冥報記 2.18

2.18

Zheng Shibian, Officer for Military Affairs of the Right Gate Guard of the Crown Prince's Palace, died of a strange illness before reaching the age of twenty and revived after three days. He recounted that several men arrested him and led him into the main gate of an official bureau. He saw over a hundred prisoners standing in multi-tiered ranks facing north, arranged into six rows in total. Those in the front ranks were plump and fair, wearing fine clothes like persons of high rank. The rear ranks grew progressively leaner and more wretched, some wearing cangues and locks, others having merely had their caps and sashes removed; all stood sleeve to sleeve, guarded strictly by armed soldiers. When Shibian arrived, he was assigned to stand as the third person at the eastern end of the third row, also with his cap and sash removed, sleeve to sleeve with the others. Shibian was worried and terrified, so he concentrated his mind on reciting the Buddha's name. Suddenly, he saw a monk he had known in life enter inside the cordon of soldiers; the soldiers did not stop him. Coming up to Shibian, he said to him: 'In life you did not cultivate merit; now you have suddenly arrived here, what will you do?' Shibian begged piteously for rescue. The monk said: 'If I rescue you now so you can get out, will you uphold the precepts?' Shibian agreed. A moment later, an officer brought the prisoners before the magistrate, questioning them in turn until he reached Shibian. He then saw the former monk explain his meritorious deeds to the magistrate. The magistrate said, 'Release him.' The monk then led Shibian out beyond the gate, transmitted the five precepts to him, and poured water from a flask onto his forehead, saying: 'When the sun moves to the west, you shall revive.' He also gave a yellow cape to Shibian, saying: 'Wear this until you reach home, and place it in a pure spot.' He then pointed out the road home. Shibian wore it and returned; arriving home, he folded the cape and placed it on the corner of his bed. Soon after, his eyes opened and his body moved. His family fled in alarm, thinking he was about to become a vetāla. Only his mother did not leave, asking: 'Are you cured?' Shibian said, 'I was supposed to revive when the sun moved to the west.' Shibian thought it was noon and questioned his mother, but she replied, 'It is midnight.' Only then did he realize that day and night are reversed between the living and the dead. When the sun reached the west, he was able to eat and recovered. He could still see the cape at the head of the bed; by the time Shibian could get up, the shape of the cape gradually faded away, though it still gave off light, disappearing completely only after seven days. Shibian then upheld the five precepts. Several years later, someone urged him to eat pork. Unable to refuse, Shibian ate a morsel. That night he dreamed that he had transformed into a rākṣasa, with claws and teeth several feet long, seizing a live pig and eating it. Upon waking at dawn, he felt a foul, fishy taste in his mouth, and when he spat and had someone inspect it, his whole mouth was full of clotted blood. Shibian was terrified and dared not eat meat. Several years later, he married; his wife forced him to eat it, but this time there was no such omen. However, for the past six years, Shibian has constantly had a large, severely festering sore on his nose that fails to heal of itself; it is feared that this may be due to his breaking the precepts. (Lin formerly served on night watch in the Crown Prince's Palace together with Shibian, and heard him recount this himself.)