冥報記 2.14

2.14

河東董雄。少誠信佛道。蔬食數十年。貞觀中。為大理丞。十四年春。坐為連季仙僮事。繫御史臺。于時上以為當大怒。使治書侍御史韋𢠄等。鞠問甚急。防禁嚴密。禁者十數人。丈理丞李敬玄。司直王忻。並連此事。與雄同屋閉禁。皆被鎖牢固。雄專念法華經普門品。數日得三千遍。夜中獨坐誦經。鎖忽自解落地。雄驚告忻玄。忻玄共視鎖。仍堅合在地。其鉤亦儼然不壞。而鉤鎖相離數尺。玄等異之。雄恐責。告守者請鎖開是。監察御史張敬一宿直命吏開鎖。吏以燭之。見其鉤鎖不關而自然相離。甚怪異。因關鎖之。用紙封縓其鎖。書署封上。吏去。雄復坐誦經至五更。鎖又解落而有聲。如人開者。雄懼又告忻玄玄等謂。曉不宜請吏。既明共視之。鉤鎖各離在地。而鎖猶合。其封署處。全因不動。鉤甚定密。無可開理。玄自少長不信佛法。見妻讀經。常謂曰。何乃為胡神。一媚而讀此耶。及見雄此事。乃深歎寤曰。吾乃今知。佛之大聖。無有倫匹。誠不可思議也。時忻玄亦誦八菩薩名。滿三萬遍。盡日鎖自解落。視之鎖狀比雄不為異也。玄於是信服愧悔。既而三子俱雪。玄乃寫法華經。書八菩薩像。歸供養（臨時病篤在家。玄來問疾。具說其事。臨病愈攝職。問臺內官吏。與玄說不殊。雄亦自說其事。而精厲彌篤雄今見在為盩厔令）。

Dong Xiong of Hedong was sincere in his faith in the Buddha's way from his youth and kept a vegetarian diet for several decades. During the Zhenguan reign, he served as assistant in the Court of Judicial Review. In the spring of the fourteenth year, he was implicated in the affair of Lian Jixiantong and detained at the Censorate. At that time, the Emperor took it to be a matter of great gravity and ordered Assistant Censor Wei Meng and others to interrogate them very urgently under strict confinement. There were more than a dozen detainees. Li Jingxuan, assistant in the Court of Judicial Review, and Wang Xin, judicial clerk, were both implicated in this matter and confined in the same room with Xiong; all were securely locked with chains. Xiong single-mindedly concentrated on the "Universal Gate" chapter of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, completing three thousand recitations in several days. Sitting alone at night reciting the sūtra, his lock suddenly unlocked by itself and fell to the ground. Startled, Xiong told Xin and Xuan. Xin and Xuan examined the lock together; it remained firmly closed on the ground, and its shackle was also upright and undamaged, yet the shackle and lock were separated by several feet. Xuan and the other marveled at it. Xiong, fearing reprimand, reported to the guards and requested that the lock be fastened again. Zhang Jingyi, an investigating censor on night duty, ordered a clerk to examine the lock. The clerk illuminated it with a candle and saw that the shackle and lock were not joined but naturally separated, which he found extremely strange. He therefore locked it, sealed and bound the lock with paper, and wrote a signature over the seal. After the clerk left, Xiong sat down again to recite the sūtra until the fifth watch. The lock unlocked and fell again with a sound, as if someone had opened it. Xiong was afraid and told Xin and Xuan again. Xuan and the other thought that before daybreak they should not bother the clerk. When it was bright, they looked at it together: the shackle and lock lay separated on the ground, yet the lock was still joined, and the place of the seal and signature was completely undisturbed; the shackle fit so firmly and tightly that there was no way it could have been opened. Xuan had grown up from youth not believing in the Buddhadharma; seeing his wife read the sūtras, he would often say to her, "Why do you flatter a barbarian god and read such things?" When he witnessed this incident with Xiong, he sighed deeply and awoke to understanding, saying, "Only now do I know that the Buddha is a Great Sage without peer, truly inconceivable!" At that time, Xin and Xuan also recited the names of the Eight Bodhisattvas, completing thirty thousand recitations. By the end of the day, their locks unlocked and fell off by themselves; examining the condition of the locks, it was no different from Xiong's. Xuan thereupon was convinced and felt deep remorse. Soon after, all three men were exonerated. Xuan then copied the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and had images of the Eight Bodhisattvas painted to make offerings at home. (At that time [Tang] Lin was gravely ill at home. Xuan came to inquire after his illness and related the entire matter in detail. When Lin's illness was cured and he resumed his duties, he questioned the officials and clerks in the Censorate, and it did not differ from Xuan's account. Xiong also related the matter himself, and his diligence and devotion became even more earnest. Xiong is currently serving as magistrate of Zhouzhi).