法苑珠林 33.83

33.83

唐京師律藏寺釋通達。雍州涇陽人。卅出家。栖止無定。乃入太白山不齎糧粒。饑則食草。渴則飲水。息則依樹。坐則禪思。經跨五年栖遑靡息。因以木打塊塊破形銷。既覩斯變廓然大寤。既寤心路。晚住律藏。遊聽大乘情量虛蕩。一裙一帔布納重縫。所著麻鞵經三十載。繒帛雜飾未經冠體。冬夏一服不避寒暑。當於講席評敘玄奧。不事宮商。人無肖之。初言牟楯噉食。此事難行世人悉伏。左僕射房玄。齡聞而異焉。迎至第中敬重如父。而達體道不拘形骸。出言不簡放暢心懷。玄齡以風表處之。不以形言致隔。見貴如是。朝野皆遵。不食五穀唯食蔬菜。縱得蒿藋攬而食之。事同佳味。若得桃杏殼果之屬。合核而食不以為難。人怪問之。答云。信施難棄。貞觀已來轉顯神異。屢屆人家。歡笑則吉。愁慘必凶。或索財功力。隨命多少即須依送。若違來意後遭凶禍。有人乘驢歷寺遊看。達從乞之惜而不施。其驢尋死斯例非一。故京室貴賤咸宗事之。禍福由其一言說導。雖存雜著所得財利為主營寺。有大將軍薛萬均。初聞異行迎宅供養。百有餘日不遺僧軌。忽於一夜索食欲噉。初不與之苦求不已。試與遂食。從爾已後。稍改前迹。專顯變應。其行多僻。欲往入內。將軍兄弟其性麁武不識密行。大怒打之。幾死。仰而告曰。卿已打我身肉都毀血污不淨。須作湯洗。待水沸已脫衣入鑊。身不傷爛。狀入冷池。傍人怖之。猶催加火。不暖我身。合宅驚奉恣其寢宿。因此已後若有病苦之者。使令煮水涌沸。先自入洗後教人入。病無不愈。達曾負人錢百有餘貫。後辦得錢無人可送。乃將錢至寺門首。伺覓行人。隨負多少償。詣西市覓主還之。付而不禁。後勘不失一文。由達德行虛懷。所以人不虧信。又時逢米貴欲設大齋。乃命寺家多放疏請。及至明旦來赴盈千。而供度閴盡全無支擬。大眾恥責深愧外客。達曰。他許送供計非虛妄。臨時恐過僧尼欲散。忽見熟食美膳連車接輿充道馳走而來。皆充足餘長。供庫更濟多人。食訖須臾人車並散。究尋來處畢竟不知。良由賢愚難辯故。冥感神供。朝野具瞻。敘事無盡（右八驗出唐高僧傳）。

Śramaṇa Tongda of Lüzang Temple in the capital under the Tang was a native of Jingyang in Yong prefecture. He renounced worldly life at the age of thirty, residing in no fixed abode. He then entered Mount Taibai without carrying any provisions of grain. When hungry, he ate wild herbs; when thirsty, he drank water; when resting, he leaned against a tree; when sitting, he engaged in meditative contemplation. Across five years of wandering, he never rested. Once, when he used a stick to strike a clod of earth and the clod shattered and dissolved, upon seeing this transformation, he suddenly experienced great awakening. Having awakened to the path of the mind, in his later years he resided at Lüzang Temple. He traveled to hear lectures on the Mahāyāna, his mind empty and vast. He had only a single skirt and mantle, patchwork cloth robes stitched again and again. The hemp sandals he wore lasted for thirty years, and silk fabrics or miscellaneous ornaments never touched his person; winter or summer he wore the same single garment, shunning neither cold nor heat. When he was at lecture assemblies commenting upon and expounding the profound mysteries, he paid no heed to musical tones, and no one could match him. At first he engaged in contradictory remarks and eating at odd times, deeds hard to practice that subdued the worldly. Fang Xuanling, Left Supervisor of the Department of State Affairs, heard of him and marveled, welcoming him into his mansion and revering him like a father. Yet Da realized the Way without being constrained by his physical form; his speech was unvarnished, letting his mind flow freely. Xuanling accommodated him according to his extraordinary character, not letting physical form or words cause separation; so revered was he that both court and countryside honored him. He did not eat the five grains, but ate only vegetables; even if he obtained mugwort and weeds, he gathered and ate them as if they were delicious delicacies. If he obtained peaches, apricots, and nuts in shells, he ate them together with the stones without finding it difficult. When people asked him about it in wonder, he replied: "The offerings of faith are hard to discard." From the Zhenguan reign era onward, his divine anomalies became increasingly apparent. He frequently visited people's houses: if he laughed with joy, good fortune followed; if he was sorrowful and grim, misfortune was certain. Or he would demand wealth and labor, and whatever amount he specified had to be provided at once; if his wishes were thwarted, misfortune later ensued. Once, someone rode a donkey visiting various temples for sightseeing; Da begged him for it, but the man was stingy and would not give it. The donkey soon died, and instances like this were not solitary. Therefore the noble and the humble in the capital all revered and served him, with fortune and misfortune being determined by his single word. Although he accepted diverse donations, all the wealth and profit obtained were used for the abbot to construct temples. General Xue Wanjun, having heard of his marvelous deeds, welcomed him to his house to make offerings; for over a hundred days, Da did not neglect monastic protocol. Suddenly one night, he demanded food to eat. Initially they did not give it to him, but upon his ceaseless, bitter pleading, they gave it to test him, and he ate it. From then on, he gradually altered his former ways and exclusively manifested transformative responses. His actions were mostly eccentric, and he sought to enter the inner quarters. The general and his brothers were rough and martial by nature, and did not understand esoteric conduct; in great anger, they beat him nearly to death. Lying on his back, he told them: "You have already beaten me until my flesh is all ruined and soiled with blood and impurity. You must boil water for a bath." When the water was boiling, he stripped his clothes and entered the cauldron, his body neither scalded nor harmed, as if entering a cold pool. The onlookers were terrified, yet he urged them: "Add more fire; it does not warm my body!" The entire household was astonished and revered him, letting him sleep wherever he pleased. From this time onward, whenever anyone suffered from an illness, he had water boiled until it bubbled, entering it to bathe first and then instructing the person to enter; no illness failed to be cured. Da once owed someone over a hundred strings of cash. Later, having acquired the money, there was no one to deliver it. He took the money to the temple gate and waited for passersby, repaying however much he owed by asking them to go to the West Market to find the creditor and return it to him. He entrusted it without constraint, and upon later checking, not a single coin was missing. Because of Da's virtue and empty mind, people did not betray his trust. Once, when rice was expensive, he wished to host a great vegetarian feast. He ordered the monastery to issue numerous invitations. By the next morning, over a thousand people arrived, but the supplies were completely exhausted with nothing prepared at all. The great assembly felt disgraced and deeply ashamed before the outside guests. Da said: "The offerings promised by others will surely not be in vain." As the monks and nuns were about to disperse fearing the hour would pass, suddenly they saw cooked foods and exquisite delicacies arriving in succession by carts and palanquins, filling the road and rushing along. Everything was provided with an abundance to spare, and the monastery storeroom could aid even more people. Soon after the meal, the people and carts all dispersed; when they traced their origin, they could never find where they came from. Truly, because the worthy and the foolish are difficult to distinguish, divine offerings were mysteriously evoked. Honored by both court and countryside, the accounts of him are endless. (The above eight testaments are drawn from the *Tang Lives of Eminent Monks*.)