冥報記 3.6

3.6

北齊時。有仕人姓梁。甚豪富。將死。謂其妻子曰。吾平生愛奴及馬。皆使乘日久。稱人意。吾死。可以為殉。不然。無所使乘也。及其死。家人以囊盛土。壓奴殺之。馬則未殺。奴死四日而蘇。說云。當不覺去。急至官府門。門人因留止。在門所經一宿。明旦。見其主被鎖。嚴兵守衛。將入官所。見奴謂曰。我死。人得奴婢。遺言喚汝。今各自受苦。名全不相關。今當自官放汝。言畢而入。奴從屏外窺之。見官問守衛人曰。昨日押脂多少乎。對曰。得八升。官曰。更將去。押取一斛六斗。主即被牽出。竟不得言。明日又來。有喜色。謂奴曰。今為汝白也。及入。官問得脂乎。對曰不得。官問所以。主司曰。此人死三日。家人為請僧設齋。每聞經唄聲。鐵梁輒折。故不得也。官曰。且將去主。因白官。請放奴。官即喚放。俱出門。主遣傳語其妻子曰。賴汝等追福。得免大苦。然猶未脫。能更寫法華經。造像。以相救濟。冀固得免。自今無設祭。既而益吾罪。言畢而別。奴遂生而具言之。家中果以其日設會。於是傾家追福。令門練行（臨舅高經州說云見齊人說之災）。

During the Northern Qi, there was an official surnamed Liang who was very wealthy. When he was about to die, he said to his wife and children, 'All my life I have cherished my slave and my horse; I have employed and ridden them for a long time, and they have suited my wishes. When I die, they may be sacrificed to accompany me in death; otherwise, I will have nothing to employ or ride.' When he died, his family members filled sacks with earth and pressed down on the slave to kill him; the horse, however, had not yet been killed. Four days after he died, the slave revived and recounted: 'Without realizing it, I walked away and came in haste to the gate of an official bureau. The gatekeeper detained me, and I spent a night at the gate. The next morning, I saw my master in chains, strictly guarded by armed soldiers, about to enter the official's presence. Seeing me, he said, "When I died, other people took my slaves and maidservants; my dying words summoned you, but now each of us must bear his own suffering, and they are of no concern to each other at all. Now I shall ask the official to release you." Having spoken, he entered. I peeked from behind the screen and saw the official ask the guards, "How much fat was pressed yesterday?" They answered, "We obtained eight sheng." The official said, "Take him away again and press out one hu and six dou." The master was immediately dragged out, unable to say a word. The next day he came again, looking joyful. He said to me, "Today I shall speak for you." When he went in, the official asked, "Did you obtain fat?" They replied, "We did not." The official asked why, and the officer in charge said, "This man has been dead for three days, and his family has invited monks to hold a vegetarian feast on his behalf. Whenever the sounds of sūtra recitation and chanting are heard, the iron beam snaps, and so we could not obtain it." The official said, "Take him away for now." The master then addressed the official, requesting the release of his slave, and the official at once summoned me and let me go. As we both exited the gate, the master sent a message through me to his wife and children, saying, "Thanks to your cultivating posthumous merit, I was able to escape great suffering. However, I am not yet liberated. If you can further copy the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and make Buddha images to rescue me, I hope I will surely be freed. From now on, do not make sacrificial offerings; doing so will only increase my sins!" Having spoken, he parted from me.' The slave thereupon revived and recounted it in full. The household had indeed held a gathering on that day. Thereupon they exhausted their wealth to cultivate posthumous merit and ordered the entire household to practice spiritual purification (my maternal uncle, Prefect Gao of Jingzhou, said that he saw a man of Qi recount this).