釋門自鏡錄 1.101

1.101

行真俗姓邵。藍田人也。幼奉名師。早懷識悟。尤攻轉讀。有聲里邑。甞為患熱過中至極。頻犯破齋。未遑改肅。至永徽三秊。於勝光寺聽閏法師講涅槃經。到五月十七日。忽於晝寢之間。冥若殞逝。遍身稍冷。氣息漸微。傍人候之不敢驚觸。經一宿乃穌。流汗戰慄自說云。見冥責破齋罪。令應受餓鬼之身。真悲恨無計。答云。苦患熱病非是故心。若蒙恩澤。當為設施百僧會。從今已往不敢破齋。因爾得還罄捨衣資。如言設會。後經歲月雅志不全。以顯慶五年八月。閏法師又於玄法寺講涅槃經。真被攝如先冥官瞋責問。汝敢再來邪。令二人將向北。乃有坑㵎數重荊棘繁密。二人驅之使從中過。血肉流離略無完處。既度坑棘見千餓鬼。形容憔瘦針咽刺毛爭食膿血。旋覩己身其狀如彼。真驚悔投地不覺稱佛。起未卒間了無前相。二人還引向王前王曰。所見如何。真叩頭自責。誓永修改。於是放歸更無退轉。

Xingzhen, whose secular surname was Shao, was a native of Lantian. In his youth he served renowned teachers and early on possessed insight and awakening. He was particularly skilled at liturgical chanting and had a reputation in his home village. He once suffered from a heat disorder, and when past midday it became extreme, so that he repeatedly broke the fast, having had no time to reform his discipline. In the third year of the Yonghui era, he attended Dharma Master Run's lectures on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra at Shengguang Monastery. On the seventeenth day of the fifth month, while napping during the day, he suddenly seemed to pass away into the underworld. His whole body turned cool and his breath grew faint. Those beside him kept watch and did not dare disturb him. After one night he revived. Sweating and trembling, he recounted: "I saw that the underworld condemned my sin of breaking the fast and ordered that I should receive the body of a hungry ghost. Grief-stricken and helpless, I replied: 'I suffered grievously from a heat illness; it was not done intentionally. If I am granted your favour, I will arrange an offering assembly for a hundred monks, and from now on I will never dare to break the fast.' On account of this, I was permitted to return. I gave up all my robes and goods to arrange the assembly as promised." Later, as months and years passed, his noble resolve faltered. In the eighth month of the fifth year of the Xianqing era, Dharma Master Run was again lecturing on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra at Xuanfa Monastery. Zhen was summoned as before. The underworld official angrily rebuked him, asking: "Do you dare to come again?" He ordered two men to take him toward the north, where there were several tiers of ravines and gulleys with dense brambles. The two men drove him to pass through their midst, his flesh and blood lacerated with virtually no intact skin left. Having crossed the ravine of brambles, he saw a thousand hungry ghosts, their forms emaciated, with needle-thin throats and bristling hair, scrambling to consume pus and blood. Turning to look at his own body, its appearance was just like theirs. Terrified and penitent, Zhen threw himself to the ground and unconsciously called upon the Buddha. Before he had finished rising, all the former sights vanished. The two men led him back before the King. The King said: "How was what you saw?" Zhen kowtowed and blamed himself, vowing to reform forever. Thereupon he was released to return, and he never backslid again.