法苑珠林 65.73

65.73

During the Zhou dynasty, at the Yuankaifu Temple in Shangdang, there was the monk Shi Huitian, whose clan is unknown. He upheld the Vinaya strictly and took meditation and repentance as his pursuit. It happened that in the sixth year of the Jiande era of the Zhou dynasty, the state abolished the Three Jewels. Tian embraced scriptures and images and concealed himself deep in the mountains. He encountered bandits who intended to plunder him, of which he was initially unaware. Suddenly he saw a man over a zhang in height, with a fine beard and countenance, wearing splendid garments, riding a white horse with red trappings, coming from the mountain peak. Coming straight before Tian, he dismounted and said: 'Bandits will arrive tonight; Master, you should quickly avoid them.' Tian dwelt beneath a sheer cliff where there was absolutely no other path; suspecting he was a mountain spirit, he said: 'Now that the Buddha-Dharma is destroyed, this poor monk has no place to accommodate himself, and thus I have come to take refuge with the dānapati. Now that bandits are coming, I might as well die right here; where else could I flee?' The spirit said: 'Since the master has come from afar to take refuge with his disciple, his disciple is also able to protect the master. Just remain here.' He then vanished. That night a heavy snow suddenly fell, about a zhang deep. The snow was deep and the path was blocked, so he escaped the disaster of the bandits. Later, when the weather cleared and the road opened, the band of bandits returned. The spirit then informed the villages below the mountain, saying: 'Bandits intend to plunder Master Tian; all of you go quickly to rescue him together!' They each equipped weapons, entered the mountain, and struck back, whereupon the bandits scattered in panic. From then on, Tian daily relied on the spirit to secure his practice on the mountain heights, and his end was unknown.