冥報記 2.15

2.15

During the Wude reign, Su Chang, commissioner of waterways, was appointed prefect of Yizhou. Su Chang was taking his family to assume his post and was crossing the Jialing River. In midstream, a wind arose and the boat sank; more than sixty men and women drowned all at once. Only a concubine, who regularly recited the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, when the river water entered, placed the sūtra case on her head and vowed to sink together with it. After the boat sank, she alone did not go under; floating on the waves, she soon reached the shore. Carrying the sūtra case along, she opened and looked at the sūtra: it was completely free of dampness or moisture. She is still alive today in Yangzhou, married to someone as a wife, and is even more devout in her faith. (Magistrate Cen said that he saw this concubine, who herself related it was so. Lin subsequently had an official mission along the river, and the boatmen also recounted the matter just like this).