樂邦遺稿 2.103

2.103

《楞伽經．序》曰「蔣之奇過南都謁張公，親聞公說《楞伽》因緣。始張公自三司使翰林學士出守滁，一日入瑯琊僧舍，見一經函，發而視之，即《楞伽經》也。恍然覺其前生之所書，筆畫宛然，其神先受之甚明也。之奇聞：羊叔子五歲時，令乳母取所弄金環。乳母謂之曰：『汝初無此物。』祐即自詣隣人李氏東垣桑木中探得之。主人驚曰：『此吾亡兒所失之物也。云何持去？』乳母具言之，知祐之前身為李氏子也。白樂天始生七日，姆指之無兩字，雖試百數不差。九歲諳識聲律，篤於才章。而樂天固自以為宿習矣。人之生死去來於天地之間，其為草木為籌，不能算之。然以淪於生死，神識疲耗，不能復記。惟圓明不昧之人有如張公，以高文大冊再中制等，登侍從、秉釣相，出入朝廷逾四十年，風烈事業播人耳目。則其前身甞為大善知識，無足疑矣。」

The Preface to the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra says: 'When Jiang Zhiqi passed through the Southern Capital, he visited Duke Zhang and personally heard the Duke relate his conditions regarding the Laṅkā[vatāra-sūtra]. Originally, when Duke Zhang left his posts of State Finance Commissioner and Hanlin Academician to govern Chu, he one day entered a monk's quarters on Mount Langya. He saw a sūtra chest, opened it, and examined it: it was the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. He suddenly realized that it had been copied by him in his previous life; the brushstrokes were vividly clear, and his mental awareness had previously received it very plainly. Zhiqi has heard: When Yang Shuzi was five years old, he had his wet nurse fetch the gold ring he used to play with. The wet nurse said to him, "You never had such an object." You then went on his own to the mulberry tree on the eastern wall of his neighbor, the Li family, and retrieved it from inside. The owner said in astonishment, "This is what my deceased son lost! Why are you taking it away?" The wet nurse explained the whole matter, and they knew that You's previous life was the child of the Li family. Seven days after Bai Letian was born, his nanny pointed to the two characters "none" (wu) and "not" (zhi); even though tested a hundred times, he did not err. At nine years old, he was well versed in tone and prosody, and thoroughly dedicated to literary compositions. And Letian certainly regarded this as a habituation from previous lives. As for people's lives and deaths, coming and going between heaven and earth—even using plants and trees as counting tallies, one could not tally them. Yet because they sink in birth and death, their spirit-consciousness becomes exhausted and depleted, and they cannot remember it again. Only those of complete clarity and unclouded mind are like Duke Zhang, who with exalted writings and great treatises twice passed the decree examinations, rose to the rank of attendant, grasped the helm as chancellor, and entered and left the court for over forty years, his illustrious achievements spreading to people's ears and eyes. Thus, that his previous life was once a great spiritual mentor is without a doubt.'