釋門自鏡錄 1.67

1.67

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.