Lock Pool at Xiashan, he shook his staff, shouted loudly, and cast a spell upon the water. In a moment the water parted, revealing the bottom. Opening his washing bottle, there was a loach about three inches long that leapt into the bottle. He said to the monks, "This is a dragon. When I reach the sea gate, I will boil it with medicine into an ointment and rub my feet with it, so that crossing the sea will be like treading on level ground." That night, an old man in white, carrying a dual-chambered flask, came to the monastery. A servant named Chuanjing said, "Knowing that Jingangxian loves wine, this flask has fine brew on one side and poisoned brew on the other. This flask was once used by Emperor Hui of Jin to poison General Niu. Now I offer you one hundred ounces of gold to take this wine and poison that monk. For no reason, that monk has seized my son wishing to make him into ointment; my hatred for him cuts to the marrow of my bones, but I have no other means. What can I do?" Chuanjing gladly accepted the gold and the wine, learned the method of turning the flask, and went to Jingangxian. Just as Xian was raising the cup to his mouth, a child of several years suddenly leapt out, approached his hand, and overturned it, saying, "The wine was brought by the dragon to poison you, Master!" The monk was greatly shocked and interrogated Chuanjing; Chuanjing dared not conceal it. The monk then asked the child, "Who are you to rescue me?" The child said, "I was the spider of former days. I have now abandoned that evil karma and have been reborn as a human for seven years. My spirit is somewhat more clairvoyant than that of ordinary people; knowing that Master was in danger, I flew my spirit here to offer rescue." Having finished speaking, he vanished. The monks, hearing this, bowed together to Jingangxian and begged him to release the dragon's child. Having no choice, the monk let it go. Later, Xian indeed boarded a ship and returned to Tianzhu.