冥報記 3.25

3.25

河東柳智感。以貞觀初。為興州長舉縣令。一夜暴死。明日而蘇。說云。始為冥官所追。至大官府。使者以智感見王。謂曰。今有一員官闕。故枉君來任之。智感辭以親老。且自陳福業未應便死。王使勘之。信然。因謂曰。君未當死。可權判錄事。智感許諾拜謝。吏引退。至曹。曹有判官五人。連感為六。其廳事是長屋人坐三間。各有床案。務甚繁擁。西頭一座。空無判官。吏引智感就空座。有群吏引將文簿來。取智感判置於案上。而退立階下。智感問之。對曰。氣惡不改逼公。但遙以案中事答。智感省讀案如人間案者。於是即為判勾之有頃。有食來。諸判官同食。智感亦就之。諸官曰。君既權判。不宜食此。智感從之。竟不敢食。日暮吏送智感歸家。蘇而方晚。自後家中日暝。吏輒來迎。至彼而旦。故知幽顯反晝夜矣。於是夜判冥事。晝臨縣職。遂以為常。歲餘。智感在冥曹。因起如廁。於堂西。見一婦人。年三十許。姿容端正。衣服鮮明。立而掩涕。智感問。是何人。答云。妾興州司倉參軍之婦也。見攝來此。方別夫子。是以悲傷。智感以問吏。吏曰。官攝來。有所案問。具證其夫事耳。智感因諮婦人曰感。長舉令也。夫人若被勘問。幸自分疎。無為牽引司倉。俱死無益。婦人曰。誠不欲引之。恐官相引耳。感曰。夫人幸勿相牽。可無逼迫之慮。婦人許之。既而智感還州。先問。司倉婦。有何疾。司倉曰。吾婦年少。無疾患也。感以所見告之。說其衣服形貌。且勸令修福。司倉走歸家。見婦在機中織無患。甚不信之。後十餘日。司倉婦暴病死。司倉始懼。而修福。又興州官二人。珠滿。當起京選。諮智感曰。君判冥道事。請問。吾選得何官。智感至冥曹。以其姓名問錄事。曰名簿並封在石函中。檢之。二日方可得報。及辭。來報。乃見錄事二人今所得官名號。智感以報二人。二人至京參選。吏部注擬其官。皆與所報不同。州官聞之。以告智感。智感復問錄事。錄事覆撿簿書云。定如前所檢。不錯也。既而二選人過門下。門下審退之吏部重注。果是冥簿檢報者。於是眾人咸信服。智感每於冥簿。見其親識名狀。及時月日。報之。教令修福。多得免者。智感權判三年。其吏來告曰。已得隆州李司戶。授正官。以代公。公不復判矣。智感明旦至州。告刺吏李德鳳。遣人往隆州審焉其司戶已死。問其日。即吏來告之時也。從此遂絕。後州司遣智感領囚送京。至鳳州界。囚皆逃。智感憂懼。捕逐數日不能獲。夜宿於精舍。忽見其故部冥吏來告曰。囚盡得矣。一人已死。三人在南山谷中。並已擒縛。願公勿憂。言畢辭去。智感即請人兵。入南山西谷。果見四囚。囚知走不免。因來抗拒。智感格之。殺一囚。三囚受縛。果如所告。智感今尚存。任慈州司馬光祿卿柳亨為臨說之。亨為曹州刺史。見智感親問云。然御史裴同節亦云見說。皆如此言焉。

