冥報記 2.8

2.8

Lu Wenli of Fanyang, an Investigating Censor, was originally the Defender of Yunyang. While sent on an imperial mission to review prisoners on the Jingzhou Circuit, he arrived in Jiangnan and fell gravely ill: his belly swelled as hard as a stone, he could neither eat nor drink, and medicine brought no cure. Wenli thought to himself that he would surely die with no hope of living, so he single-mindedly meditated on Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. After several days, dazed as if in sleep, he suddenly saw a śramaṇa arrive, who said of himself that he was Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. He said to Wenli, "Because you were able to focus your mind single-mindedly, I have come to save you. Now I shall remove the illness inside your belly for you." Holding a wooden handle in his hand, he used it to scrape his belly; more than three sheng of foul matter came out from his belly, extremely stinking and disgusting. He said, "You are cured!" Thereupon Wenli woke with a start, his body and belly feeling tranquil and at ease. He was immediately able to eat and get up, and his chronic illness was entirely cured; to this day he remains very robust. Bao, who served together with the censor as an investigator, personally recounted this as such.