神僧傳 7.4

7.4

Master Sengqie was a native of the Western Regions whose secular surname was He. In the early Longshuo reign-period of the Tang, he arrived to travel in this land and registered his name at Longxing Monastery in Chu Prefecture. From this time onward, his divine anomalies began to show. At first, leading his disciple Huiyan, he came to Xinyi Ward in Linhuai County of Sizhou, where he begged for land and planted boundary markers, intending to build a monastery (saṅghārāma). Digging beneath his marker, they unearthed an ancient inscription of Xiangji Monastery together with a golden statue, upon which were the characters 'Buddha King of Universal Radiance'. The local inhabitants marveled and sighed, saying, 'He foresaw this with his divine eye; how could we not give alms?' Thereupon they vied with one another to make donations. He once lay down at the household of the Heba family, and his body suddenly lengthened so that it exceeded his couch by some three feet at each end; everyone was astonished and bewildered. Next, he manifested the form of Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara, whereupon the entire family rejoiced and trusted him with redoubled reverence; they then relinquished their residence and established a monastery there. From this, the traces of his marvelous anomalies and manifested transformations were manifold. At first, when Sengqie's teaching spread through the regions south of the Yangtze River, he stayed at Lingguang Monastery in Jiahe. That was a land of marshes; the fishing weirs and shooting arrows of the populace crossed every which way. Sengqie earnestly and repeatedly admonished them, pointing out that various killing karmas would plunge people into doom and that they should quickly seek other livelihoods, as a result of which many ripped their nets and broke their fishing rods. Sengqie was once resting at leisure when he saw a spirit who told him, 'The sky is currently parched with drought and the crops of the common folk are dying; why do you conceal your lazy dragon within yourself?' Sengqie asked, 'What can be done about it?' The spirit said, 'If tonight you merely extend your little finger through the gap of the window, what harm would there be?' Sengqie followed his advice. That night, thunder struck extraordinarily; when it was inspected at dawn, there was faintly the trace of a red thread. Sengqie said, 'I have no karmic connection with this soil,' and walked on until he reached Jinling, where he saw that Guoxiang Monastery was dilapidated and abandoned. Thereupon he left his robe on a temple crossbeam and departed. Later people smelled an extraordinary, fragrant aroma. Sengqie once made a prediction regarding it, saying, 'This monastery will have a king among men to revive it; thirty years after I depart, there will indeed be a monk whose secular surname is Quan to serve as the donor (dānapati).' During the Tongtian and Wansui reign-periods, amidst a multitude at Shanyang, he remotely knew that someone despised and disparaged him, so he proclaimed aloud, 'I have five hundred thousand coins to help with your merits; do not give rise to improper disputations.' On the bank of the Huai River, Sengqie hailed a boat and said, 'If you have wealth to give me as alms, you may mitigate your punishment and imprisonment. What you are carrying was merely obtained by plunder.' The bandit gave up everything in accordance with his words, and by this means the Buddha hall was immediately completed. Before long, the bandit was defeated and detained in the prison of Yangzi County. Sengqie descended riding a cloud and comforted him, saying that he would suffer no grief, and indeed within a few days an imperial amnesty arrived and he was spared from death. Long ago, while in Chang'an, Prince Consort Imperial Commandant Wu Youji fell ill; Sengqie sprayed him with water from a water vase, and he was cured. His reputation shook the heavenly capital. Later, when those with illnesses reported to him, he would sometimes brush them with a willow branch, sometimes order them to wash a stone lion and they would be cured, sometimes throw a water bottle, or sometimes order them to repent their transgressions; the proofs were not staged in vain, and the blessings were not unrewarded. To ward off disaster from their persons, he would demand a horse; to warn of an affliction of wind, he would ask for a fan. Sometimes he identified the stolen money of a thief, sometimes he gnawed the neck of a black rope, sometimes he sought the well of an arhat, sometimes he awakened the drowning of the Pei family, sometimes he foresaw heavy snowfall, and sometimes he flew rain to relieve drought. His divine transformations were boundless, beyond the measure of ordinary standards. In the second year of the Jinglong reign-period, Emperor Zhongzong dispatched an emissary to welcome the master into the inner court chapel, honoring him as State Preceptor. Soon he went out to reside at Jianfu Monastery. He once stayed alone in a room, and on the crown of his head was a hole which he constantly plugged with cotton wool. At night he would remove the cotton wool, and incense would emerge from the hole in the crown, the smoke filling the room with an extraordinary fragrance. When dawn came, the incense returned into the crown, and he plugged it again with cotton wool. The master once washed his feet, and people took the water to drink; their chronic illnesses were all cured. One day, Emperor Zhongzong spoke to the master in the inner palace, saying, 'The capital has had no rain for several months; we wish the master would exercise compassion to relieve our urgent anxiety.' The master sprinkled water from his bottle; in a short moment, dark clouds suddenly gathered and a sweet rain fell profusely. Emperor Zhongzong was overjoyed, and issued an edict bestowing the plaque for the monastery he was constructing with the name Linhuai Monastery. The master requested that it be named the Monastery of the King of Universal Radiance (Puzhaowang), wishing to follow the characters on the golden statue. Emperor Zhongzong, considering that the character *zhao* was the taboo name of Empress Wu's ancestral temple, changed it to Puguangwang Monastery, and personally inscribed the plaque in imperial calligraphy to bestow upon it. In the fourth year, on the second day of the third month, he passed away sitting upright at Jianfu Monastery in Chang'an. Emperor Zhongzong immediately ordered that a stupa be built at Jianfu Monastery to lacquer his body and make offerings to it. Suddenly, a violent wind arose and a foul stench filled everywhere. Emperor Zhongzong asked, 'What omen is this?' An intimate minister memorialized, 'Master Sengqie's karmic field of conversion lies in Linhuai; we fear he wishes to return there, which is why he manifests this anomaly.' Emperor Zhongzong silently consented in his heart, and the stench instantly ceased; in a moment, an extraordinary fragrance was intensely pungent. Thereupon, in the fifth month of that year, he was sent to Linhuai to build a stupa and make offerings to him, which is the present stupa. Later, Emperor Zhongzong asked Master Wanhui, 'What kind of person was Master Sengqie?' Wanhui said, 'He was a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara. The "Universal Gate Chapter" of the Lotus Sūtra says, "To those who should be saved by a monk or a nun, he manifests in that body and preaches the Dharma for them." This is precisely who he is.' When the master first arrived in Chang'an, Wanhui paid him homage with great reverence; the master patted his head and said, 'Young man, why have you stayed so long? It is time to go.' Within a few months after the master's passing, Wanhui also passed away.