Liu Zhigan of Hedong, at the beginning of the Zhenguan era, served as Magistrate of Changju County in Xingzhou. One night he died suddenly, but revived the next day. He related that initially he had been summoned by netherworld officials and brought to a grand government office. An emissary presented Zhigan to the King, who said to him, “There is currently a vacant official post, and so we have improperly brought you here to assume it.” Zhigan declined on the grounds that his parents were aged, and moreover stated that his own meritorious deeds meant he was not yet due to die. The King had this investigated and found it to be true. He therefore said to him, “You are not yet due to die, but you may temporarily serve as an acting recording officer (lushi).” Zhigan agreed and bowed in gratitude. A petty officer led him back out to the department. In the department were five judges; together with Zhigan there were six. The office hall was a long building where people sat in three bays, each having a table and desk, and business was extremely congested and bustling. At the western end was an empty seat without a judge. The officer led Zhigan to take this empty seat. A group of petty officers brought document registers to Zhigan for his judgment, placed them on the desk, and then withdrew to stand below the steps. Zhigan asked about this, and they replied, “Our breath is foul, so we dare not approach you closely; we answer only from afar regarding the matters in the case files.” Zhigan read through the cases, which were just like those among mortals. He then proceeded to pass judgment and check them off. After a short while, food arrived, and the various judges ate together. Zhigan also went over to join them, but the judges said, “Since you are only serving as an acting judge, you should not eat this.” Zhigan heeded them and ultimately dared not eat. At dusk, the officer escorted Zhigan home, and when he revived, it was already late. From then on, whenever it grew dark at his home, the officer would always come to escort him; when he arrived there, it would be dawn. Thus he knew that the unseen and the manifest reverse day and night. Thereupon, judging netherworld affairs by night and presiding over county duties by day, it became his regular routine. Over a year later, while Zhigan was in the netherworld office, he got up to go to the privy. To the west of the hall, he saw a woman around thirty years of age, of fine features and wearing fresh, bright clothing, standing and weeping behind her hands. Zhigan asked, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am the wife of the Administrative Assistant for Granaries (sicang canjun) of Xingzhou. I have been summoned here, having just parted from my husband; that is why I am sorrowful.” Zhigan asked an officer about this, and the officer said, “The authorities summoned her for questioning simply to bear witness against her husband.” Zhigan then advised the woman, saying, “I am the Magistrate of Changju. If you are interrogated, I hope you will clear yourself of blame; do not implicate the Granary Officer so that you both die to no purpose.” The woman said, “I truly do not wish to implicate him, but I fear the officials will press me to do so.” Zhigan said, “If you take care not to implicate him, you will have no cause to fear duress.” The woman agreed. Soon after, Zhigan returned to the prefecture. He first asked the Granary Officer, “What illness does your wife have?” The Granary Officer replied, “My wife is young and has no illness.” Zhigan told him what he had seen, describing her clothes and appearance, and urged him to cultivate merit. The Granary Officer rushed home and found his wife weaving at the loom without any trouble, so he strongly disbelieved it. More than ten days later, the Granary Officer’s wife suddenly fell ill and died; only then was the Granary Officer terrified, and he cultivated merit. Furthermore, there were two officials of Xingzhou whose terms of office had expired and who were about to set off for the capital for selection. They consulted Zhigan, saying, “You judge matters of the nether paths; may we ask what offices we shall obtain through the selection?” When Zhigan went to the netherworld office, he asked the recording officer using their names. The recording officer said, “The registers are all sealed in a stone casket. To inspect them, a report can only be obtained after two days.” When he took his leave, the officer brought the report, and he saw the titles of the offices the two men were to receive. Zhigan reported this to the two men. When the two men arrived at the capital to take part in the selection, the Ministry of Personnel slated offices for them that were both different from what had been reported. When the prefectural officials heard of this, they told Zhigan. Zhigan again asked the recording officer, who re-examined the registers and said, “It is definitely as previously checked; there is no mistake.” Soon after, the appointments of the two candidates passed to the Chancellery (Menxia), which reviewed and rejected them. When the Ministry of Personnel resubmitted the appointments, they were indeed identical to those found in the netherworld register and reported earlier. Thereupon everyone believed and submitted. Whenever Zhigan saw in the netherworld registers the names, descriptions, and appointed dates of his relatives and acquaintances, he would inform them and instruct them to cultivate merit, and many thereby managed to escape [death]. Zhigan served as acting judge for three years, when the petty officer came to inform him: “We have obtained Li, Administrative Assistant of the Household (sihu) of Longzhou, who has been appointed to the substantive office to replace you. You will no longer judge.” The next morning Zhigan went to the prefectural office and told Prefect Li Defeng, who sent someone to Longzhou to check; that Administrative Assistant of the Household had already died. When asked on which day, it was precisely the time when the petty officer had come to inform him. From this time on, it ceased completely. Later, the prefectural administration sent Zhigan to escort prisoners to the capital. When they reached the borders of Fengzhou, all the prisoners escaped. Zhigan was worried and terrified; after hunting and pursuing them for several days, he was unable to capture them. That night he lodged in a vihāra, when suddenly he saw the netherworld officer of his former unit come to inform him, saying, “The prisoners have all been found! One is already dead, and three are in a southern mountain valley, all having been seized and bound. We hope you will not worry.” Having spoken, he took his leave. Zhigan immediately requested troops and entered the western valley of the southern mountains, where he indeed found the four prisoners. Knowing they could not escape running, the prisoners came forward to resist. Zhigan fought them, killed one prisoner, and the remaining three were bound, precisely as had been reported. Zhigan is still alive today, serving as Marshal (sima) of Cizhou. Liu Heng, Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments (guanglu qing), related this to me, Lin. When Heng was Prefect of Caozhou, he met Zhigan and questioned him in person, and Zhigan confirmed it was so. Censor Pei Tongjie also said that he had heard it told, and it was entirely in accord with these words.