法苑珠林 17.14

17.14

晉沙門釋開達。隆安二年登壟採甘草。為羌所執。時年大飢羌胡相噉。乃置達柵中將食之。先在柵者十有餘人。羌曰夕烹俎。唯達尚存。自達被執便潛誦觀世音經。不懈乎心。及明日當見噉。其晨始曙。忽有大虎徑逼群羌奮怒號吼。羌各駭怖迸走。虎乃前齩柵木。得成小闕可容人過。已而徐去。達初見虎齩柵必謂見害。既柵穿而不入心疑其異。將是觀世音力。計度諸羌未應便及。即穿柵逃走。夜行晝伏遂得免脫。

The monk Shi Kaida of the Jin ascended a ridge in the second year of Long'an to harvest licorice root, where he was captured by the Qiang. In that year, there was a great famine, and the Qiang and barbarians ate one another. They placed Da in an enclosure, intending to devour him. More than ten people who were already in the enclosure were boiled and butchered by the Qiang by nightfall, with only Da remaining. From the moment Da was captured, he secretly recited the *Avalokiteśvara Sūtra* without slackening in his mind. When the next day arrived and he was about to be devoured, at the very first light of dawn, a great tiger suddenly approached the group of Qiang directly, roaring in fury. The Qiang were terrified and fled in all directions. The tiger then came forward, bit the wood of the enclosure, and opened a small gap large enough for a person to pass through; then it slowly walked away. At first, seeing the tiger gnawing at the fence, Da thought he was surely going to be harmed; but once the fence was breached and the tiger did not enter, he suspected something extraordinary was at work, likely the power of Avalokiteśvara. Estimating that the Qiang would not return immediately, he crawled through the fence and fled, traveling by night and hiding by day, thus managing to escape.