法苑珠林 76.68

76.68

大唐貞觀二十年。西國有五婆羅門。來到京師。善能音樂祝術雜戲。截舌抽腸走繩續斷。又至顯慶已來。王玄策等數有使人向五印度。西國天王為漢使設樂。或有騰空走索履屐繩行。男女相避歌戲如常。或有女人手弄三仗。刀矟槍等。擲空手接繩走不落。或有截舌自縛。解伏依舊不勞人功。如是幻戲種種難述。

In the twentieth year of the Zhenguan era of the Great Tang, five Brahmins from the western countries arrived at the capital. They were skilled in music, incantations, and miscellaneous entertainments: cutting tongues, extracting intestines, walking tightropes, and joining severed parts. Furthermore, from the Xianqing era onward, Wang Xuance and others were repeatedly sent as envoys to the Five Indias. The kings of the western countries arranged entertainments for the Han envoys: some leapt into the air, walking on ropes or wearing wooden clogs to walk on ropes, men and women yielding to one another, singing and performing as usual; some women juggled three weapons in their hands—swords, lances, and spears—tossing them into the air and catching them with their hands while walking on ropes without falling; others cut their tongues and tied themselves up, freeing and subduing themselves as before without the help of human effort. Such varied magical spectacles are difficult to recount in full.