神僧傳 7.38

7.38

Śramaṇa Wuxiang was a native of the kingdom of Silla. He was the third son of the king of that land. Xuanzong granted him an audience and registered him at the Chanding Monastery, bestowing the name Wuxiang. He then entered deep stream valleys to sit in dhyāna beneath the crags. Two black calves crossed horns and romped beneath his seat, pressing very close to his body; a hairy hand entered his sleeve, cold as ice, groping all the way to his belly, but Wuxiang remained completely unmoved. Each time he entered samādhi, it was usually for a span of five days. Suddenly, amid deep snow, two fierce beasts arrived; Wuxiang washed and wiped himself, lay naked before them, and vowed to offer his body as their food; the two beasts sniffed him all over from head to foot and left. Often at night he sat under his bench and pulled the whiskers and hairs of tigers. After living in the mountains for some time, his robes were tattered and his hair long, so hunters suspected he was a strange beast and were about to shoot him, but stopped. He then built a vihāra among scattered graves. Yang Yi, the magistrate of Chengdu County, suspected him of delusion and deceit, and sent for him, ordering more than twenty men to drag him away. When the men drew near Wuxiang's person, they all trembled, their wits and spirits utterly lost. Soon after, a great wind suddenly arose, blowing sand and stones straight into the hall, fluttering the blinds and rolling up the curtains. Yang Yi knocked his head, bowed, lay prostrate, and gasped, not daring to speak. When his repentance was done, the wind ceased, and he escorted the master back to his former place. When Wuxiang arrived in Chengdu, there was suddenly a strongman who offered to donate his strength to chop firewood for the monks' kitchen. Wuxiang's younger brother, newly made king in their native land, feared that Wuxiang's return would endanger his throne, and was about to dispatch assassins to slaughter him. Wuxiang already knew this in secret. He suddenly said, "Let the virtuous firewood supplier come for a moment," and told him, "Tonight there will be a guest." The man said, "Certainly." Wuxiang added, "Do not harm the disciple of the Buddha." When night came, the woodcutter held a knife, carried a mat under his arm, and sat beside the dhyāna seat. After a short while, he sensed something descending from the wall; he sprang up, brandished his knife, and the head and body of a giant barbarian were severed on the ground. Behind the gate was an existing large pit; he dragged the body away, buried it, smoothed over the ground with earth to eliminate all traces, and departed. At daybreak, Wuxiang sent for the woodcutter to thank him, but he was already nowhere to be seen. Wuxiang once pointed to the cypress in front of the stupa and said, "When this tree equals the stupa in height, the stupa will be destroyed." When the Huichang persecution and destruction came, the tree was exactly the height of the stupa. He also said, "Before the monastery are two small ponds, soup on the left and rice on the right; when the meals offered by donors are few, dredge and clear them." And indeed, offerings would come. His divine wonders were mostly of this kind. He died in the first year of the Zhide era, at the age of seventy-seven.