法華傳記 6.34

6.34

李山龍。誦法華兩卷。以為善業。以武德中暴亡。而心上不冷如掌許。家人未忍殯殮。至七日而蘇。自說云。當死時被冥官收錄。至一官遭廳。事甚宏壯。其庭亦廣大。庭內有囚數千人。或枷鎖或杻械。皆向北面立滿庭中。吏將山龍至廳下。見天官坐高床座。侍衛如王者。山龍問吏。此何官吏。曰是王也。山龍前至階下。王問。汝生平時作何福業。山龍對曰。鄉人每設齋講。恒施物同之。王曰。汝身作何善業。山龍曰。誦法華經兩卷。王曰。大善可昇階。既昇廳上。東北間有一高座。如講座者。王指座謂山龍曰。可昇此座誦經。山龍奉命至側。王即起立曰。請法師昇座。山龍昇座訖王乃向之而坐。山龍開經。曰妙法蓮華經序品第一。王曰請法師下。山龍即止。下座復立階下。顧庭內囚已盡。無一人在者。王謂山龍曰。君誦經之福。非唯自利。乃令庭內眾囚。皆以聞經獲免。豈不善哉。今放君還去。山龍拜辭。行數十步。王復呼還。謂吏曰。可將此人歷觀諸獄。吏即將山龍東行百餘步。見一鐵城甚廣大。上屋覆其城。傍多有小窓。或大如小盆。或如盂椀。見諸人男女從地飛入窓中即不復出。山龍怪問吏曰。此是大地獄中。多有分隔。罪計各異。此諸人者。各隨本業赴獄受罪耳。山龍聞之。悲懼稱南無佛。吏求出至院門。見一大鑊火猛湯沸傍有二人坐睡。山龍問之。二人曰。我罪報入此鑊湯。蒙賢者稱南無佛。獄中諸罪人。皆得一日休息疲睡耳。山龍又稱南無佛。吏謂山龍曰。官府數移改。今王放君去。可白王請抄。若不爾恐他官不知。復追錄君。山龍即更謁王請抄。王命紙書一行字。付吏曰。為取五道等署。吏受命。將山龍更歷兩曹。各有廳事。侍衛亦如此。王之遣吏皆取其官署名書一行訖付山龍。龍持出至門有三人。謂山龍曰。王放君去。可不多少乞遣我等。山龍未言。吏謂山龍曰。王放君不由彼然彼三人者。是前收錄君使人。一是棒主。當以棒擊君頭者。一是繩主。當以赤繩縛君。一是袋主。當以袋歙君氣者。見君得還故。須乞物耳。山龍惶懼謝三人曰。愚不識公。請至家備物。但不知於何處送之。三人曰。於水邊若樹下燒之。山龍許諾。吏送歸家。見親眷人正哭經營殯具。山龍入室屍傍即蘇。後日剪紙作錢帛。并酒食自送。於水邊燒之。忽見三人來謝曰。蒙君不失信重相贈遺。愧賀言畢不見。山龍彌信。誦一部為業。自向大總持寺主僧辯等說之耳（感通錄下卷。并法苑第二十一云。右一驗出冥報記也）。

