法苑珠林 32.88

32.88

宋陳秀遠者。穎川人也。嘗為湘州西曹客居臨相縣。少信奉三寶。年過耳順篤業不衰。宋元徽二年七月中。於昏夕間閑臥未寢。歎念萬品死生流轉無定。自惟己身將從何來。一心祈念冀通感夢。時夕結陰室無燈燭。有頃見枕邊如熒火者。冏然明照流飛而去。俄而一室盡明。爰至空中有如朝晝。秀遠遽起坐合掌喘息頃。見中庭四五丈上有一橋閣焉。欄檻朱采立於空中。秀遠了不覺升動之時。而己自見平坐橋側。見橋上士女往還填衢。衣服莊束不異世人。末有一嫗。年可三十許。上著青襖。下服白布裳。行至秀遠左邊而立。有頃復有一婦人。通體衣白布為偏環髻。手持華香當前而立。語秀遠曰。汝欲覩前身即我是也。以此華供養佛故得轉身作汝。迴指白嫗曰。此即復是我先身也。言畢而去。去後橋亦漸隱。秀遠忽然不覺還下之時。光亦尋滅去（右一驗出冥祥記）。

Chen Xiuyuan of the Song dynasty was a native of Yingchuan. He once served as an officer of the Western Section (Xicao) of Xiangzhou and dwelt as a resident alien in Linxiang County. From his youth, he had faith in and revered the Three Jewels; when he passed the age of sixty, his diligent practice did not decline. In the seventh month of the second year of the Yuanhui reign of the Song (474 CE), during the evening, he was resting idly before going to sleep. He sighed as he reflected on how the myriad kinds of beings drift and revolve in life and death without stability, and he considered within himself whence his own body had come. Single-mindedly he prayed and contemplated, hoping to attain resonance in a dream. At that time, as night fell, the sky became overcast and the room had no lamp or candle. After a short while, he saw something by his pillow like a firefly, shining brightly, flying away. Suddenly the entire room became bright, and reaching up into the air it was like morning and daylight. Xiuyuan hastily sat up, joined his palms, and in the space of a breath, he saw above the central courtyard, at a height of four or five zhang, a bridge with a gallery. The balustrades were vermilion and stood in mid-air. Xiuyuan did not notice ascending or moving at all, but saw himself sitting calmly by the side of the bridge. He saw men and women on the bridge coming and going, filling the thoroughfare, their clothes and adornments no different from ordinary mortals. At the end there was an old woman, about thirty years old, wearing a blue jacket above and a white cloth skirt below; she walked to Xiuyuan's left side and stood there. After a short while, another woman appeared, entirely clad in white cloth, with her hair in a slanted looped chignon. Holding flowers and incense in her hands, she stood in front of him and said to Xiuyuan: "If you wish to see your previous life, it is I. Because I made offerings of these flowers to the Buddha, I was able to transform my body and become you." Turning and pointing to the woman in white, she said: "This, again, was my former life." When she finished speaking, she departed. After she left, the bridge also gradually faded from sight. Xiuyuan was suddenly unaware of the time he returned down below, and the light also subsequently vanished. (This single verification is from the Mingxiang ji.)