法華傳記 8.20

8.20

李丘令者。揚州高郵縣丞李丘一同父異母弟也。家屬相繼。放鷹犬殺生命。聚會親族。以為歡娛。不知慚愧。家兄丘一。再治語冥事。心不信受。長安二年正月十九日。頓得重病便死。心上小援。丘令前依妻病。發造法華經一部願。未果其志。其妻亦為救夫重病。立此造經誓。丘令死後七日方活。具說冥事云。吾初死之時。有六人羅剎娑。來云。我是炎魔大王使。以汝惡積故。追不可許暫住。即著枷鎖。驅行而去十餘里。有一人乘馬朱衣。手執弓箭。見丘令嗔怒高聲唱言。丘令是大惡者。何不輿火車。所言未畢。忽然身在火車。時有一沙門。以水灑車。身涼苦息。莫知誰救。更行五百餘里。見大城峻峙中有廳殿。王安處寶座。前後左右。各有數千人。朱紫黃綠。位次各坐其外。庭中有無量罪人。杻械枷鎖撿繫反縛面縛等。種種雜居。皆向王而踞。王見我入嗔目問曰。汝無道殺生命。非法食噉。無功德分。豈非入寶山空手歸哉。爾時默恥無酬答。王遣使取一卷書。五十餘枚許。即披之曰。汝聞不。在生造罪。一一記錄。即出所造罪。一一呵責。更無所逃。卷將畢時。王微笑曰。汝有大功德。為妻欲造法華經。未遂心願。汝後室亦為汝起誓。赦汝已前眾罪。將還人間。廳下官人。朱衣黃綠。白王言。惡人難赦。如何放還。王言。此人有寫經願。若在獄中。憶念昔事。唱立願言。地獄空荒罪人生天。是故放還時。庭中無量罪人。聞此論說。捨身生天。吾親蒙王放恩。由寫經願而活。即盡所有。造經一百部。自手書願文。并留因緣出矣。

Li Qiuling was the younger half-brother (by a different mother) of Li Qiuyi, the assistant magistrate of Gaoyou County in Yangzhou. The household members one after another released hawks and hounds to kill living beings, gathering relatives together for merrymaking, without feeling any shame. His elder brother Qiuyi repeatedly admonished him by speaking of the underworld, but in his heart he did not believe or accept it. On the nineteenth day of the first month in the second year of the Chang'an reign era (702), he suddenly fell gravely ill and died. Above his heart it remained slightly warm. Previously, on account of his wife's illness, Qiuling had made a vow to copy one set of the Lotus Sūtra, but had not yet fulfilled his intention; his wife had also made this vow to copy the sūtra to save her husband from his severe illness. Seven days after Qiuling died, he finally revived and recounted the events of the underworld in detail, saying: "When I first died, six rākṣasas came and said, 'We are emissaries of the Great King Yama. Because your evil has accumulated, you are summoned and cannot be permitted to stay even temporarily.' They immediately put a cangue and chains on me and drove me forward. After more than ten li, there was a man riding a horse in vermilion robes, holding a bow and arrows in his hands. Seeing me, he shouted angrily, 'Qiuling is a great evildoer! Why is he not placed on the fire-cart?' Before he had finished speaking, I was suddenly on a fire-cart. At that time, there was a śramaṇa who sprinkled water onto the cart; my body became cool, and the suffering ceased, though I did not know who had saved me. Traveling more than five hundred li further, I saw a great city towering high. Within it was a hall; the King sat upon a jeweled throne. In front, behind, to the left, and to the right were several thousand people each, in vermilion, purple, yellow, and green, seated in order according to rank. In the courtyard outside were countless sinners, bound and tied with manacles, cangues, chains, hands tied behind their backs, hands tied before their faces, and so forth, assorted together in various ways, all crouching toward the King. When the King saw me enter, he glared and asked, 'You unrighteously killed living beings, ate illicitly, and have no share of merit. Did you not enter the jewel mountain only to return empty-handed?' At that time I was silently ashamed and had no reply. The King sent an emissary to fetch a scroll of records, about fifty-odd sheets. He opened it and said, 'Do you hear? Every sin you committed in life is recorded one by one.' He then brought out the sins I had committed and rebuked me for each one; there was nowhere to escape. When the scroll was nearly finished, the King smiled slightly and said, 'You have great merit: for your wife, you wished to copy the Lotus Sūtra, though your heart's wish was not yet fulfilled; your wife also made a vow for you. All your previous sins are pardoned, and you shall be returned to the human world.' The officials beneath the hall, dressed in vermilion, yellow, and green, said to the King, 'An evil person is difficult to pardon; why release him back?' The King said, 'This person has a vow to copy the sūtra. If he is in hell and recalls past deeds, chanting his vow, the hells will become empty and desolate and the sinners will be born in heaven. Therefore, he is released back.' At that time, the countless sinners in the courtyard, hearing this discourse, abandoned their bodies and were born in heaven. I personally received the King's gracious pardon and was revived because of the vow to copy the sūtra." Thereupon, he exhausted all his possessions to produce one hundred sets of the sūtra, handwrote the vow himself, and left an account of these circumstances behind.