法苑珠林 62.55

62.55

梁九江廬山東林寺釋僧融。篤志汎博游化己任。曾於江陵勸一家受戒。奉佛為業。先有神廟。不復宗事。悉用給施。融便撤取送寺。因留設福。至七日後。主人母見一鬼持赤索欲縛之。母甚遑懼。乃更請僧讀經行道。鬼怪遂息。融晚還廬山獨宿逆旅。時天雨雪。中夜始眠見有鬼兵。其類甚眾。中有鬼將。帶甲挾刃。形奇壯偉。有持胡床者。乃對融前踞之。便勵色揚聲曰。君何謂鬼神乃無靈耶。速拽下地。諸鬼將欲加手。融默念觀音。稱聲未絕即見所住床後有一天將。可長丈餘。著黃皮袴褶。手捉金剛杵擬之。鬼便驚散。甲冑之屬碎為塵粉。融甞於江陵勸夫妻二人。俱受五戒。後為賊引夫遂逃走。執妻繫獄。遇融於路。求哀請救。融曰。唯至心念觀世音。更無餘信。婦入獄後稱念不輟。因夢沙門立其前足蹴令去。忽覺身貫三木自然解脫。見門猶閉。閽司憲重守之。計無出理。還更眠夢見向僧曰。何不早出。門自開也。既聞即起。重門洞開。便越席。而東南數里將值民村。天夜暗冥。其夫先逃夜行晝伏。二忽相遇皆大驚駭。草間審問乃其夫也。遂共投商者。遠避得免（右此一驗出唐高僧傳）。

Shi Sengrong of Donglin Temple on Mount Lu in Jiujiang under the Liang was earnest in aspiration and broad in learning, taking itinerant teaching as his personal mission. He once encouraged a family in Jiangling to receive the precepts and take serving the Buddha as their occupation. Previously they had a shrine to a spirit, but they no longer venerated it, donating all its assets as offerings. Rong disassembled and took the shrine, sending it to the monastery, staying on to establish meritorious deeds. After seven days, the matriarch of the household saw a ghost holding a red cord wishing to bind her. The mother was terrified, and so they invited monks again to chant scriptures and practice the Way, whereupon the ghostly apparitions ceased. Later, when Rong returned to Mount Lu, he lodged alone in an inn. It was raining and snowing at the time. When he first fell asleep in the middle of the night, he saw ghostly soldiers in great numbers. Among them was a ghost general, wearing armor and holding a blade, remarkably robust and imposing. Someone carrying a folding stool set it down, and the general squatted on it facing Rong. He then assumed a stern expression and shouted: ‘Why do you, sir, claim that ghosts and spirits have no efficacy? Drag him down to the ground at once!’ Just as the various ghosts were about to lay hands on him, Rong silently contemplated Avalokiteśvara. Before the sound of his invocation finished, he saw behind his bed a heavenly general, roughly a zhang in height, wearing yellow leather tunic and trousers, holding a vajra pestle raised in aim. The ghosts then scattered in terror, their armor and gear crushed to dust. Rong once encouraged a husband and wife in Jiangling to both receive the five precepts. Later, incriminated by bandits, the husband fled, while the wife was seized and imprisoned. Encountering Rong on the road, she begged piteously for rescue. Rong said: ‘Only single-mindedly recite Avalokiteśvara; have no other reliance.’ After entering the prison, the woman recited the name unceasingly. In a dream, a śramaṇa stood before her and kicked her with his foot, telling her to leave. Suddenly she felt the three wooden fetters binding her body naturally release. Seeing that the gate was still locked and heavily guarded by the gatekeepers and law-enforcers, she thought there was no way out, so she went back to sleep. In a dream she saw the previous monk, who said: ‘Why do you not leave quickly? The gates will open on their own.’ Hearing this, she arose immediately; the double gates stood wide open. She slipped across the threshold and traveled several li southeast, approaching a civilian village. The night was dark. Her husband, having fled earlier, traveled by night and hid by day; the two suddenly met each other and were greatly startled. Inquiring carefully among the grasses, she found it was indeed her husband. Thereupon they sought shelter together with merchants, fled far away, and escaped harm. (This single verification is from the Tang Gaoseng zhuan.)