神僧傳 6.40

6.40

The Huayan Upādhyāya studied under Shenxiu, whom the Chan tradition calls the Northern Patriarch. He once stayed at Tianguan Monastery in the Eastern Capital, Luoyang, where he had more than three hundred disciples. Every day during the meal in the hall, the Upādhyāya strictly required that their water jars and alms bowls be set in order and that all gather together. There was a disciple whose monastic seniority and religious practice far surpassed his peers, but his temperament was impatient, narrow-minded, and irascible. At that time, lying ill, he did not attend the assembly with the community. A novice whose jars and bowls were incomplete came to this monk, bowed, and said, 'I wish to go up to the hall, but I have no bowl. If I might borrow yours briefly, tomorrow I will procure my own.' The monk refused to give it to him, saying, 'I have maintained this bowl for decades. If I lend it to you, I fear it will be damaged.' The novice earnestly pleaded, 'I will return as soon as the meal in the hall is finished; how could it be damaged?' After repeated requests, the monk finally lent it to him, saying, 'I cherish this bowl like my life. If it is damaged, it will be the same as killing me.' Having received the bowl, the novice held it with trepidation. When the meal was over and he was about to return it, the monk had already sent for it. As the novice carried the bowl down from the hall, he unexpectedly tripped on a broken brick, fell, and shattered it. Shortly after, the monk urged him again. Terrified, the novice went to the monk's quarters, bowed, confessed his fault, and prostrated hundreds and thousands of times. The monk shouted loudly, 'You have killed me!' and cursed him with extreme fury. Because of this, his illness worsened, and he died overnight. Sometime later, the Upādhyāya was expounding the Avataṃsaka-sūtra to over a hundred disciples at Yue Monastery on Mount Song. The novice was also seated in the audience. Suddenly, a sound like wind and rain was heard in the mountain valleys outside the monastery. The Upādhyāya then summoned the novice and had him stand behind him. In an instant, they saw a great serpent, seventy to eighty feet long and four to five spans in girth, entering straight into the monastery with glaring eyes and gaping mouth. Those around were all about to flee, but the Upādhyāya cautioned them not to move. The serpent gradually approached the lecture hall, mounted the steps, and glared around as if searching for something. The Upādhyāya stopped it with his tin staff, saying, 'Halt!' The serpent, about to reach the seat, lowered its head and closed its eyes. The Upādhyāya admonished it, tapped its head with his tin staff, and said, 'Since you understand your karma, you should now dedicate yourself to the Three Jewels.' He had the monks chant the Buddha's name in unison and conferred upon it the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts. The serpent twisted and turned, then departed. At that time, some of the deceased monk's disciples were present in the assembly. The Upādhyāya summoned them and said, 'This serpent is your master. He had cultivated for many years and was destined to realize the fruits of the Path. But at the moment of death, because he begrudged a single bowl, he harbored rage toward this novice, and consequently became a python. Coming just now, he intended to kill this novice. If he had killed him, he would have fallen into the great hells with no date of emergence. Fortunately, I stopped him and conferred the prohibitions upon him. Now he is about to abandon this body. Go and seek him.' The disciples received the order and went out. Wherever the serpent had passed, the grass and trees were flattened like a carriage road. Traveling fourteen or fifteen li into a deep ravine, they found that the serpent had died after striking its head against a rock. They returned and reported this to the Upādhyāya. The Upādhyāya said, 'This serpent has now taken rebirth in the household of Vice Director Pei as a daughter. She will also be extremely intelligent. She will die at the age of eighteen, then return as a male, and later renounce household life to cultivate the Path. Vice Director Pei is my disciple. You may enter the city to convey my regards. His daughter is about to be born right now with great difficulty; you can go and save her.' At that time, Pei Kuan was Vice Director in the Ministry of War and was indeed a disciple of the Upādhyāya. The disciple received the order and entered the city, pointing toward Pei's residence from afar. It happened that Pei was on leave at home. He sent word saying, 'The Huayan Upādhyāya sends a message.' The Vice Director came out to meet him with an extremely worried expression. The monk asked him the reason, and he replied, 'My wife has been in labor for six or seven days. We have watched over her by lamplight, and she is in perilous distress.' The monk said, 'I can save her.' He then ordered that a clean mat and seat be prepared outside the hall door. The monk burned incense, struck a chime, and called out to the Upādhyāya three times. The lady gave birth peacefully to a daughter. Later, she indeed died after eighteen years.