神僧傳 9.63

9.63

嘉州僧常羅漢者。異人也。好勸人設羅漢齋會。故得此名。楊氏媼嗜食雞。平生所殺不知幾千百數。既死家人作六七齋具黃籙醮。道士方拜章。僧忽至告其子曰。吾為汝懺悔。楊家甚喜設座延入。僧顧其僕云。去街東第幾家買花雌雞一隻來。如言得之。命殺以具饌。楊氏泣請曰。尊者見臨。非有所愛惜。今日啟醮筵。舉家內外久絕葷饌。乞以付隣家。僧不可必欲就煮。食既熟就廳踞坐。拆肉滿盤分。置上真九位。乃食其餘。齋罷不揖而去。是夕賣雞家及楊氏悉夢媼至謝曰。在生時罪業見責為雞。賴羅漢悔謝之賜。今既脫矣。自是郡人作佛事薦亡。幸其來以為冥塗得助。紹興末年卒。肉身久而不壞。

The monk Chang Luohan of Jiazhou was an extraordinary person. He was fond of urging people to host arhat vegetarian feasts, and hence obtained this name. An old woman of the Yang family loved to eat chicken; how many hundreds or thousands of them she killed in her life was unknown. After she died, her family prepared the six-seven vegetarian feast and held a Yellow Register jiao-ritual. Just as the Daoist priest was presenting a memorial, the monk suddenly arrived and told her son, 'I will perform repentance for you.' The Yang family was very pleased and set out a seat to invite him in. The monk looked at his servant and said, 'Go to such-and-such a house east of the street and buy a mottled hen.' He obtained it as instructed, and ordered it to be killed to prepare food. The Yangs wept and requested, saying, 'The Venerable One has graced us with a visit; it is not that we begrudge the cost. But today we inaugurate the ritual feast, and the whole family inside and out has long abstained from meat and pungent foods. We beg that it be handed over to a neighbouring family.' The monk would not allow it and insisted that it be boiled right away. Once the food was cooked, he sat squatting in the hall. He tore the meat apart to fill a plate, and divided it among the seats of the Nine Superior True Beings, and then ate the remainder. When the meal was finished, he left without bowing. That night, both the chicken seller and the Yang family dreamt that the old woman came to thank them, saying, 'For my sinful deeds in life, I was condemned to become a chicken. Relying on the gift of the Arhat's repentance, I have now escaped it.' From then on, whenever people of the commandery held Buddhist rites to deliver the deceased, they hoped for his arrival, considering it an aid on the dark paths. He died in the late years of the Shaoxing era. His bodily form did not decay for a long time.