Li Shanlong took the recitation of two fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra as his wholesome practice. During the Wude era he died suddenly, yet over his heart remained an area the size of a palm that was not cold. His family could not bear to encoffin and bury him, and after seven days he revived. He himself recounted: When he died, he was arrested and recorded by underworld officials and brought to a bureaucratic office hall. The building was extremely grand and imposing, and its courtyard was also vast. Inside the courtyard were several thousand prisoners, some in cangues and chains, some in shackles and fetters, all standing facing north and filling the courtyard. An official brought Shanlong to the hall, where he saw a heavenly official sitting on a high throne, with attendants and guards like those of a king. Shanlong asked the official, “What official is this?” He replied, “This is the King.” Shanlong stepped forward to the base of the stairs, and the King asked, “What merit and wholesome deeds did you perform during your lifetime?” Shanlong replied, “Whenever the villagers held vegetarian feasts and lectures, I constantly donated goods in common with them.” The King said, “What wholesome deeds did you yourself perform?” Shanlong said, “I recited two fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra.” The King said, “Excellent! You may ascend the stairs.” When he ascended into the hall, there was a high seat in the northeast corner like a lecture throne. The King pointed to the seat and said to Shanlong, “You may ascend this seat and recite the sūtra.” Receiving the command, Shanlong approached the side of the seat. The King immediately stood up and said, “I invite the Dharma master to ascend the seat.” Once Shanlong had ascended the seat, the King turned toward him and sat down. Shanlong opened the sūtra and said, “The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Chapter One: Introduction.” The King said, “I ask the Dharma master to step down.” Shanlong immediately stopped, descended the seat, and stood again at the foot of the stairs. Looking around, the prisoners in the courtyard were all gone; not a single person remained. The King said to Shanlong, “The merit of your recitation of the sūtra not only benefits yourself, but has also caused the crowd of prisoners in the courtyard all to attain deliverance by hearing the sūtra. Is this not wholesome indeed? Now I release you to return.” Shanlong bowed in farewell. Having walked several tens of paces, the King called him back again and said to an official, “You may take this man to view the various hells.” The official then led Shanlong eastward for more than a hundred paces, where he saw an iron city that was exceedingly vast. A roof covered the city above, and along the sides were many small windows, some as large as small basins, others like bowls. He saw men and women flying from the ground into the windows, after which they did not come out again. Shanlong wondered at this and asked the official, who said, “Inside this great hell there are many partitions, and the calculations of their sins each differ. These people merely go to the hell to undergo punishment according to their own past karma.” Hearing this, Shanlong was filled with sorrow and fear and invoked, “Namo Buddhāya.” The official sought to lead him out to the courtyard gate, where they saw a huge cauldron with raging fire and boiling soup, beside which two people sat asleep. Shanlong questioned them, and the two said, “Our sinful retribution was to enter the boiling soup of this cauldron. Thanks to the worthy one’s invoking ‘Namo Buddhāya,’ all the sinners in the hell have attained a day of rest and weary sleep.” Shanlong again invoked “Namo Buddhāya.” The official said to Shanlong, “The bureaucratic offices frequently change. Now that the King has released you to go, you should address the King to request an official pass. If not, it is feared that other offices will not know and will arrest and record you again.” Shanlong immediately went again to pay respects to the King and requested a pass. The King ordered a single line of characters to be written on paper, handed it to the official, and said, “Obtain the signatures of the Five Paths and the others for him.” Receiving the command, the official took Shanlong to pass through two more bureaus. Each had an office hall, and their attendants and guards were just like this one’s. The King’s dispatched official obtained a line of writing with the signatures of the offices, finished, and handed it to Shanlong. Shanlong carried it out to the gate, where three men said to Shanlong, “The King has released you to go; will you not give us a little something to send us off?” Before Shanlong could speak, the official said to Shanlong, “The King’s release of you was not due to them. Yet those three men were the emissaries who previously arrested and recorded you: one was the club-master who was to strike your head with a club; one was the rope-master who was to bind you with a red rope; and one was the sack-master who was to take your breath in a sack. Seeing that you have obtained your return, they merely demand things.” Shanlong, frightened and fearful, thanked the three men and said, “In my foolishness I did not recognize you, gentlemen. Please allow me to return home and prepare the goods, but I do not know where to deliver them.” The three men said, “Burn them by the water or under a tree.” Shanlong consented. The official escorted him home, where he saw his relatives weeping and preparing funeral articles. Shanlong entered the room beside his corpse and immediately revived. On a later day, he cut paper to make paper money and silk, and personally brought wine and food to burn by the water. Suddenly he saw the three men come and thank him, saying, “We are grateful that you did not break your word and generously bestowed gifts upon us.” Expressing their gratitude and congratulations, as they finished speaking they disappeared. Shanlong believed all the more, and took reciting the entire text [of the sūtra] as his practice. He personally recounted this to the abbot of Daxingshansi, Sengbian, and others. (The lower fascicle of the Gantong lu and the twenty-first fascicle of the Fayuan [zhulin] state that the above one miracle comes from the Mingbao ji.)