神僧傳 6.42

6.42

Shi Qingxu, whose lay surname was Tang, was a native of Zizhou. Resolute, unyielding, fierce, and cunning by nature, he was difficult to restrain. Suddenly turning his mind [to religion], he constantly recited the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā, aligning the three karmic actions without any negligence. Once, while he was reciting in a mountain forest, seven deer approached him tamely as if listening attentively, departing only when the sound ceased. Moreover, when a neighboring house caught fire and adjacent eaves were reduced to ashes, only Xu's house was untouched; though swirling flames flew over it, it was not scorched in the least. In the second year of the Chang'an era, he traveled alone to the North Courtyard of the upper quarters of Wuzhen Monastery in Lantian. Previously, there was no well or spring there, and human effort was insufficient; drawing water from distant ravines with buckets and jars was exceedingly laborious. At that time, the Huayan Master Fazang, hearing of the spiritual efficacy of Xu's recitation of the sūtra, asked him to pray for a spring. Xu entered the Maitreya Pavilion, burned incense, and recited the sūtra until dawn for three nights. Suddenly, in his mind, he seemed to see three jade maidens on the mountainside northwest of the pavilion gouging the earth with knives, whereupon water gushed forth. Xu clearly memorized the location, hurried up, and dug it out; he indeed obtained a sweet spring whose supply was inexhaustible. In the fourth year, he spent the summer retreat at Shaolin Monastery. On the mountain peak was a Buddha hall, exceedingly spacious, where no one dared to go, said to be an abode of ghosts and spirits. Once, a Vinaya master, relying on his strict observance of precepts, went there at night to recite the Vinaya. He saw a giant who stabbed him with a spear; he scrambled down the mountain in disarray and expired shortly thereafter. There was also a monk who recited the Fire-headed Vajra Dhāraṇī and was held in high esteem at the time. The assembly said to him, 'Your dhāraṇī power is peerless; can you spend the night there?' He replied, 'Why should that be feared?' Thereupon, he took incense and fire, entered, sat down, and recited the dhāraṇī. Soon, a spirit appeared, seized his feet with its hands, and cast him down the steps. For seven days, he could not speak, his mental faculties confounded. When Xu heard of this, he said, 'How dare a ghost of the lower destinies act like this!' He immediately went there and recited the sūtra as usual. At night, he heard what sounded like an extremely fierce roar in the hall; he then recited the Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara Dhāraṇī. Then he heard what sounded like two bulls fighting in the hall, and the Buddha images all shook. The dhāraṇī having had no effect, he returned to reciting a fascicle of his foundational sūtra. Tranquility ensued successively, and all sounds and signs ceased. From then on, residents faced no harm, and the spirit departed. In the second year of the Shenlong era, he entered the palace in accordance with an imperial edict to pray for rain. On the twenty-seventh day, snow fell. Emperor Zhongzong considered that this had not fulfilled the urgent expectation of the season and ordered him to go to a monastery to pray further. Thereupon, he prayed earnestly in the Buddha hall and burned one of his fingers. Within a single night, rain fell abundantly over a thousand li. His finger was restored as before. Later, when a great flood occurred and the monastery buildings were all submerged, his courtyard alone suffered no affliction, as if there were no inundation. All his diverse extraordinary signs were like this.