---
title: "神僧傳 · 僧稠"
description: "神僧传是一部记载历代高僧神异事迹的佛教传记类著作，具体编撰者及成书年代已失考，一般认为由宋元时期僧俗辑录而成。该书汇集了自东汉至宋元间众多僧人的神奇感应、修行成就与弘法利生故事，内容多具传奇色彩。虽非正统史传，却生动反映了民间佛教信仰面貌，为研究佛教神通观念、圣徒崇拜及社会影响提供了重要文献，在佛教文学与灵验记传统中占有独特地位。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmd08sws500n6jt04p7v7de4j"
---

### 僧稠

> Master Sengchou

釋僧稠。姓孫氏。元出昌黎末。居鉅鹿之癭陶焉。性度純懿。一覽佛經渙然神解。幼落髮為沙彌時。時輩每暇。常角力為戲。而稠以劣弱見凌侮。稠羞之。乃入殿中閉戶抱金剛足。而誓曰。我以羸弱為等輩輕侮。汝以力聞當祐我。我捧汝足七日當與我力。如不與必死無還志也。如是至第六日。將曙金剛形現手執一鉢筋謂稠曰。小子欲力當食此筋。稠辭以齋故不欲食。神乃怖以杵。稠懼遂食。食已神曰。汝已多力。然善持教勉旃。神去且曉。乃還所居。同列復戲侮。稠曰。吾有力矣。恐汝不能堪。眾試引其臂。筋骨強勁殆非人也。方驚疑。稠曰。吾與汝試之。因入殿中橫蹋壁行。自西至東凡數百步。又躍首至於梁數四。仍引重千鈞。拳捷驍趫動駭物聽。眾皆驚服。嘗住嵩岳寺。僧有百人泉水纔足。忽見婦人弊衣挾帚却坐階上聽僧誦經。眾不測為神人也。便訶遣之。婦有慍色以足蹋泉。水立枯竭身亦不現。眾以告稠。稠呼優婆夷。三呼乃出。便謂神曰。眾僧行道宜加擁護。婦人以足撥於故泉。水即上涌。眾歎異之。後詣懷州西王屋山修習前法。聞兩虎交鬪咆響震巖。乃以錫杖中解。各散而去。一時忽有仙經兩卷在于床上。稠曰。我本修佛道。豈拘域中長生者乎。言已須臾自失。後移止青羅山受諸癘疾供養。情不憚其臭潰甘之如薺。坐久疲頓舒脚床前。有神輒扶之還令加坐。因屢入定。每以七日為期。聞有勅召絕無承命。苦相敦喻方遂允請。即日拂衣將出山闕。兩岫忽然驚震響聲悲切。駭擾人畜禽獸飛走。如是三日。稠顧曰。慕道懷仁觸類斯在。豈非愛情易守放蕩難持耶。乃不約事留杖策漳滏扶甫切又嘗有客僧負錫初至。將欲安處問其本夏。答云。吾見此中三為伽藍。言終而隱。既而掘地為井果得鴟吻二焉。又所住禪窟前有深淵。見被毛之人偉而胡貌。置釜然火水將沸涌。俄有大蟒從水中出。欲入釜內。稠以足撥之蟒遂入水。毛人亦隱。其夜因致男子神來頂拜稠云。弟子有兒。歲歲為惡神所噉。兒子等惜命不敢當。弟子衰老將死。故自供食。蒙師之力得免斯難。稠索水潠之奄成雲霧。時或讒稠於宣帝以倨傲無敬。帝大怒自來加害。稠冥知之。生來不至僧厨。忽無何而到云。明有大客至多作供設。至夜五更先備牛輿。獨往谷口。去寺二十餘里。孤立道側。須臾帝至。怪問其故。稠曰。恐身血不淨穢污伽藍。在此候耳。帝謂尚書令楊遵彥曰。如此真人何可毀謗也。因謂曰。朕未見佛之靈異。頗可得覩否。稠曰。此非沙門所宜。帝強之。乃投袈裟于地。帝使數十人舉之不能動。稠命沙彌取之。初無重焉。嵩陽杜昌妻柳氏甚妬。有婢金荊昌沐令理髮。柳氏截其雙指。無何柳被狐刺螫音栻指雙落。又有一婢名玉蓮。能唱歌。昌愛而歎其善。柳氏乃截其舌。後柳氏舌瘡爛事急。就稠懺悔。稠已先知謂柳氏曰。夫人為妬。前截婢指已失雙指。又截婢舌。今又合斷舌。悔過至心乃可免。柳氏頂禮求哀。經七日稠大張口呪之。有二蛇從口出。一尺以上。急呪之遂落。舌亦平復。當終之時異香滿寺。聞者悚神。既而剋日。准勅四部彌山。人兼數萬香柴千計。日正中時焚之以火。莫不哀慟哭響流川。頃有白鳥數百徘徊烟上。悲鳴相切。移時乃逝。

> The meditation master Sengchou was originally surnamed Sun, from the region of Changli, and later settled in Yingtao, Julu. His nature was pure and virtuous. From the moment he first read the Buddhist scriptures, he understood them with profound clarity. When he was young and newly ordained as a novice monk, his fellow novices would often wrestle and play-fight during their free time. Because Sengchou was weak and small, he was often bullied and humiliated. Feeling ashamed, he went into the main hall, closed the doors, and embraced the feet of the Vajra guardian statue, making a vow: "I am weak and looked down upon by my peers. You are known for your strength, so please protect me. I will hold your feet for seven days and you must grant me strength. If you do not, I will die here and never leave." He held on until the sixth day, just before dawn, when the Vajra appeared in physical form, holding a bowl of sinews. He said to Sengchou, "Young one, if you want strength, you must eat these sinews." Sengchou declined, saying he could not eat them due to his vegetarian precepts. The deity then threatened him with a staff, and frightened, Sengchou ate them. After he ate, the deity said, "You now have great strength, but uphold the teachings diligently." The deity vanished, and as dawn broke, Sengchou returned to his quarters. His fellow monks tried to bully him again, but Sengchou said, "I have strength now, and I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it." They tested him by pulling his arm, and found his muscles and bones so strong and firm that he seemed almost superhuman. Astonished, they doubted what they saw. Sengchou said, "Let me show you." He went