神僧傳 4.4

4.4

The śramaṇa Shao Shuo was a native of the country of Kangju. He was on the best of terms with Master Baozhi. Entering and leaving, walking and wandering, he paid no heed to night or day; when he wished to seek something, he would go. He traveled to Yizhou, and by using comical words to speak of matters, he could make people laugh with delight, using this to encourage them to do good. Every household was pleased with him. When he went to someone's house and slept on the ground, that household would surely have a death. When he asked someone for a fine mat, a young child would surely pass away. At the time, everyone took these as omens. On the eighth day of the fourth month, during the religious procession in Chengdu, Shuo assumed the form of a lion among the crowd. That day, Pi County also reported seeing Shuo assume the form of a lion, whereupon people realized he had divided his body. Regional Inspector Xiao Huikai and Liu Mengming both revered and served him. Mengming dressed two concubines in men's clothes to test Shuo, saying, "May I give these two persons to you as attendants, venerable sir?" Shuo was fond of speaking in rhyme, so he said to Ming, "Better to beg for food oneself to feast in purity, / Than spend my remaining years together with a husband!" Later he suddenly wore a cloth hat and visited Ming; a short while later, Ming died. Prior to this, Mengming's Aide-de-camp Shen Zhongyu had revised the regulations on flogging, making ordinary statutes severe. Shuo said to Yu, "The clamor of heaven and earth arises from this! If you abolish the flogging regulations, you will become Regional Inspector." Yu abolished them; when Ming died, Zhongyu indeed took charge of provincial affairs. In the ninth month of that year, when about to die, Shuo said to the śramaṇa Fajin, "I wish to have my corpse exposed beneath a pine tree, but my feet must wear clogs." Jin gave his assent. Soon after, Shuo passed away. They carried his corpse and exposed it; the next day, when they went to look, its whereabouts were lost. Soon someone came from Pi County, saying, "Yesterday I saw Master Shuo wearing a single clog walking in the marketplace. He said, 'Tell Master Jin for me: the young boys have cheated me, providing me with only one clog.'" Jin asked the novice monks in surprise, and they replied, "When carrying the corpse, one clog fell off; we were in such a hurry that we had no time to tie it on." Fayuan.