神僧傳 5.22

5.22

Shi Faxi was a native of Nanhai. His physical appearance was ugly and uncouth, short, frail, and eccentric, looking to be about forty years of age. Elders beyond the southern ridges all said that when they were children they had already known him, and his countenance was no different from what it was now. Among the Dan barbarians it was traditionally said that he was already three hundred years old. He himself also claimed to have been an old acquaintance of Master Yuan of Mount Lu, and spoke of events of the Jin and Song dynasties distinctly, as if they had occurred only a night or two before. In ordinary times he was quiet and spoke not a word, but whenever he spoke it invariably contained profound meaning. His omens of good and ill fortune were like shadows and echoes. People also did not wish to meet Xi, fearing that his blunt speech about disasters and evils would offend their wishes. Under the Chen dynasty, Ma Jing became the inspector of Guangzhou. Just as he was taking up his post, Xi walked straight into the prefecture. Ascending to the administrative hall, he drew the shape of a horse's head on the ground, showed it to Jing's son, and left. Jing was originally from a renowned clan and had great military acumen. When he arrived in the prefecture to inspect his command, his retinue included tens of thousands of armored soldiers, with flags, banners, swords, and halberds to overawe the border regions. Because his extravagance and presumption were excessive, he was falsely accused by someone of plotting rebellion. The Emperor sent the Marquis of Linru to investigate him; desiring his property, [the Marquis] seized and beheaded him. This was the clear verification of the drawing on the ground. Xi's foreknowledge was all of this kind. Emperor Yang [of the Sui], having heard of this, brought him to Yangzhou. The Emperor ordered him housed within the palace. At that time, a hall had newly been completed within the palace. The Master suddenly went up to the hall to look at it, whereupon he fled down the steps in alarm, looked back, and said, "It almost crushed me to death!" That day at midnight, there was a great downpour of rain, and the hall collapsed, crushing several tens of people to death. After that, he also ran around inside the palace demanding a sheep's head. The Emperor heard of this, detested it, and considered it mad talk; he ordered him locked in a room. A few days later, the Imperial Guards saw Xi strolling leisurely in the marketplace. They returned and memorialized, "Faxi is in the market." An imperial decree reprimanded the relevant authorities to inspect the place where he was confined. The door lock was as before, and the guards also said, "The Master is inside the room." Thereupon they opened the door and entered the room, where they saw a kāṣāya covering a pile of white bones, with the lock around the neck bone. They memorialized this state of affairs. An imperial decree dispatched Chief Clerk Wang Heng to verify it, and everything was indeed so. From this the Emperor first believed that he was no ordinary man. An imperial decree ordered that he not be disturbed. At nightfall, the Master returned to the interior of the room, alternately speaking and laughing. The gatekeeper reported this in a memorial. An imperial decree ordered the authorities to remove the lock and release the Master outside, to go wherever he pleased. Later, when the Emperor was assassinated at Jiangdu, people finally realized the verification of his demanding a sheep's head. Sometimes, within a single day, there were vegetarian feasts and offerings at several tens of places, and the Master attended every gathering, being seen everywhere. At times he also drank wine and ate meat. Soon after, he manifested illness in his body; he constantly lay on his bed, removed the mats, and had charcoal fire laid very hot beneath the bed. In a few days his life ended; half of his body was scorched and decayed by the fire. He was buried at Xiangshan Temple. In the fourth year of Daye, Nanhai Commandery memorialized: "Master Faxi is currently back in the commandery." An imperial decree was sent ordering that the coffin be opened and inspected, whereupon nothing was found.