冥報記 2.20

2.20

Li Shanlong of Fengyi, Commandant of the Left Gate Guard, died of a sudden illness during the Wude era, but an area about the size of a palm over his heart remained warm. His family could not bear to lay him in the coffin, and he revived on the seventh day. He related that when he died, he was arrested by an official with locks and brought to an administrative bureau. Its hall was exceedingly grand, and its courtyard was vast. Within the courtyard were several thousand prisoners, some in cangues and locks, others in handcuffs and fetters, all standing facing north, filling the courtyard. The officer brought Shanlong to the hall, where a high official sat on an elevated couch, with attendants like a king. Shanlong asked the officer: 'What official is this?' The officer replied: 'This is the King.' Shanlong stepped forward to the foot of the steps. The King asked: 'What meritorious deeds did you perform during your life?' Shanlong replied: 'Whenever the villagers held vegetarian feasts and lectures, I always made offerings to participate.' The King said: 'What wholesome deeds did you yourself perform?' Shanlong said: 'I recited two fascicles of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra.' The King said: 'Very good! You may ascend the steps.' After he mounted the steps, in the northeastern corner of the hall there was a high seat, like a lecturer's seat. Pointing to the seat, the King said to Shanlong: 'You may ascend this seat and recite the sūtra.' Shanlong obeyed the command and came to the side of the seat. The King immediately rose and said: 'Please, Dharma Master, ascend the seat.' Once Shanlong had mounted the seat, the King turned toward him and sat down. Shanlong recited: 'Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, Introductory Chapter, Number One.' The King said: 'Please, Dharma Master, halt.' Shanlong descended from the seat and again stood beneath the steps. Looking back into the courtyard, the previous prisoners were all gone, with not a single person remaining. The King said to Shanlong: 'The merit of your reciting the sūtra has not only benefited yourself, but has also caused all the prisoners in the courtyard to obtain release just by hearing the sūtra! How wonderful is that! Now I release you to return.' Shanlong bowed and took his leave. After walking several tens of paces, the King called him back again and said to the officer: 'You may take him to view the various hells.' The officer then took Shanlong eastward for over a hundred paces, where he saw an iron city, exceedingly vast, covered above by a roof. In the sides of the city walls were many small windows, some the size of a small basin, others like bowls. He saw men and women flying from the ground into the windows, never to emerge again. Shanlong was astonished and asked the officer about it. The officer said: 'This is the great hell. Inside the hell there are many divisions, and the punishments are various. These people simply rush to the hell to receive their punishments according to their own karma.' Hearing this, Shanlong was sorrowful and terrified; he invoked, 'Namo buddhāya!' and asked the officer to seek a way out. Arriving at the gate of a compound, he saw a great cauldron of violently boiling water, beside which two men sat sleeping. Shanlong questioned them, and the two said: 'By our karmic retribution we are to enter this cauldron of boiling water, but thanks to the virtuous one invoking "namo buddhāya", all the sinners in the hell have received a day of rest, and we are just sleeping from exhaustion.' Shanlong again invoked 'namo buddhāya'. The officer said to Shanlong: 'Personnel changes in the government offices are frequent. Now that the King has released you, you should address the King to request an official clearance certificate; otherwise, other officials might not know and will summon and arrest you again.' Shanlong immediately presented himself to the King to request the certificate. The King ordered a single line of characters to be written on paper and handed it to the officer, saying: 'Obtain the signatures of the officials of the five destinies and others for him.' Receiving the command, the officer took Shanlong to pass through two other bureaus, whose halls and retinues were just like this one. The officer dispatched by the King collected signatures from those officials, each of whom wrote a single line and concluded, before handing it to Shanlong. Shanlong held it and went out to the gate, where three men said to Shanlong: 'The King has released you; shouldn't you give us a little gift?' Before Shanlong could speak, the officer said to Shanlong: 'The King releasing you had nothing to do with them. These three were the envoys who arrested you previously: one is the master of the cord, who was to bind you with a red cord; one is the master of the rod, who was to strike your head; and one is the master of the bag, who was to inhale your breath. Seeing that you have obtained your return, they are merely begging for goods.' Shanlong was alarmed and apologized to the three men: 'I was ignorant and did not recognize you, sirs. Please let me prepare goods upon reaching home, but I do not know where to deliver them.' The three men said: 'By the water's edge or beneath a tree.' Shanlong agreed, bid farewell to the officer, and returned home. He saw his family weeping and preparing funerary goods. Shanlong entered, came up beside the corpse, and immediately revived. A few days later, he cut paper to make money and silk, and together with wine and food, he went himself to the water's edge to burn them. Suddenly he saw the three men come and thank him, saying: 'We are grateful that you did not break faith and generously bestowed gifts upon us; we are deeply indebted.' Having spoken, they vanished. Shanlong related this himself to the abbot of Zongchi Monastery, who in turn related it to Lin.