法苑珠林 27.54

27.54

宋彭子喬者。益陽縣人也。任本郡主簿。事太子沈文龍。建元元年以罪被繫。子喬少年嘗經出家。末雖還俗猶常誦習觀世音經。時文龍盛怒防械稍急。必欲殺之。子喬憂懼無復餘計。唯至誠誦經至百餘遍。疲而晝寢。時同繫者有十許人。亦俱睡臥。有湘西縣吏杜道榮。亦繫在獄。乍寐乍寤。不甚得熟。忽有雙白鶴集子喬屏風上。有頃一鶴下至子喬邊。時復覺如美麗人形而已。道榮起見子喬。雙械脫在脚外。而械癰猶在焉。道榮驚視始畢子喬亦寤。共視械咨嗟。問子喬有所夢不。喬曰。不夢道榮如向所見說之。子喬雖知必已。尚慮獄家疑其欲叛乃解脫。械癰更著。經四五日而蒙釋放。琰族兄璉親識子喬及道榮。聞二人說皆同如此。

Peng Ziqiao of the Song was a native of Yiyang County. Serving as the master of records in his home commandery, he served the Crown Prince Shen Wenlong. In the first year of the Jianyuan reign era, he was imprisoned for an offense. In his youth, Ziqiao had once gone forth into the monastic life, and though he later returned to lay life, he still constantly recited and practiced the *Avalokiteśvara Sūtra*. At the time, Wenlong was in a towering rage; the security and fetters became increasingly severe, and he was determined to put him to death. Anxious and terrified, Ziqiao had no other recourse than to recite the sūtra with utmost sincerity over a hundred times. Exhausted, he took a daytime nap. There were about ten others imprisoned with him at the time, all asleep as well. Du Daorong, a minor official of Xiangxi County, was also imprisoned there; dozing fitfully, he was not sound asleep. Suddenly, a pair of white cranes landed on Ziqiao's screen; after a while, one crane came down beside Ziqiao. At times, [Daorong] also perceived it to be simply like a beautiful human figure. When Daorong got up and looked at Ziqiao, the pair of wooden fetters had fallen off outside his feet, yet the locked shackles remained. Just as Daorong finished staring in astonishment, Ziqiao also awoke. Together they gazed at the fetters in wonder. He asked Ziqiao whether he had dreamed anything; Qiao said, "I did not dream." Daorong related what he had just seen. Although Ziqiao knew he would surely be spared, he still worried the prison authorities would suspect him of attempting to escape, so he slipped the fetters back on and put them on again. After four or five days, he was granted release. My clan elder brother Lian personally knew Ziqiao and Daorong, and heard both of them relate the story just like this.