釋門自鏡錄 1.67

1.67

釋道慧。俗姓張。戒行多闕。專求帛貨。數十年成二千五百貫。純用麻繩手自穿繫文文相向。背背相壓。期滿三千貫方將費用。後夢見一僧。來語曰。汝慳惜錢財不肯作福。襄州有李德勝。大營功德。今將汝錢送乞其人。令修福業。夢覺撿錢如言不見。遂懊惱吐血。明旦不出。比房往問。慧具陳其事。眾嗟怪之。慧遂往襄州尋李德勝。勝曰。誠有之。弟子夜聞聲如兩石鬪。至曉尋覓。於草𧂐下得一千五百貫文。竹叢下得一千貫。雖然師錢以何為記。慧以實告之。德勝將自撿驗果然不異。勝曰。財屬吾家。先用者得。師既不用。天神奪之見。送弟子令修福業。勝乃對慧分散一千五百貫。以營功德。一千貫與慧勸布施。告曰。若更慳惜不久還來。慧得錢亦即檀捨不敢留也。

The monk Daohui, whose secular surname was Zhang, had many deficiencies in his moral conduct and devoted himself solely to seeking silk and goods. Over several decades, he accumulated two thousand five hundred strings of cash, exclusively using hemp ropes to string them together with his own hands, face-to-face and back-to-back. He intended to wait until he reached three thousand strings before beginning to spend them. Later, he saw a monk in a dream who came and said to him: “You begrudge your wealth and are unwilling to create merit. In Xiangzhou there is Li Desheng, who undertakes great works of merit. Now I shall take your money and give it to him to cultivate meritorious karma.” Waking from the dream, he checked his money, and just as was said, it was gone. He then spat blood in bitter distress. The next morning he did not emerge. When his neighbor in the adjoining chamber went to inquire, Daohui recounted the matter in full. The assembly was astonished and bewildered. Daohui then went to Xiangzhou to seek out Li Desheng. Desheng said: “Indeed it is so. At night, this disciple heard a sound like two stones clashing together. At dawn, when I searched, I found one thousand five hundred strings of cash beneath a pile of brushwood, and one thousand strings under a bamboo grove. Even so, Master, by what mark do you identify your money?” Daohui told him the truth. Desheng went to inspect it himself, and indeed it was not different. Desheng said: “Wealth belongs to our house, and whoever uses it first gets it. Since you, Master, did not use it, the heavenly spirit seized it and gave it to this disciple to cultivate meritorious karma.” Desheng then, before Daohui, distributed one thousand five hundred strings of cash to carry out works of merit, and gave one thousand strings to Daohui, exhorting him to give alms and saying: “If you are stingy again, before long it will return here.” Having received the money, Daohui immediately gave it away in charity, not daring to keep it.