法苑珠林 27.56

27.56

唐貞觀年中。有河東董雄。為大理寺丞。少來信敬。蔬食十年。至十四年中。為坐李仙童事。主上大怒。使侍御韋琮鞫問甚急。因禁數十人。大理丞李敬玄司直王欣同連此坐。雄與同屋囚鎖專念普門品。日得三千遍。夜坐誦經。鎖忽自解落地。雄驚告忻玄。忻玄共視。鎖堅全在地。而鉤鎖相離數尺。即告守者。其夜監察御史張守一宿直。命吏開鎖以火燭之。見鎖不開而相離甚怪。又重鎖。紙封書上而去。雄如常誦經。五更中鎖又解落有聲。雄又告忻玄等。至州告敬玄。視之。封題如故而鎖自相離。敬玄素不信佛法。其妻讀經。常謂曰。何為胡神所魅而讀此書耶。及見雄此事。乃深悟不信之咎。方知佛為大聖也。時忻亦誦八菩薩名滿三萬遍。晝鎖解落。視之如雄不異。其事臺中內外具皆聞見。不久俱免（右一驗出冥報拾遺）。

During the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, there was Dong Xiong of Hedong, who served as an assistant minister of the Court of Judicature and Revision (Dali Si cheng). From his youth he was faithful and respectful, having kept a vegetarian diet for ten years. In the fourteenth year [of Zhenguan], he was implicated in the affair of Li Xiantong. The sovereign was enraged and dispatched the Attendant Censor Wei Cong to conduct a rigorous interrogation. Consequently, several tens of people were imprisoned. The assistant minister of Judicature Li Jingxuan and the judicial investigator Wang Xin were also implicated in the same case. Locked in the same room with the other prisoners, Xiong single-mindedly recited the 'Universal Gateway' chapter (Pumen pin), reciting it three thousand times a day. While sitting and chanting the scripture at night, his lock suddenly unlocked itself and fell to the ground. Xiong, startled, informed Xin and Jingxuan. Xin and Jingxuan examined it together: the lock was whole and solid upon the ground, yet the hook and the lock were several feet apart. They immediately notified the guards. That night, the Investigating Censor Zhang Shouyi was on night duty. He ordered the guards to open the door and illuminated it with a torch. Seeing that the lock had not been opened and yet was separated, he was greatly astonished. He relocked it, sealed it with paper, inscribed his signature upon it, and departed. Xiong recited the scripture as usual. During the fifth watch, the lock again opened and fell with a sound. Xiong again told Xin, Jingxuan, and the others. When they went to the prefecture to inform Jingxuan, they examined it: the inscribed seal was intact as before, yet the lock was apart on its own. Jingxuan had never believed in the Buddha-Dharma. When his wife read scriptures, he would often say to her, 'Why are you bewitched by foreign deities that you read such books?' But upon seeing this event with Xiong, he deeply realized the fault of his unbelief and only then knew that the Buddha is a great sage. At that time, Xin had also recited the names of the eight bodhisattvas a full thirty thousand times. During the day, his lock opened and fell off, and upon inspection, it was no different from Xiong's. This matter was heard and witnessed by all both inside and outside the Censorate. Before long, they were all pardoned. (The one miracle above is from the Mingbao shiyi.)