道宣律師感通錄 1.25

1.25

He also asked: "The sovereign spiritual power of the various spirits is exceedingly great. As for the three stūpas of Shuchuan, all called 'Great Stone,' people have dug them but none could fathom their origins. As for the stūpa at Wugong in Qinchuan, ancient tradition calls it an Aśoka [stūpa]. Once in thirty years it appears; since the Zhenguan era it has appeared twice. Its auspicious light is extraordinarily magnificent, yet its śarīra is like a finger bone placed inside a stone mortar. How can it be so cramped and crude like this?" [The deva] replied: "Among the various spirits and ghosts, wealth and poverty are unfixed; each depends on past karma, no different from humans. In the heavens it is also like this. They make offerings to this stūpa according to what they possess, and so on." He also asked: "Spiritual resonance with the netherworld frequently occurs among the laity. I doubt whether, when the spirit decays along with the physical form, it can still return again. As in biographies and records, sometimes after seven days, a hundred days, or up to three years, the consciousness returns and the physical form arises, no different from life. As sūtras say, 'Their consciousness is recorded and held at that king's place for five, three, or seven days.' Why is this?" [The deva] replied: "Humans are endowed with seven consciousnesses, and each consciousness has its spirit. The mind-consciousness is the master. Although the master goes forward, the remaining spirits guard and preserve [the body]; it is not something to marvel at." [The deva] dared to ask me: "Master, in taking the precepts, how many spirits belong to a single precept?" I replied: "In the Five Precepts, I have seen that there are five spirits to one precept. I do not know how it is with the full precepts." He replied: "When a monk receives the precepts, there are two hundred and fifty spirits. If he violates one serious precept, only one spirit departs; thus two hundred and fifty spirits constantly follow the precept-holder."