釋門自鏡錄 2.69

2.69

孝贄俗姓竇。華國公誕之子也。弱而篤志經戒。馳心釋教。貞觀二十三年出家。住勝光寺。寺既密邇壥閈。兄弟親姻往來頗劇。贄數以寺果噉之。無幾得嘔血之疾。發便僅死。氣息綿綿哀叫酸楚。見者莫不股慄。少間蘇而血止。自說云。輒欲吐血前。覩赤衣使者。將贄往黑林中。扇大風吹贄肢節。使令分散。俄頃復引贄。向一明處。臺觀閑敞上有人。儀容可畏。厲聲謂贄曰。何乃以寺家果飼親等耶。言已而失。如此經月以為常候。顯慶五秊六月二十四卒於寺。春秋二十一。

Xiaozhi's secular surname was Dou; he was a son of Dan, Duke of Huaguo. When young, he was devoted in his dedication to the scriptures and precepts, eagerly turning his mind to the Buddhist teachings. In the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era, he entered the monastic life and dwelt at Shengguang Monastery. As the monastery was closely adjacent to the market wards, visits between him and his brothers and relatives were quite frequent. Zhi repeatedly took fruit belonging to the monastery to feed them. Before long, he contracted an illness involving vomiting blood. Whenever an attack occurred, he was near death, his breathing faint and continuous as he wailed in bitter torment, so that none who saw him failed to tremble with fear. After a short while, he revived and the bleeding stopped. He recounted himself: "Always just before I am about to vomit blood, I see a red-robed messenger take me into a dark forest. A great wind blows, buffeting my limbs and joints, causing them to dismember and scatter. Soon, he leads me again toward a bright place where there is an airy, spacious tower. High above, there is a person whose appearance is terrifying, who says to me in a stern voice: 'Why did you feed your relatives and others with fruit belonging to the monastery?' Having spoken, he disappears." This went on for months as a regular occurrence. On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of the Xianqing era, he died at the monastery at the age of twenty-one.