三寶感應要略錄 2.118

2.118

梓州惠義寺釋清虛。少誦金剛般若。去萬歲通天元年十月初。於齊靈巖寺北三總山中。發願為三途受苦眾生。受持金剛般若。從十月二十三日日西。於山中端坐誦經。忽然似夢。見一城縱廣可有五里。其僧下道至城東門。其門纔了容一人入。僧問投門者自得知。大王何時放地獄受苦眾生。報曰。昨日未時。齊州禪師。手執錫杖。年可七十已上。來詣王前語王言。有一客僧。為三途受苦眾生。誦金剛般若。王得知不。大王何時息放地獄受苦眾生。王報云。先知明日午時。為阿師放却少分輕者。其投門人。謂其僧云。阿師即去。請更莫語矣。

The monk Qingxu of Huiyi Monastery in Zizhou had chanted the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā since his youth. At the beginning of the tenth month in the first year of the Wansui Tongtian reign era, among the Sanzong Mountains north of Lingyan Monastery in Qi, he made a vow to accept and uphold the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā for the sake of sentient beings suffering in the three wretched realms. From the evening of the twenty-third day of the tenth month, he sat upright in the mountains chanting the scripture. Suddenly, as if in a dream, he saw a city about five li square. The monk walked along a road to the eastern gate of the city, which was barely large enough to admit one person. The monk asked a gatekeeper who naturally knew, "When will the Great King release the sentient beings suffering in hell?" The gatekeeper answered: "Yesterday at the hour of the sheep (1–3 p.m.), a Chan master from Qizhou, holding a monk's staff in hand and appearing over seventy years of age, came before the king and said to him: 'There is a visiting monk who is chanting the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā for the sake of sentient beings suffering in the three wretched realms. Does the king know this or not? When will the Great King grant a respite and release the sentient beings suffering in hell?' The king replied: 'I already know. Tomorrow at noon, for the master's sake, I will release a small portion of those whose offenses are light.'" The gatekeeper said to the monk, "Master, please depart at once; pray speak no further."