樂邦遺稿 2.49

2.49

《夷堅志》曰「李侍郎，名彌遜，字似之，為臨川太守。一日父忌辰，往疎山飯僧，與堂頭行滿長老共飯。滿年八十餘，熟視李曰：『公乃遜老乎？』李不應。滿又曰：『遜老，余同門兄也，上下字與公皆同。余自公守此土，已疑之。今日察公言笑、動止精彩，無少異。公必其後身也。』李扣遜之亡，則元祐戊辰正月，乃李初生之歲也。李本號彌遠，偶夢中有人為改為遜，後果中第。李信之，歸家揭燕寢名小雲堂，賦詩見意曰：老子何因一念差，肯將簪髮換袈裟。同參尚有滿兄在，異世猶將遜老誇。結習未忘能作舞，因緣那得見拈花？卻將淨業尋歸路，淡泊何如居土家。」

The Record of Yijian says: 'Vice Minister Li, named Mixun, courtesy name Sizhi, was the governor of Linchuan. One day, on the anniversary of his father's death, he went to Shushan to provide a meal for the monks and dined together with the abbot, Elder Xingman. Man was over eighty years old; he gazed intently at Li and said: "Are you not old Xun, sir?" Li did not reply. Man also said: "Old Xun was my fellow disciple; the characters of his name were identical to yours, sir. Ever since you took charge of this land, sir, I have suspected it. Today, observing your speech, laughter, and bearing, their brilliance has not the slightest difference. You, sir, must be his later incarnation." Li inquired into the time of Xun's death, which was the first month of the wuchen year of the Yuanxiu era [1088], the very year Li was born. Li originally had the sobriquet Miyuan; someone in a dream happened to change it to Xun for him, and later he indeed passed the examinations. Li believed it, and upon returning home he named his private resting chamber "Lesser Cloud Hall" and composed a poem to express his thoughts, saying: "For what reason did this old fellow make an error in a single thought, / willing to exchange the cassock for hairpins and topknot? / A fellow practitioner, elder brother Man, is still here; / in a different life he still praises old Xun. / With habit-energies not yet forgotten, I can still make dances; / from such conditions, how could I behold the holding up of the flower? / Instead, I shall take pure karma to seek the way home; / how could living in a lay household compare to being plain and simple?"'