冥報記 2.20

2.20

左監門校尉。憑翊李山龍。以武德中。暴病亡。而心上不冷如掌許。家人未忍殯斂。至七日而蘇。自說云。當死時。被鎖官收錄。至一官曹。廳事甚宏然。其庭亦廣大。庭內有囚數千人。或枷鎖。或杻械。皆北面立。滿庭中。吏將山龍至廳事。一大官坐高床座。侍衛如王者。山龍問吏。此何官。吏曰。是王也。山龍前至階下。王問曰。汝生平作何福業。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。可升階。既升。廳上東北間。有一高座。如講座者。王指坐。謂山龍曰。可升此座誦經。山龍奉命。至座側。王即起立曰。請法師升座。山龍升座訖。王乃向之而坐。山龍誦曰。妙法蓮華經序品第一。王曰。請法師止。山龍下座。復立階下。顧庭內。向囚已盡。無一人在者。謂山龍曰。君誦經之福。非唯自利。乃令庭內眾囚。皆如聞經獲免。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。歷觀諸獄。吏即將山龍。東行百餘步。見一鐵城。甚廣大。上有屋覆。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。吏曰。此是大獄。獄中多有分隔。罪罰各異。此諸人者。各隨本業。赴獄受罪耳。山龍聞之悲懼。稱南無佛。請吏求出。至院門。見一大鑊大猛湯。傍有二人坐睡。山龍問之。二人曰。我等罪報。入此鑊湯。蒙賢者稱南無佛。故獄中罪人。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。君可白王請抄。若不爾恐他官不知。復追錄君。山龍即謁王請抄。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。各廳事侍衛。亦如此。王之遣吏。皆取其官署。各書一行訖。付山龍。龍持出至門。有三人。語山龍曰。王放君去。可不少多乞遣我等。山龍未言。吏謂山龍曰。王放君。不由彼。三人者。是前收錄君。使人。一是繩主。當以赤繩縛君者。一是棒主。擊君頭者。一是袋主。吸君氣者。見君得還。故乞物耳。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。山龍許諾。辭吏。歸家。見正哭經營殯具。山龍入至屍傍。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。媿荷。言畢不見山龍自向總持寺主僧說之。轉向臨說之。云爾。

Li Shanlong of Fengyi, Commandant of the Left Gate Guard, died of a sudden illness during the Wude era, but an area about the size of a palm over his heart remained warm. His family could not bear to lay him in the coffin, and he revived on the seventh day. He related that when he died, he was arrested by an official with locks and brought to an administrative bureau. Its hall was exceedingly grand, and its courtyard was vast. Within the courtyard were several thousand prisoners, some in cangues and locks, others in handcuffs and fetters, all standing facing north, filling the courtyard. The officer brought Shanlong to the hall, where a high official sat on an elevated couch, with attendants like a king. Shanlong asked the officer: 'What official is this?' The officer replied: 'This is the King.' Shanlong stepped forward to the foot of the steps. The King asked: 'What meritorious deeds did you perform during your life?' Shanlong replied: 'Whenever the villagers held vegetarian feasts and lectures, I always made offerings to participate.' The King said: 'What wholesome deeds did you yourself perform?' Shanlong said: 'I recited two fascicles of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra.' The King said: 'Very good! You may ascend the steps.' After he mounted the steps, in the northeastern corner of the hall there was a high seat, like a lecturer's seat. Pointing to the seat, the King said to Shanlong: 'You may ascend this seat and recite the sūtra.' Shanlong obeyed the command and came to the side of the seat. The King immediately rose and said: 'Please, Dharma Master, ascend the seat.' Once Shanlong had mounted the seat, the King turned toward him and sat down. Shanlong recited: 'Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, Introductory Chapter, Number One.' The King said: 'Please, Dharma Master, halt.' Shanlong descended from the seat and again stood beneath the steps. Looking back into the courtyard, the previous prisoners were all gone, with not a single person remaining. The King said to Shanlong: 'The merit of your reciting the sūtra has not only benefited yourself, but has also caused all the prisoners in the courtyard to obtain release just by hearing the sūtra! How wonderful is that! Now I release you to return.' Shanlong bowed and took his leave. After walking several tens of paces, the King called him back again and said to the officer: 'You may take him to view the various hells.' The officer then took Shanlong eastward for over a hundred paces, where he saw an iron city, exceedingly vast, covered above by a roof. In the sides of the city walls were many small windows, some the size of a small basin, others like bowls. He saw men and women flying from the ground into the windows, never to emerge again. Shanlong was astonished and asked the officer about it. The officer said: 'This is the great hell. Inside the hell there are many divisions, and the punishments are various. These people simply rush to the hell to receive their punishments according to their own karma.' Hearing this, Shanlong was sorrowful and terrified; he invoked, 'Namo buddhāya!' and asked the officer to seek a way out. Arriving at the gate of a compound, he saw a great cauldron of violently boiling water, beside which two men sat sleeping. Shanlong questioned them, and the two said: 'By our karmic retribution we are to enter this cauldron of boiling water, but thanks to the virtuous one invoking "namo buddhāya", all the sinners in the hell have received a day of rest, and we are just sleeping from exhaustion.' Shanlong again invoked 'namo buddhāya'. The officer said to Shanlong: 'Personnel changes in the government offices are frequent. Now that the King has released you, you should address the King to request an official clearance certificate; otherwise, other officials might not know and will summon and arrest you again.' Shanlong immediately presented himself to the King to request the certificate. The King ordered a single line of characters to be written on paper and handed it to the officer, saying: 'Obtain the signatures of the officials of the five destinies and others for him.' Receiving the command, the officer took Shanlong to pass through two other bureaus, whose halls and retinues were just like this one. The officer dispatched by the King collected signatures from those officials, each of whom wrote a single line and concluded, before handing it to Shanlong. Shanlong held it and went out to the gate, where three men said to Shanlong: 'The King has released you; shouldn't you give us a little gift?' Before Shanlong could speak, the officer said to Shanlong: 'The King releasing you had nothing to do with them. These three were the envoys who arrested you previously: one is the master of the cord, who was to bind you with a red cord; one is the master of the rod, who was to strike your head; and one is the master of the bag, who was to inhale your breath. Seeing that you have obtained your return, they are merely begging for goods.' Shanlong was alarmed and apologized to the three men: 'I was ignorant and did not recognize you, sirs. Please let me prepare goods upon reaching home, but I do not know where to deliver them.' The three men said: 'By the water's edge or beneath a tree.' Shanlong agreed, bid farewell to the officer, and returned home. He saw his family weeping and preparing funerary goods. Shanlong entered, came up beside the corpse, and immediately revived. A few days later, he cut paper to make money and silk, and together with wine and food, he went himself to the water's edge to burn them. Suddenly he saw the three men come and thank him, saying: 'We are grateful that you did not break faith and generously bestowed gifts upon us; we are deeply indebted.' Having spoken, they vanished. Shanlong related this himself to the abbot of Zongchi Monastery, who in turn related it to Lin.