釋門自鏡錄 2.23

2.23

釋僧道遠。不知何人也。住梁州薛寺。為性疎誕不修細行。好隨飲宴為任。武平三年忽夢。大人切齒責曰。汝是出家面目如此。遽縱造惡。何不取鏡自照。遠驚覺汗流。至曉以盆水自映。乃見眼邊烏點。謂是垢污。便洗拭之。眉毛墮落。因自悔責。念此殃譴。遂改革常習。反形易志。弊衣破履一食長齋遵奉律儀。昏曉行悔。非淚交注。經一月餘又夢。前人含笑謂曰。知過能改是為智乎。赦汝前愆勿更相續。遠驚喜而覺流汗遍身。面目潤澤眉毛漸出。遠頻鍾報信知三世。竭情奉法。為練行僧也。

Shi Daoyuan: it is not known what kind of man he was. He resided at Xue Monastery in Liangzhou. By nature loose and unrestrained, he did not cultivate minor rules of deportment, indulging himself in attending drinking banquets. In the third year of Wuping, he suddenly dreamed of a great man who gnashed his teeth and rebuked him: 'You are a renunciant, yet your face and appearance are like this! Hastily indulging in wrongdoing, why do you not take a mirror to look at yourself?' Daoyuan awakened in alarm, sweating profusely. At dawn, looking at his reflection in a basin of water, he saw black spots beside his eyes. Thinking they were dirt, he washed and wiped them, and his eyebrows fell out. Thereupon he repented and reproached himself, reflecting on this calamity and punishment. He completely reformed his habitual ways, changing his appearance and altering his resolve: wearing tattered robes and broken sandals, taking one meal a day, maintaining the long fast, and strictly upholding the vinaya rules. In the dusk and dawn he practiced repentance, his tears flowing incessantly. After more than a month, he again dreamed of the former person, who smiled and said: 'To know one's fault and be able to reform is wisdom indeed. I pardon your former offense; do not continue it again.' Daoyuan awakened in startled joy, sweat covering his whole body. His face became moist and lustrous, and his eyebrows gradually grew out. Daoyuan, having repeatedly met with retribution, truly knew the three times of existence, and dedicated his whole heart to venerating the Dharma, becoming a monk of disciplined practice.