法苑珠林 83.38

83.38

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.