法苑珠林 63.50

63.50

In Luojiang County of Jin’an, there is Mount Huo. Its height blots out the sun. Atop it is a stone basin several zhang in diameter. The spring water in the basin is five or six chi deep and constantly overflows. Ancient tradition says that it was where immortals roamed and took sustenance. There was the śramaṇa Shi Sengqun, who lived in seclusion on that mountain and constantly drank this water, thereby ceasing to hunger and abstaining from grain. Tao Kui, governor of Jin’an, heard of it and sought some; but whenever Qun sent the water to Tao, as soon as it left the mountain, it grew foul. Tao thereupon crossed the sea to visit the mountain. At that time, the sky was clear and bright, but as soon as Tao set foot at the base of the mountain, wind and rain plunged everything into darkness. This happened three times, and in the end he could not reach it. The hut where Qun dwelt was separated from the spring by a ravine; going back and forth morning and evening, he used a single log as a bridge. Later, when he was about to cross, he repeatedly saw a duck with a broken wing spreading its wings across the bridgehead, pecking at Sengqun so that he could never cross. He wished to raise his staff to push it aside, but feared it would fall to its death. Thereupon he was cut off from the water and soon died of hunger. Tradition at the time held that he was one hundred and forty years old. When Qun was about to die, he told the assembly: “When I was young, I once struck and broke a duck's wing. Could this duck be the retribution of that karma?”