冥報記 3.6

3.6

During the Northern Qi, there was an official surnamed Liang who was very wealthy. When he was about to die, he said to his wife and children, 'All my life I have cherished my slave and my horse; I have employed and ridden them for a long time, and they have suited my wishes. When I die, they may be sacrificed to accompany me in death; otherwise, I will have nothing to employ or ride.' When he died, his family members filled sacks with earth and pressed down on the slave to kill him; the horse, however, had not yet been killed. Four days after he died, the slave revived and recounted: 'Without realizing it, I walked away and came in haste to the gate of an official bureau. The gatekeeper detained me, and I spent a night at the gate. The next morning, I saw my master in chains, strictly guarded by armed soldiers, about to enter the official's presence. Seeing me, he said, "When I died, other people took my slaves and maidservants; my dying words summoned you, but now each of us must bear his own suffering, and they are of no concern to each other at all. Now I shall ask the official to release you." Having spoken, he entered. I peeked from behind the screen and saw the official ask the guards, "How much fat was pressed yesterday?" They answered, "We obtained eight sheng." The official said, "Take him away again and press out one hu and six dou." The master was immediately dragged out, unable to say a word. The next day he came again, looking joyful. He said to me, "Today I shall speak for you." When he went in, the official asked, "Did you obtain fat?" They replied, "We did not." The official asked why, and the officer in charge said, "This man has been dead for three days, and his family has invited monks to hold a vegetarian feast on his behalf. Whenever the sounds of sūtra recitation and chanting are heard, the iron beam snaps, and so we could not obtain it." The official said, "Take him away for now." The master then addressed the official, requesting the release of his slave, and the official at once summoned me and let me go. As we both exited the gate, the master sent a message through me to his wife and children, saying, "Thanks to your cultivating posthumous merit, I was able to escape great suffering. However, I am not yet liberated. If you can further copy the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and make Buddha images to rescue me, I hope I will surely be freed. From now on, do not make sacrificial offerings; doing so will only increase my sins!" Having spoken, he parted from me.' The slave thereupon revived and recounted it in full. The household had indeed held a gathering on that day. Thereupon they exhausted their wealth to cultivate posthumous merit and ordered the entire household to practice spiritual purification (my maternal uncle, Prefect Gao of Jingzhou, said that he saw a man of Qi recount this).