神僧傳 6.24

6.24

Ācārya Cen of Chanju Monastery in Xiangzhou: it is not known where he was from. He resided at the monastery, taking Chan contemplation as his occupation, and possessed prescience. Because the monastery was located in a mountainous wilderness, provisions were habitually scarce and grain food did not suffice. Every day, Cen would take an earthen pot into the outer city to beg for wine to drink; he would also beg until the pot was filled with about three dou, and on his way back he would drink as he walked, so that when he reached the monastery the pot was also empty. The next day it was the same again. At the monastery's noon meal, he would carry the large earthen pot to the kitchen to ask for three sheng of gruel, which he then hung on the branch of a tree. Entering the assembly, he struck the monks' heads with a stick, striking each person individually from the highest seat down to the lowest; he did this every single day. People considered him extraordinary and eminent, or suspected that once struck their calamities would be dispersed, so they accepted it without demur. Cen would take the gruel into his room. He had long kept a dark-brown dog, and inside the monastery there were several thousand rats; every morning they gathered, and dog and rats ate together, filling the courtyard to the brim, with both monastics and laity looking on. Once, a single rat went missing; Cen was grief-stricken and distressed, [saying] that the dog must have killed it, and so he scolded the dog. The dog then brought it in its mouth. When Cen saw it, he was filled with sorrow, beat the dog with a stick, and after burying the rat, wept with bitter lamentation. When the monastery monks had their robes and boxes gnawed by rats, they reported it to Cen. Cen summoned all the rats and ordered them each to vouch for one another. One rat had no guarantor. Cen said: "Why did you gnaw people's robes?" and beat it with a stick; the rat did not dare move. Because the monastery was poor, Cen inscribed designations in the pool below White Horse Spring to the east of the lecture hall: "Such-and-such a place shall be the kitchen storehouse; such-and-such a place shall be the granary." Everyone laughed at him. After a night, the water receded and the land emerged just as he had spoken; they built accordingly, bringing about abundance. He also prophesied from afar, saying: "Sixty years from now, a foolish person will erect a multi-storied pavilion to the south of the monastery. Though the monastery's foundation will not be impaired, disputes and lawsuits will make it uninhabitable." During the Yonghui era, someone indeed erected a multi-storied pavilion, and because of this lawsuits ensued, just as he had spoken.