三寶感應要略錄 2.62

2.62

Anciently, Zhang Judao, Vice Prefect of Wenzhou, on the occasion of marrying off his daughter, slaughtered pigs, sheep, geese, ducks, and other creatures. Before a ten-day period had passed, he fell severely ill and died. After three nights, he came back to life and recounted the circumstances. At first, he saw four men arrive, who pulled a document from their robes and showed it to Judao; it was a joint lawsuit of identical testimony by the pigs, sheep, and other beasts, stating: "Although pigs and the rest, through accumulated sins of previous lives, were made to receive animal bodies, they had their own life spans; but they were unjustly slaughtered and harmed by Judao. We request judgment." Below was an order dispatching the Arbiter of Lifespans to summon him. They immediately beat and bound him and took him away, walking straight along a single road toward the north. Reaching midway along the road, the messenger said: "You are not yet meant to die; by what expedient will you seek a way to live? More than thirty of the complainants and accusers are waiting right at the king's gate; regret will be too late." Judao said: "Considering what I have committed, it is truly hard to escape; I beg for a plan." The messenger said: "If, for the sake of the living beings you killed, you resolve your mind to vow to produce four scrolls of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra, you will escape the disaster." He then accepted the instruction and proclaimed those words twice. Soon, gazing toward the city gates, he saw in front of King Yama's hall countless billions of people, their voices of sorrow and grief too painful to hear. The messenger called his name, and the king took joy in the petition of the pigs and other animals. Judao related his document of vow; the animals he had killed, riding upon this merit, transformed their bodies according to their karma. The king was pleased and returned him to the path of life. Hearing of this circumstance, more than a hundred people brought forth the mind to copy sūtras, and those who gave up meat and stopped killing were beyond count. (There is also the circumstance of the assistant of Angu County delivering his wife from suffering; as it would be tedious, it is not related here.)