神僧傳 5.16

5.16

Shi Zhikuang had the secular surname Wang. Earlier, when his mother was about to conceive, she dreamed of entering a stream to bathe, where a boy riding a jeweled boat came toward her; she then realized she was pregnant. When he grew up, he was quick-witted and valued righteous conduct. At the end of the Liang dynasty, he was a brave warrior. Later he left secular life to follow the Dao, studying the arts of longevity. Upon meeting an eminent monk who conferred the precepts on him, he became a disciple of the Buddha. His virtuous conduct moved others, and he gradually revealed his hidden traces. Zhang Quan of Jiangling had been blind for two generations. Kuang said, "In your family tomb, the coffin rests against an old well. If you move the tomb and open the well brickwork, you will surely ward off the curse." Following his words, the blind man regained his sight. He requested to shave his head, but the assembly was apprehensive of him. He then cut firewood to offer to the monks, practicing quiet contemplation in solitude. He also said, "There is an ancient bell in the ravine that can be dug up and hung in the monastery." The governor of Renzhou considered him a deceitful trickster and had his back whipped a hundred times, yet he showed no grief and his skin was unbroken. He was then sent out to the palace agency and detained in the Shangfang. A strong man tried hanging an eight-foot cangue on him and beating his knees; onlookers thought they would be crushed to pulp, yet Kuang's countenance showed no distress and his flesh bore no trace. A jailer said, "I hear the layman can endure hunger," and ceased feeding him for seven days, yet his bodily complexion remained unchanged. He was seen walking in the marketplace, while inspection showed he was still in jail; only then did they believe in his bilocation. In the third year of the Dading era, he begged someone for straw sandals, saying, "Tonight I must walk swiftly." At the third watch, a fire broke out throughout the entire city. People fleeing the four gates could not get through, and seven thousand were burned to death. Kuang, while in prison, led two hundred prisoners and walked out calmly. When he was near forty years of age, he was finally granted tonsure. After receiving the full precepts, he practiced dhūta, and snakes curled peacefully beside his bed. Every night at the corner of the mountain, four lamps shone together. Scholars and commoners flocked like clouds, swiftly turning it into a splendid monastery. Someone slaughtered a duck to prepare a vegetarian feast. The spirit of the duck appeared at night and said, "How can one kill a creature to supply a pure offering?" From then on, the practice ceased. Once, when crossing a river in summer, his several tens of companions wished to stay but could not, and wished to cross but had no means. Two boats were on the opposite shore with no one aboard. Kuang laughed and called out to them; the boats cut across the current of their own accord and arrived directly before them. They thereupon crossed the water, and he admonished them not to tell others. Furthermore, he built the Foji Monastery in Xianyang. A cow gave birth to a calf whose head emerged and then retreated. More than two days had passed, and the mother cow was about to die. A monk informed Kuang, seeking his pity. He replied, "This calf was formerly a lay patron of the monastery who misappropriated the sangha's property and has now come to repay the debt. Out of shame it does not come forth; the mother cow has no other ailment." Holding a censer, he scolded and admonished the calf, "You should swiftly repay the retribution; why be ashamed of being born?" Responding to his words, it immediately came out. His divine marvels and unseen proofs cannot be fully recorded. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the twenty-ninth year of the Kaihuang era, he passed away at the Kaisheng Monastery in Siwang. He had set the date of his passing himself; heavenly fragrance filled the room, music sounded throughout the monastery, and he departed toward the southwest.