神僧傳 8.30

8.30

There was a monk visiting Guangling whose name is lost. He called himself the Great Master, and the people of Guangling consequently addressed him as Great Master. The Great Master's appearance was extremely uncouth. He was fond of eating wine and meat. He constantly wore a coarse fur coat and would not take it off even in the height of summer, so fleas and lice gathered upon it. He resided temporarily at Xiaogan Monastery, staying alone in a single room. Every evening he would close the doors and sleep, which was his normal custom. By nature he was unruly and obstinate, fond of slaughtering dogs and pigs. Daily he brawled and fought with the young toughs of Guangling, or lay drunk by the roadside. The people of Guangling all detested him for this. There was a youth renowned for his strength. One day this youth was gambling with someone. The Great Master grew furious, struck the gaming board with his hand, and smashed it to pieces. The youth smiled and said: "How dare an idiot child defy a champion?" The Great Master cursed and spat in his face. Thereupon he fought with the youth, while onlookers numbered in the thousands. In the end, the youth was no match for him and fled. From then on, the people of Guangling considered the Great Master to possess superhuman strength. The Great Master also took pride in his own strength; frequently he plundered money and clothing from the marketplace, and the townsfolk all feared his boldness, none daring to resist. Later, an elderly monk summoned the Great Master. When he arrived, [the elder] said: "A monk should devote himself wholeheartedly to upholding the monastic teachings and precepts. How can you drink wine, eat meat, and slaughter dogs and pigs? You plunder money and goods from townsfolk, and moreover brawl and fight with young men. How is this the way of a monk? If one day the bailiffs seize you and report you to the officials, will you not be ashamed before Heaven?" The Great Master cursed angrily, saying: "Flies and gnats merely crave the fishy and the foul; how could they know the heart of a dragon or a crane? Thus my way is likewise not something you can understand. Moreover, I am pure within while mingling with the vulgar without; how am I like you, narrow-minded and devoid of magnanimity?" In the end, the elderly monk could not confute his words. One day thereafter, the Great Master returned from outside, and having entered his room, closed the door. Someone looked through a crack in the door: the Great Master was sitting on his mat, and a wondrous radiance emanated from his eyebrows, brightly illuminating the entire room. The watcher marveled at it and reported everything to the assembly of monks. The monks came and saw the radiance from the Great Master's eyebrows; pointing to one another, they said: "We have heard that the Buddha's brow has the light of the white curl mark (*ūrṇā-lakṣaṇa*); now that the Great Master possesses it, he is truly a Buddha!" Thereupon they joined together in veneration. At dawn the next morning, the monks all gathered in the courtyard waiting to pay audience to the Great Master; but when they opened the door, the Great Master was already dead. The assembly marveled all the more at this occurrence, and therefore called the Great Master "the Great Master Buddha."