法苑珠林 63.53

63.53

Under the Jin, in Chang'an, there was the Venerable She, a man of the Western Regions. Empty and tranquil, he practised breath-circulation and did not eat the five grains. In a single day he could travel five hundred li. When he spoke of future events, the verification was as clear as looking at one's own palm. In the eleventh year of the Jianyuan reign-period of Fu Jian, he arrived in Chang'an county. Using secret spells, he summoned divine dragons down [from the sky]. Whenever there was a drought, Fu Jian would regularly ask him to pray to the dragons. Presently, a dragon would descend into his bowl, and heaven would immediately pour down heavy rain. Fu Jian and his ministers went in person to the bowl to view it, and all marveled at its strangeness. Fu Jian venerated him as the spirit of the state. Officials and commoners all bowed down and embraced his feet. From then on, there was no longer any worry of scorching drought. In the twelfth month of the sixth year [afterwards], he died without illness. Fu Jian wept for him with great sorrow. Seven days after his demise, Fu Jian, on account of his divine anomalies, attempted to open the coffin and examine it. He did not see where his corpse and bones were; only the burial shroud remained. In the seventeenth year, from the first month it did not rain until the sixth month. Fu Jian reduced his meals and withdrew the suspended musical instruments in order to welcome harmonious energy. In the seventh month, rain fell. Fu Jian said to the Palace Secretary Zhu Tong, "If the Venerable She were here, how could We suffer such burning anxiety over the clouds and the Milky Way? Was this master not a great sage?" Zhu Tong said, "His arts were profound and far-reaching; indeed, they were a wonder rare across the ages."