法苑珠林 65.73

65.73

周上黨元開府寺釋慧瑱。不知氏族。奉律貞礭禪懺為業。會周建德六年國滅三寶。瑱抱持經像隱于深山。遇賊欲劫。初未覺也。忽見一人形長丈餘。美鬚顏具好衣服。乘白馬朱𩦲自山頂來。徑至瑱前下馬而謂曰。今夜賊至。師可急避。瑱居懸崖之下。絕無餘道。疑是山神。乃曰。今佛法毀滅貧道容身無地。故來依投檀越。今有賊來。正可於此取死。更何逃竄。神曰。師既遠投弟子。弟子亦能護師。正爾住此遂失所在。當夜忽降大雪。可深丈餘。雪深道隔。遂免賊難。後晴路開。群賊重來。神遂告山下。諸村曰。賊欲劫瑱師。汝等急往共救。乃各嚴器仗入山拒擊。賊便驚散。從此每日瑱常憑神安業山阜。不測其終。

During the Zhou dynasty, at the Yuankaifu Temple in Shangdang, there was the monk Shi Huitian, whose clan is unknown. He upheld the Vinaya strictly and took meditation and repentance as his pursuit. It happened that in the sixth year of the Jiande era of the Zhou dynasty, the state abolished the Three Jewels. Tian embraced scriptures and images and concealed himself deep in the mountains. He encountered bandits who intended to plunder him, of which he was initially unaware. Suddenly he saw a man over a zhang in height, with a fine beard and countenance, wearing splendid garments, riding a white horse with red trappings, coming from the mountain peak. Coming straight before Tian, he dismounted and said: 'Bandits will arrive tonight; Master, you should quickly avoid them.' Tian dwelt beneath a sheer cliff where there was absolutely no other path; suspecting he was a mountain spirit, he said: 'Now that the Buddha-Dharma is destroyed, this poor monk has no place to accommodate himself, and thus I have come to take refuge with the dānapati. Now that bandits are coming, I might as well die right here; where else could I flee?' The spirit said: 'Since the master has come from afar to take refuge with his disciple, his disciple is also able to protect the master. Just remain here.' He then vanished. That night a heavy snow suddenly fell, about a zhang deep. The snow was deep and the path was blocked, so he escaped the disaster of the bandits. Later, when the weather cleared and the road opened, the band of bandits returned. The spirit then informed the villages below the mountain, saying: 'Bandits intend to plunder Master Tian; all of you go quickly to rescue him together!' They each equipped weapons, entered the mountain, and struck back, whereupon the bandits scattered in panic. From then on, Tian daily relied on the spirit to secure his practice on the mountain heights, and his end was unknown.