法苑珠林 57.38

57.38

隋大業中。雒陽有人姓王。常持五戒。時言未然之事。閭里敬信之。一旦忽謂人曰。今當有人與我一頭。驢至日午果有。人牽驢一頭送來。洟泣說言。早喪父其母寡。養一男一女女嫁而母亡。二十年矣。寒食日持酒食祭墓。此人乘驢而往。墓所伊水東。欲度伊水驢不肯度。鞭其頭面破傷流血。既至墓所放驢而祭。俄失其驢。還本處。其日妹獨在兄家。忽見其母入來。頭面流血形容毀顇。號泣告女。我生時避汝兄。送米五斗與汝。坐得此罪報受驢身。償汝兄五年矣。今日欲度伊水。水深畏之。汝兄鞭捶我頭面盡破。仍期還家。更苦打我。我走來告汝。吾今償債垂畢。何太非理相苦也。言訖出。尋之不見其母。兄既而還。女先觀驢頭面傷破流血。如見其母傷狀。女抱以號泣。兄怪問之。女以狀告。兄亦言。初不肯度。及失還得之。言狀符同。於是兄妹抱持慟哭。驢亦洟淚皆流不食水草。兄妹跪請。若是母者願為食草。驢即為食。既而復止。兄妹莫如之何。遂備粟送王五戒處。乃復食。後驢死。兄妹收葬焉（右二驗出冥報記）。

During the Daye era of the Sui, there was a man in Luoyang surnamed Wang who constantly maintained the five precepts. He would occasionally speak of things that had not yet occurred, and the neighborhood respected and trusted him. One morning, he suddenly said to people: 'Today someone should bring me a donkey.' By midday, a man indeed arrived leading a donkey, and said through tears: 'I lost my father early, and my mother was a widow who raised a son and a daughter. The daughter married and our mother died twenty years ago. On the Cold Food Festival, I went carrying food and wine to offer sacrifice at her grave. Riding this donkey, I went. The grave was east of the Yi River. When I wished to cross the Yi River, the donkey was unwilling to cross. I whipped its head and face, breaking the skin until blood flowed. Arriving at the grave, I let the donkey loose to conduct the sacrifice, but presently lost it, and it returned home. That day, my younger sister was alone at my house, when she suddenly saw our mother enter. Her head and face were bleeding, her appearance gaunt and haggard. Weeping aloud, she told my sister: "During my life, I kept it from your elder brother and gave five pecks of rice to you. On account of this sin, I received retribution as a donkey's body, repaying your elder brother for five years. Today he wished to cross the Yi River. The water was deep and I feared it. Your brother whipped my head and face, breaking them all, and still intends to beat me severely when we return home. I have run here to tell you: I am now close to finishing the repayment of my debt; why should he torment me so unreasonably?" Having spoken, she went out. When my sister searched for her, our mother was not to be seen. Soon afterward I returned. My sister first observed that the donkey's head and face were injured and bleeding, just like the injuries on our mother. My sister embraced it, weeping aloud. Surprised, I questioned her, and she related the situation. I also told how at first it refused to cross, and how I lost it and found it again. Everything matched. Thereupon brother and sister embraced and wept bitterly. The donkey also shed tears and would not eat water or grass. Brother and sister knelt and pleaded: "If you are our mother, please eat grass." The donkey then ate, but soon stopped again. Brother and sister did not know what to do, so they prepared grain and sent it to Wang of the Five Precepts, and then it ate again. Later, when the donkey died, brother and sister gathered and buried it.' (The preceding two verifications are from the Mingbao ji).