神僧傳 9.2

9.2

The monk Jingangxian was a man of the Western Regions. He dwelt at Xiashan Monastery in Qingyuan. He was skilled in Sanskrit incantations, clicking his tongue and shaking his staff to chant spells over things, and there was nothing that did not respond. He excelled at imprisoning ghosts and specters, binding goblins and hornless dragons; with a single shake of his pewter staff, he would summon thunder that instantly rumbled. That day at Xiashan Monastery, a man named Li Pu took an axe to cut down a gigantic tree and hollow it out for a boat. Suddenly climbing the mountain, he saw a hole in a flat boulder and beheld a giant spider whose legs spread over a zhang wide. Four snakes held herbs in their mouths to plug the hole and departed. Soon he heard violent and fierce roaring sounds amid the woods. The workman, terrified, climbed a tree to observe. Indeed, he saw a two-headed viper several tens of zhang in length, coiled and fuming with rage, encircling the spider's hole and turning its heads east and west. Soon the western head sprang up and inhaled the herbs plugging the hole into a ball, which flew out completely exposed and cleared away. Then the eastern head turned back, its eyes opened wide and its mouth gaping wide, and inhaled the spider. The spider dashed out, seized the edge of the hole with its legs, and bent its venom upward; glowing red like fire, it scorched the viper's throat and destroyed its eyes. The viper fell stunned, but soon revived; raising its head, it inhaled again. The spider disappeared, and its venom struck the viper even further. The viper then collapsed upon the stone and died. The spider leapt out, climbed onto the viper's belly to chew it, broke its teeth, and from both ends produced silk to encase it, then leapt out and departed into the hole. Pu was astonished and returned to Xiashan Monastery to tell Jingangxian. Xian then requested Pu to verify the hole, and, shaking his ringed staff, he chanted a spell. The spider immediately emerged before the monk, appearing as if listening devoutly. When he extended his staff and touched it, the spider died beside the hole. That night, the monk saw an old man in a dream holding a bolt of silk who stepped forward and said, "I am that spider; I can also weave." Bowing to the monk, he said, "I wish to serve as a reliance for the field of merit." When he finished speaking, he disappeared. When the monk awoke, the cloth was already at his side; its exquisite and wondrous craftsmanship was something that could not be made by the cocoon silk of the worldly realm. The monk made it into a robe, which dust and grime could not touch. Several years later, the monk wished to go to Panyu to board a ship and return to Tianzhu. By the Golden Lock Pool at Xiashan, he shook his staff, shouted loudly, and cast a spell upon the water. In a moment the water parted, revealing the bottom. Opening his washing bottle, there was a loach about three inches long that leapt into the bottle. He said to the monks, "This is a dragon. When I reach the sea gate, I will boil it with medicine into an ointment and rub my feet with it, so that crossing the sea will be like treading on level ground." That night, an old man in white, carrying a dual-chambered flask, came to the monastery. A servant named Chuanjing said, "Knowing that Jingangxian loves wine, this flask has fine brew on one side and poisoned brew on the other. This flask was once used by Emperor Hui of Jin to poison General Niu. Now I offer you one hundred ounces of gold to take this wine and poison that monk. For no reason, that monk has seized my son wishing to make him into ointment; my hatred for him cuts to the marrow of my bones, but I have no other means. What can I do?" Chuanjing gladly accepted the gold and the wine, learned the method of turning the flask, and went to Jingangxian. Just as Xian was raising the cup to his mouth, a child of several years suddenly leapt out, approached his hand, and overturned it, saying, "The wine was brought by the dragon to poison you, Master!" The monk was greatly shocked and interrogated Chuanjing; Chuanjing dared not conceal it. The monk then asked the child, "Who are you to rescue me?" The child said, "I was the spider of former days. I have now abandoned that evil karma and have been reborn as a human for seven years. My spirit is somewhat more clairvoyant than that of ordinary people; knowing that Master was in danger, I flew my spirit here to offer rescue." Having finished speaking, he vanished. The monks, hearing this, bowed together to Jingangxian and begged him to release the dragon's child. Having no choice, the monk let it go. Later, Xian indeed boarded a ship and returned to Tianzhu.