樂邦遺稿 2.67

2.67

The Fayuan zhulin states: “At the end of the Zhenguan reign era of the Tang, there was a monk named Xuan Gao at the Zhili Monastery in Fuyang County of Xiangzhou, whose secular surname was Ma. On the day he was about to die, he looked at his mother and said, ‘Your son has a past karmic link with the Zhao family; going from here, I will become their son.’ His mother did not believe it, so she made an ink dot on his left elbow. After he passed away, Zhao's wife suddenly dreamed that this monk came and said, ‘I shall become a child to you, mother.’ Thereupon she became pregnant. When she gave birth, there indeed was an ink dot on the elbow. At three years of age, without anyone guiding him, he was able to go to the Ma family's house on his own, where he said, ‘This is my old home.’”