南嶽總勝集 3.48

3.48

Elder Shili of Miaoguo Monastery in Raozhou, in his youth, traveled on foot and arrived at Heyan Monastery on Hengshan. In the evening of the fourth month of summer, while strolling by the Tuṣita Bridge in front of the monastery, he saw among the sheer cliffs below the pool a monk standing with a rock on his back. Shili had long heard people say that there were arhats in this place whose appearances and disappearances were erratic, and he also remembered the story in the Buddhist canon of Bodhisattva Dharaṇīṃdhara entering a stone cliff. He watched in awe and reverence. Suddenly the cliff opened about a foot wide; the monk entered into it, and it closed again without the slightest seam. About ten days later, after the evening assembly, he was casually walking behind the monastery with two fellow practitioners to the Tiger Prowl Spring Pavilion. A heavenly wind suddenly sprang up; the two monks wished to return, but Shili alone lingered for a moment. The two monks said, 'It has long been known that there are many strange occurrences below the pavilion; you should not stay, Master.' Shili, being in the prime of his youth, thought nothing of it. Soon, at the southwest corner of the pavilion, someone knocked on the pillar, and immediately an inward-reaching hand extended, advancing steadily without stopping; by that time it had exceeded five feet. Shili teased it, saying, 'Can you shrink back again?' At the sound of his voice, it gradually retreated. A short while later, the sound of knocking on the pillar was heard again. Shili said, 'If you are a holy one, you should conceal yourself; if you are a mountain demon, show your form.' After the span of a meal, a hand emerged again, its five fingers at first as large as rafters, then gradually becoming as small as the fingers of a newborn infant. Shili grew rather frightened and immediately descended the mountain.