法苑珠林 84.40

84.40

In the Jin dynasty, on Mount Chicheng in Shifeng, there was Zhi Tanlan. He was a native of Qingzhou. He ate a vegetarian diet, delighted in dhyāna, and chanted three hundred thousand words [of scripture]. During the Taiyuan reign of the Jin, he travelled through Shan. Later he rested at Mount Chicheng in Shifeng, and seeing a place where the woods and springs were pure and open, he settled there. After several days, he suddenly saw a man several zhang tall, who called out to Tanlan ordering him to leave. He also saw various strange beasts to frighten Tanlan. Seeing Tanlan serene and self-possessed, [the spirit] then bent his knees and bowed, saying: "King Zhuqi is my maternal uncle. He has ordered me to go to Mount Weixiang to join him, and I yield this place to offer it to you." Three years later, [Tanlan] suddenly heard the rumbling of carriages and cavalry, with retinues filling the peaks. Presently someone wearing a turban announced the arrival of King Zhuqi. He stepped forward with twenty-three wives, concubines, sons, and daughters, all of whose forms and countenances were dignified and handsome, surpassing those of the world. Having reached Tanlan's dwelling and exchanged greetings, Tanlan asked where he lived. He replied: "Mount Weixiang in Le'an County. I have long admired your repute. Now together with my household I look up to you and seek refuge, begging to receive the refuges and precepts." Tanlan immediately conferred them. When the reception of the Dharma was finished, [the king] offered ten thousand cash and two vessels of honey as a gift, took his leave, and departed. Then was heard the sounding of pipes and blowing of horns, the noise shaking the valleys. Tanlan and more than ten fellow meditators all heard and saw it together. In the Yuanxi era of the Jin, he passed away in his mountain chamber at the age of eighty-three.