神僧傳 4.2

4.2

Shi Huitong was of unknown origin. During the Yuanjia era of the Song, he was seen in Shouchun. His lodgings were never fixed, and he wandered through villages and hamlets. His drinking, feasting, and eating were no different from ordinary people. He constantly called himself Zheng Sanqi. His predictions of future events were quite often verified. In Jiangling there was a traveling merchant named Bian Senggui who did business in Shouchun and was about to return home. On the road he met Huitong, who said he wished to entrust him with an object. At the time, Senggui was carrying a heavy load himself and firmly declined. Huitong then forcibly placed it upon his load, yet Senggui did not feel any weight at all. After walking several li they parted, and Huitong said to Senggui, "I have an elder sister in Jiangling who is a nun named Huixu, residing at Sanceng Temple. Would you please send word to her for me, saying that I intend to go there soon?" Having spoken, he suddenly vanished. Looking back at the object entrusted upon his load, it was also gone. When Senggui arrived, he found Huixu and explained his intention in detail. Since Huixu had no such brother, she also did not understand why this happened; she then went to Shouchun herself to look for him, but never met him. Later, Huitong went to Jiangling himself, but Huixu had already died. He entered her room and inquired into all the details. He then stayed in Jiangling for a short while; whenever his path passed people's graves, he unfailingly knew their clans and the months and years of their deaths. Those who passed the questions along found that all was as he said. Sometimes he would point out thieves and robbers from afar and state their crimes, whereupon bandits who saw Huitong from a distance would invariably take side roads to avoid him. Furthermore, on the road at Jiangjin he met a man, suddenly struck him with a staff, and said, "Why don't you hurry back? See how your home is doing!" When this man arrived home, it had indeed been caught in a spreading fire, and the house and belongings were completely consumed. At the beginning of the Yongyuan era of the Qi, he suddenly went to an acquaintance, Ren Yang, asking for wine with great urgency, saying, "Now I must make a long journey and will not see you again. Give my farewells to all our good friends; all should take diligent cultivation of good as paramount." When he finished drinking the wine, he lay down on the ground beside the wall; upon going to look, he had already died. Several tens of days later, someone saw him again in the marketplace, caught up with him, and spoke with him, and after a long time he vanished.