冥報記 2.14

2.14

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).