釋門自鏡錄 2.6

2.6

Zhi Dun, whose courtesy name was Daolin, had the secular surname Lin and was a native of Chenliu. He entered renunciation in his youth; his spirit was outstanding and his comprehension transcendent, unique in a thousand years. Yet he thought that chicken eggs had not yet received sufficient qi and thus were not sentient life, saying that eating them was without fault. His master, a monk who maintained strict precepts, constantly admonished and exhorted him, but Dun was quick in debate and straightforward in speech, and his master could not make him yield. After his master died, he suddenly appeared in bodily form, took a chicken egg, and threw it onto the ground in front of Dun. A chick emerged from the egg, flying about, drinking, and pecking. Dun became somewhat doubtful in mind, but could not yet reform completely. Later, when he again wished to eat them, he dreamed of a husband and wife who knelt on both knees before Dun and said, 'We have thirty children who are to be served in the kitchen tomorrow. We beg for their lives from the master; we pray you will deign to take pity and save them.' They held chicken eggs in their mouths and broke them before Dun, and in each of them was a boy in white coming out from inside. After waking, he deeply rebuked himself with regret and ate vegetables for the rest of his life.