into the hall and walked horizontally across the wall, from west to east, several hundred steps. He then leaped up and touched the ceiling beams several times. He could also lift weights of a thousand jun. His speed and agility were astonishing to all who witnessed it, and everyone was deeply impressed and awed. He once resided at Songyue Temple, where about a hundred monks lived and the spring water was just barely sufficient. Suddenly, a woman appeared in tattered clothes, holding a broom, sitting on the steps listening to the monks chant sutras. The monks did not realize she was a divine being and scolded her to leave. The woman showed an angry expression, stamped her foot on the spring, and the water immediately dried up. She also vanished from sight. The monks reported this to Sengchou. Sengchou called out "Upasika" three times, and she appeared again. He then said to the deity, "The monks are practicing the path; you should protect them." The woman kicked the old spring with her foot, and the water surged up again. Everyone marveled at this. Later, he went to practice the same methods at West King's House Mountain in Huaizhou. One day he heard two tigers fighting, their roars shaking the cliffs. He separated them with his staff, and each tiger went its own way. On another occasion, two scrolls of Daoist scriptures suddenly appeared on his bed. Sengchou said, "I originally cultivate the Buddhist path; why should I be bound by the worldly pursuit of longevity?" No sooner had he said this than the scriptures disappeared on their own. He then moved to Qingluo Mountain and cared for those afflicted with leprosy, not minding the foul smell and open sores, finding contentment as if tasting sweet greens. When he sat for long periods and grew tired, stretching his legs before his seat, a deity would appear to help him back into his sitting posture. He frequently entered deep meditation, each session lasting seven days. When the emperor issued an imperial summons for him, Sengchou refused to comply. Only after much persuasion and urging did he finally agree. That very day, as he prepared to leave the mountain, the two cliffs suddenly shook with a mournful, piercing sound. It frightened people, livestock, birds, and beasts for three days. Sengchou said to those around him, "Those who pursue the path and embrace virtue can be found everywhere. Is it not that attachment is easy to maintain, but letting go of worldly ties is difficult to uphold?" He then decided not to leave, and went instead to the Zhang and Fu rivers with his staff. A traveling monk with a staff once arrived as a guest. Sengchou asked how long he had been at the temple. The monk replied, "I have seen this place become a monastery three times." After saying this, he vanished. Later, when they dug a well, they unearthed two decorative roof ornaments. Near his meditation cave there was a deep pool. He once saw a hairy man with foreign features placing a cauldron and building a fire. The water was about to boil, when a giant python emerged from the pool and tried to enter the cauldron. Sengchou kicked the python with his foot, and it slid back into the water. The hairy man also disappeared. That night, a male deity