往生集 3.72

3.72

In the winter of the fifteenth year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan dynasty, Zhang Shicheng attacked Huzhou. The Grand Councilor of Jiangzhe engaged in battle and captured forty men, sending them in prisoner cages to the authorities. At night, they stayed at Niaoke Monastery at West Lake. It happened that Chan Master Dayou Mou was strolling slowly under the corridor. Seeing the master's calm and graceful demeanor and unceasing recitation, the prisoners called out, saying, 'Venerable Elder, save us!' The master said, 'I cannot save you, but if you recite with utmost sincerity "Namo Amitābha Buddha who saves from suffering and difficulty," you will be saved.' Among them, three people faithfully accepted his words and recited without ceasing. At dawn, when the prisoners were dispatched and their cangues and locks were changed, it happened that when they came to the three men, the instruments of punishment were insufficient, and they were tied only with ropes. Soon after, when interrogated, they turned out to be good citizens who had been captured, and they were thereupon released.