法苑珠林 55.113

55.113

晉程道慧。字文和。武昌人也。世奉五斗米道不信有佛。常云。古來正道莫踰李老。何乃信惑胡言以為勝教。太元十五年病死。心下尚暖。家不殯殮。數日得蘇。說初死時見十許人。縛錄將去逢一比丘云。此人宿福未可縛也。乃解其縛散驅而去。道路修平而兩邊棘刺森然。略不容足。驅諸罪人馳走其中。肉隨著刺號呻聒耳。見慧行在平路。皆歎羨曰。佛弟子行路修福人也。慧曰。我不奉法。其人笑曰。君忘之耳。慧因自憶先身奉佛。已經五生五死忘失本志。今生在世幼遇惡人。未達邪正乃惑邪道。既至大城徑進聽事。見一人年可四五十。南面而坐。見慧驚曰。君不應來。有一人著單衣幘持簿書對曰。此人伐社殺人。罪應來此。向所逢比丘。亦隨慧入。申理甚至。云伐社非罪也。此人宿福甚多。殺人雖重報未至也。南面坐者曰。可罰所錄人。命慧就坐。謝曰。小鬼謬濫枉相錄來。亦由君忘失宿命不知奉大正法故也。將遣慧還。乃使暫兼覆校將軍歷觀地獄。慧欣然辭出導從而行行至諸城。城皆是地獄。人眾巨億悉受罪報。見有猘狗齩人百節。肌肉散落流血藉地。又有群鳥其喙如鋒。飛來甚速欻然而至。入人口中表裏貫洞。其人踠轉呼噭筋骨碎落。其餘經見與趙泰屑荷大抵粗同。不復具載。唯此二條為異。故詳記之。觀歷既遍。乃遣慧還。復見向所逢比丘。與慧一銅物。形如小鈴。曰君還至家可棄此門外勿以入室。某年月日君當有厄。誡慎過此。壽延九十。時道慧家於京師大桁南。自見來還達皂莢橋。見親表三人住車共語。悼慧之亡。至門見婢行哭而市。彼人及婢咸弗見也。慧將入門。置向銅物門外樹上。光明舒散流飛屬天。良久還小奄爾而滅。至戶聞屍臭。惆悵惡之。時賓親奔吊。突慧者多不得裵回。因進入屍忽然而蘇。說所逢車人及市婢。咸皆符同。慧後為廷尉。預西堂聽誦。未及就列歘然頓悶。不識人半日乃愈。計其時日即道人所戒之期。頃之遷為廣州刺史。元嘉六年。卒六十九矣（右一驗出冥祥記）。

Under the Jin, Cheng Daohui, styled Wenhe, was a native of Wuchang. For generations his family had adhered to the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice and did not believe in the Buddha. He often said, 'Since ancient times, the correct Way has never surpassed Master Li [Laozi]. Why should one be deluded into trusting barbarian words and take them to be a superior teaching?' In the fifteenth year of Taiyuan, he fell ill and died, but under his heart it was still warm. His family did not encoffin him, and after several days he revived. He related that when he first died, he saw about ten people who bound him in ropes and led him away. They encountered a bhikṣu who said, 'This man has past merit; he may not be bound.' Thereupon they untied his bonds and drove him along loosely. The road was long and level, yet on both sides were dense brambles and thorns that barely left room for a foot. Various sinners were driven to run through them; their flesh stuck to the thorns, and their wailing and groaning deafened the ears. Seeing Hui walking on the level road, they all sighed in envy, saying, 'The Buddha's disciple walks the road; he is a man who cultivated merit.' Hui said, 'I do not adhere to the Dharma.' That person laughed and said, 'You have simply forgotten it.' Hui thereupon remembered of himself that in previous lives he had adhered to the Buddha, but having passed through five births and five deaths, he had forgotten his original purpose. In his present life in the world, he met evil persons in his youth; not yet discerning the heterodox from the orthodox, he was deluded by a heterodox path. Arriving at a great city, he went straight into the hall of audience. He saw a man of about forty or fifty, sitting facing south. Seeing Hui, he said in surprise, 'You should not have come.' A man in an unlined garment and headcloth, holding a registry, replied, 'This man felled a shrine tree and killed people; his crimes warrant coming here.' The bhikṣu he had encountered earlier also followed Hui in and pleaded for him with great earnestness, saying, 'Felling a shrine tree is not a crime. This man has much past merit; although killing people is grave, the retribution has not yet arrived.' The one sitting facing south said, 'Those who brought him in may be punished.' He bade Hui take a seat, and apologized, saying, 'The petty ghosts made an error and wrongfully brought you here. This was also because you forgot your past lives and did not know to adhere to the great, true Dharma.' As he was about to send Hui back, he had him temporarily serve concurrently as a Reviewing General to tour the hells. Hui was delighted, and took his leave, proceeding with an escort. He arrived at various cities, and all the cities were hells. The masses of people were hundreds of millions, all receiving retribution for their sins. He saw rabid dogs biting people's hundred joints, their flesh falling away and blood soaking the ground. There were also flocks of birds whose beaks were like blade points; they flew exceedingly fast, arriving in a flash, entering people's mouths and piercing through from inside to outside. The people writhed and screamed, their sinews and bones crushed and falling to pieces. The rest of what he experienced and saw was roughly similar to that of Zhao Tai and Xie He, so it is not recorded in full; only these two items were different, hence they are recorded in detail. When his tour was complete, he was sent back. He again saw the bhikṣu he had encountered before, who gave Hui a bronze object shaped like a small bell, saying, 'When you return home, you may discard this outside the gate; do not take it into the room. On a certain year, month, and day, you will face a calamity. If you take careful heed and pass beyond it, your lifespan will extend to ninety.' At that time, Daohui's house was south of the Great Bridge in the capital. He saw himself returning and reaching the Jujube Bridge, where he saw three relatives standing with their carriage talking together, mourning Hui's death. Reaching the gate, he saw a maidservant weeping as she walked to the market; those people and the maidservant all did not see him. As Hui was about to enter the gate, he placed the earlier bronze object on a tree outside the gate. Its radiance spread and shot upwards to reach the sky; after a long time it became small again and vanished suddenly. Reaching the door, he smelled the stench of the corpse and felt despondent and repulsed by it. At that time, guests and relatives rushed to offer condolences; many jostled Hui and he could not linger. Thereupon he entered the corpse and suddenly revived. He described the people in the carriage and the maidservant going to the market whom he had encountered, and all matched identically. Hui later became Minister of Justice. When participating in hearing recitations in the Western Hall, before taking his place, he suddenly collapsed unconscious, not recognizing people; after half a day he recovered. Calculating the date, it was indeed the time the monk had warned him of. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Governor of Guangzhou. In the sixth year of Yuanjia, he died at the age of sixty-nine. (The above one evidential account is drawn from the Mingxiang ji.)