法苑珠林 31.21

31.21

宋岷山通靈寺有沙門邵碩者。本姓邵。名碩。始康國人。形貌似狂而深敬佛法。以宋初出家入道。自稱碩公。出入行往不擇晝夜。至人家眠地者人家有死。就人乞細席必有小兒亡。時人咸以此為讖。至四月八日。成都行像。碩於眾中匍匐作師子形。爾日郡縣亦見碩作師子形。乃寤分身也。刺史蕭慧開及劉孟明等。並挹事之。後一朝忽著布帽詣孟明。少時明卒。先是孟明長史沈仲玉改鞭杖之格嚴重常科。碩謂玉曰。天地嗷嗷從此起。若除鞭格得刺史。玉信而除之。及孟明卒。仲玉果行州事。以宋元徽元年九月一日卒峨嵋山通靈寺。臨亡語道人法進云。可露吾骸急繫履著脚。既而依之。出屍置寺。後經二日不見所在。俄而有人從郫縣來。過進云。昨見碩公在市中一脚著履。漫語云。小子無宜適。失我履一隻。進驚而撿問沙彌。沙彌答云。近送屍時。悑懼右脚一履不得好繫。送失之。其迹詭異莫可測也。後竟不知所終。

During the Song, at Tongling Temple on Mount Min, there was the monk Shaoshuo. His original surname was Shao and his personal name was Shuo; he was a native of the realm of Shikang. In appearance he seemed mad, but he was profoundly devoted to the Buddhist Dharma. Early in the Song, he renounced household life and entered the Way, calling himself Master Shuo. In coming, going, and traveling, he chose neither day nor night. If he went to someone's house and slept on the bare ground, a death would occur in that house. If he begged someone for a fine mat, a young child was certain to perish. People of the time all took these as omens. On the eighth day of the fourth month, during the procession of images in Chengdu, Shuo prostrated himself among the crowds and acted like a lion. On that same day, people in the commanderies and counties also saw Shuo acting like a lion, and only then realized he had divided his body. The regional inspector Xiao Huikai and Liu Mengming both revered and served him. Later, one morning, he suddenly went to Mengming wearing a cloth cap; shortly thereafter, Mengming died. Prior to this, Mengming's chief clerk, Shen Zhongyu, had modified the sentencing guidelines for flogging, making the ordinary statutes more severe. Shuo said to Yu: "The clamour of heaven and earth begins from this. If you abolish the flogging guidelines, you will become regional inspector." Yu believed him and abolished them. When Mengming died, Zhongyu indeed administered the affairs of the province. On the first day of the ninth month of the first year of the Yuanhui reign of the Song, he died at Tongling Temple on Mount Emei. Near death, he said to the man of the Way Fajin: "You may expose my corpse, but make haste to tie sandals firmly upon my feet." [Jin] subsequently complied with this. They brought out the corpse and placed it in the temple, but after two days its location was lost. Presently, a person came from Pi county and called upon Jin, saying: "Yesterday I saw Master Shuo in the marketplace wearing a sandal on one foot. He muttered carelessly, 'The lad was utterly useless and lost one of my sandals!'" Startled, Jin checked and questioned the śrāmaṇera. The śrāmaṇera replied: "Recently, when delivering the corpse, I was terrified, and could not tie the sandal on his right foot securely; in transporting him, I lost it." His strange and wondrous traces could not be fathomed. Later, no one knew how he ended his days.