南嶽總勝集 3.42

3.42

尚書郎李觀為進士時。遊南嶽。過長沙。飲旗亭中。忽有負竹奩釘鉸具者。請曰。子往南嶽。謂我問養素先生。十月懷胎如何出得。觀至南嶽以語元道大驚曰。真人眉間有白誌乎。曰然。是海蟾子也。吾義聖胎以成患無以出之。非斯人不足以成吾道。今聲問相及而不得接。吾之不遇斯人命也。

When Li Guan, Bureau Director of the Department of State Affairs, was a jinshi, he traveled to Nanyue. Passing through Changsha, he was drinking in a tavern when suddenly someone carrying a bamboo box and metal smithing tools bowed and said, 'You are going to Nanyue; please ask Master Yangsu on my behalf: "Having carried the embryo for ten months, how can it be delivered?"' When Guan arrived at Nanyue, he related this to Yuandao, who was greatly astonished and asked, 'Did the transcendent have a white mole between his eyebrows?' Guan said, 'Yes.' Yuandao said, 'That was Master Haichan. I thought my holy embryo was complete, but I suffered from having no way to deliver it. None but that person could perfect my Dao. Now his message has reached me, yet I could not meet him in person; that I did not encounter him is my fate.'