神僧傳 7.2

7.2

Shi Hui'an, whose lay surname was Wei, was a native of Zhijiang in Jingzhou. His appearance was dignified and elegant, with dark reddish-purple hair and clear blue eyes. In his study and cultivation of the Dharma methods, there was nothing he did not thoroughly master. During the Daye era, when the Tongji Canal was opened and corvée laborers were assembled, the starving and dead looked upon one another. An went on begging rounds with multiple alms bowls of food to rescue the sick and exhausted, and those he preserved and relieved were numerous. In the first year of the Linde era, he traveled to Mount Zhongnan and settled at Shibi. At that time, between the plateaus and valleys where he lived, early frost damaged the young crops, but An's dwelling place alone was spared. In the fourth month of the second year of the Shengli era, he told his disciples and the assembly of students, 'Each of you return and close your doors.' At the third watch, a divine person arrived, with an imposing retinue and bells ringing harmoniously, accompanied by wind and rain. The spirit circumambulated his courtyard several times. An spoke with him, offering earnest admonitions, and [the spirit] bowed twice and departed. When someone asked the reason, he said, 'I conferred the bodhisattva precepts upon the spirit of Mount Song.' The Empress Dowager once asked An his birth year. He replied, 'I do not remember.' She asked, 'Why do you not remember?' He said, 'The body of birth and death—is it not like a ring? A ring has no beginning or end; why bother to record it? Furthermore, this mind flows on continuously without intermission; seeing bubbles arise and vanish is also mere delusion. From the initial consciousness until the cessation of active marks, it is just like this. What year or month could be remembered?' The Empress Dowager bowed her head to the ground before him. Hearing that An lacked a well, an imperial decree ordered one to be dug for him. An said, 'Below this is an auspicious red creature; be careful not to harm it.' When they were about to reach the spring, they saw a golden-colored toad crawling out from the marshy earth, matching his advance prediction. The sovereign revered him all the more. On the third day of the third month in the third year of the Jinglong era, he instructed his disciples, saying, 'After I die, carry my corpse to the forest and wait for a wildfire to cremate it naturally; do not violate my wish.' Soon after, the Upādhyāya Wanhui arrived. Seeing An, he wildly took his hands and conversed with him for a long while. The attendants listening closely beside them could not understand at all. On the eighth day, he closed his door, lay down, and passed into stillness, at the age of one hundred and thirty.