神僧傳 4.35

4.35

Śramaṇa Seng'an: It is not known where he was from. Pure and austere in his observance of the precepts, he practiced seated meditation and lectured on the texts, being known in his time as versatile. During the reign of Emperor Wenxuan of the Qi, he stayed at Mount Wangwu, gathering some twenty disciples, and lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. When he first introduced the title, a female pheasant came to the side of the seat and crouched down listening. When the monks ate, it went outside to drink and peck; when the evening lecture commenced, it returned on time. Before the third fascicle was finished, it ceased coming. The assembly all thought it strange. Seng'an said, 'The pheasant has now taken rebirth in the human realm; you need not marvel at it.' In the fourth year of the Wuping era, Seng'an led his assembly to Yuezhou to practice the dhūtas. He suddenly said, 'The female pheasant from former years should be born along this path.' Arriving at a house, he called from afar, 'Female pheasant!' A girl ran out as if meeting an old acquaintance, bowing in joy. The girl's parents thought it strange, invited him in, and offered food. Seng'an asked, 'Why is this girl called Female Pheasant?' They replied, 'When she was born, we saw her hair resembled pheasant feathers, and since she was a girl, we named her Female Pheasant.' Seng'an laughed heartily and recounted her previous existence. Hearing this, the girl wept and earnestly begged to renounce household life; her parents gladly permitted it. He lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra for her, and she grasped and understood it without missing a thing, yet when it came to the final three fascicles, she was completely at a loss.