法苑珠林 28.41

28.41

The Tang śramaṇa Jia Yi of Anzhou: no one knows who he was. Early in the Renshou era of the Sui, he traveled in Anlu. His jesting appearances and disappearances surpassed prophecies and portents. His garments and appearance shifted unpredictably as he roamed about, now dressed in black and now in white, dividing his body across various counties; only when people investigated and confirmed it did they come to revere his virtue. His conduct was not shallow, yet he was despised by the ignorant. There was a śramaṇa of Fangdeng Temple named Huigao, whose learning and practice were vast and penetrating. When Yi happened to pass by him, he gave him fifty sheets of paper, saying: 'By this, Master, you shall obtain release.' At first no one could fathom the reason. Later, a dispute arose and Gao was taken into custody; when the authorities interrogated him, he laid out his arguments and answered them, and just as the paper was used up, the matter was resolved, exactly fulfilling the original prophecy. The signs and matching tokens were always like this. Toward the end of his life, he arrived at a certain family's house and said: 'I understand you have a daughter, and I wish to take her in marriage.' This family initially agreed. He then went to the market place, calling out and begging: 'Such-and-such a family is giving me a wife, so I need ceremonial gifts.' He solicited money and rice everywhere and fixed a date to consummate the wedding. He repeatedly went to their gate, calling out aloud. The girl's family felt humiliated, and secretly murdered him. They buried his corpse under dung, where it remained for three days. Then he was seen strolling through the marketplace, telling everyone he met about how he had been murdered. In the fifth year of Daye, when the world was peaceful and clear, Yi was playing by the water with a group of youths. He would ride the bridge railing and fiddle with his hands, saying: 'Press down the sheep's head, twist the sheep's head!' The onlookers stood by laughing at his antics. When the disaster and turmoil of the Yang clan took place in Jiangdu, all matched his earlier words. It is not known where he died.