came to bow before Sengchou and said, "Your disciple has a son who is devoured by an evil spirit every year. My son cherishes his life and dares not resist. I am old and about to die, so I offered myself as food. Thanks to your power, Master, we have been saved from this calamity." Sengchou sprinkled water on him, and he dissolved into clouds and mist. At one time, someone slandered Sengchou before Emperor Xuan, claiming he was arrogant and disrespectful. The emperor, greatly angered, came personally to harm him. Sengchou knew of this in advance. He had never gone to the monks' kitchen, but suddenly he went there and said, "Tomorrow a great guest will arrive; prepare abundant offerings." That night, at the fifth watch, he prepared an ox cart ahead of time and went alone to the mouth of the valley, more than twenty li from the temple, and stood by the roadside. Soon the emperor arrived and, surprised, asked why he was there. Sengchou replied, "I feared that if my impure blood stained the monastery, it would defile it, so I waited here for you." The emperor said to his chief minister Yang Zunyan, "How could such a true person be slandered?" He then said to Sengchou, "I have never witnessed the miraculous power of the Buddha. Can I see it?" Sengchou replied, "This is not something a monk should do." The emperor insisted, so Sengchou threw his robe on the ground. The emperor had dozens of men try to lift it, but they could not move it. Sengchou then had a novice pick it up, and it had no weight at all. Du Chang of Songyang had a very jealous wife named Liu. There was a maidservant named Jinjing who was combing Du Chang's hair after his bath, when Liu cut off two of her fingers. Before long, Liu was stung by a poisonous insect, and two of her own fingers fell off. There was another maidservant named Yulian who could sing beautifully. Du Chang loved her voice and praised her singing. Liu then cut off her tongue. Subsequently, Liu developed a severe sore on her own tongue that festered and would not heal. In desperation, she went to Sengchou to confess and seek help. Sengchou, knowing already what happened, said to Liu, "Madam, because of your jealousy — first you cut off a maidservant's fingers and lost two of your own; then you cut off another's tongue, and now your tongue is about to fall off. If you repent sincerely with all your heart, you may be spared." Liu prostrated herself and pleaded for mercy. After seven days, Sengchou opened his mouth wide and recited a mantra. Two snakes came out of his mouth, over a foot long. He urgently recited the mantra, and they fell away. Liu's tongue recovered completely. When Sengchou was about to pass away, an extraordinary fragrance filled the entire temple, and all who perceived it felt a sense of awe. He then set the date. Following imperial decree, monks and laypeople gathered in numbers covering the mountain like a swarm, numbering in the tens of thousands, with a thousand carts of incense and firewood. At noon, his body was cremated, and all mourned with cries that flowed like a river. For a while afterward, hundreds of white birds circled in the smoke above, calling out in sorrowful harmony, and only dispersed after a long time.