法苑珠林 83.38

83.38

晉剡隱岳山有帛僧光。或云曇光。未詳何許人。少習禪業。晉永和初游于江東。投剡之石城山。山民咸云。此中舊有猛獸之災。及山神縱暴人蹤久絕。光了無懼色。雇人開薙負杖而前。行入數里。忽大風雨。群虎號鳴。光於山南見一石室。乃止其中安禪合掌。以為栖禪之處。至明旦雨息。乃入村乞食。夕復還中。經三日乃見山神。或作虎形。或作蛇身。競來悑光。光一皆不恐。經三日又夢見山神。自言。移往章安縣韓石山住。推室以相奉。爾後採薪通流道俗宗事。樂禪來學者。起茅茨於室側。漸成寺舍。因名隱岳。光每入定輒七日不起。處山五十三載。春秋一百一十歲。晉太元之末。以衣蒙頭安坐而卒。眾僧咸謂依常入定。過七日後怪其不起。乃共看之。顏色如常。唯鼻中無氣。神遷雖久而形骸不坼。至宋孝建二年。郭鴻任剡。入山禮拜。試以如意撤胸。颯然風起衣肌消散。唯白骨在焉。鴻大愧懼收之于室。以塼壘其外而泥之。畫其形像。于今尚存。

Under the Jin, at Mount Yinyue in Shan, there was Bai Sengguang, also called Tanguang, though where he was from is not known. From youth he practiced the discipline of dhyāna. At the beginning of the Yonghe era of the Jin, he traveled to the region east of the Yangtze and went to Mount Shicheng in Shan. The mountain folk all said: “In this area, there have long been calamities caused by ferocious beasts, and the mountain spirit behaves with violent abandon, so human traces have long ceased.” Sengguang showed no trace of fear; he hired men to cut a path and went forward carrying his staff. After walking several li, a great wind and rain suddenly arose, and a pack of tigers roared. Sengguang saw a stone chamber south of the mountain, so he stayed within it, peacefully seated in dhyāna with palms joined, making it his place of dhyāna dwelling. When dawn came, the rain ceased, and he entered the village to beg for food, returning inside in the evening. After three days, the mountain spirit appeared, sometimes in the form of a tiger, sometimes in the body of a serpent, vying to terrify Sengguang. Sengguang was not frightened at all. After three more days, he dreamt that he saw the mountain spirit, who said of himself: “I am moving to Mount Hanshi in Zhang'an County to live, and I yield this chamber to offer it to you.” Thereafter, woodcutters passed through, and both monastics and laity honored and served him. Those who delighted in dhyāna and came to learn built thatched huts beside the chamber, which gradually became a monastery, taking the name Yinyue. Whenever Sengguang entered concentration, he would not arise for seven days. He dwelt on the mountain for fifty-three years and lived to the age of one hundred and ten. At the end of the Taiyuan era of the Jin, he covered his head with his robe, sat peacefully, and passed away. The assembly of monks all thought he had entered concentration as usual. When seven days had passed, they wondered why he had not arisen, so they went together to look at him: his complexion was as usual, only that there was no breath in his nose. Although his spirit had departed long before, his physical body had not decomposed. In the second year of the Xiaojian era of the Song, Guo Hong took office in Shan and entered the mountain to pay homage. He tested it by touching the chest with a ruyi sceptre; a sudden wind arose, and the robe and flesh dissolved and scattered, leaving only white bones. Guo Hong was filled with great shame and fear; he gathered them into the chamber, piled bricks outside, and plastered them with mud, painting his likeness on it, which still exists today.