法苑珠林 64.27

64.27

隋開皇初冀州外邑中有小兒。年十三。常盜隣雞卵燒煨食之。後朝村人未起。其門外有人扣門呼此兒聲。父令兒出應之。見一人云。官喚汝。兒曰。呼我役者。入取衣糧。使者曰。不須也。因引兒出。村南舊是桑田。耕訖未下種。且此小兒忽見道右有一小城。四面門樓丹素甚嚴。兒怪曰。何時有此城。使者呵之勿使言。因至城北門令小兒前入。小兒入閫。城門忽閉。不見一人。唯是空城。地皆熱灰碎火深纔沒踝。小兒忽呼噭走趣南門。垂至即閉。又走趣東西亦皆如是。未到則開。既至便闔。時村人出因採桑。男女甚眾。皆見此兒在耕田中。口似啼聲四方馳走。皆相謂曰。此兒狂邪。旦來如此。游戲不息。至日食時。採桑者皆歸。兒父問曰。見吾兒不。桑人答曰。父兒在村南走戲。喚不肯來。父出村外。遙見兒走。大呼其名。一聲便住。城灰忽然不見。見父而倒。號泣言之。視其足半脛已上血肉燋乾。其膝已下洪爛如炙。抱歸養療。髀已上肉如故。膝已下遂為枯骨。隣里聞之競問緣由。答見如前。諸人看其走處足跡通利。了無灰火。良因罪業觸處見獄。於是邑人男女無簡大小。皆持齋戒至死無虧。有大德僧道慧法師。本冀州人。具為臨說。同其隣邑也。

In the early Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, there was a young boy aged thirteen in an outer district of Jizhou. He frequently stole his neighbor's chicken eggs, roasted them in hot ashes, and ate them. Later, one morning before the villagers had arisen, someone knocked on the door outside his house, calling the boy's name. His father told the boy to go out and answer. He saw a man who said, 'The authorities summon you.' The boy said, 'If you summon me for corvée labor, let me go inside to get clothes and provisions.' The messenger said, 'There is no need.' He then led the boy out. South of the village were formerly mulberry fields, which had been plowed but not yet sown. At that point, this young boy suddenly saw a small city on the right of the road; the gate-towers on all four sides were adorned with red and white pigments in great solemnity. The boy was surprised and said, 'When did this city come to be here?' The messenger scolded him, telling him not to speak. They then came to the north gate of the city, and [the messenger] bade the young boy enter first. As the boy stepped over the threshold, the city gate suddenly shut. He did not see a single person; it was merely an empty city. The ground was entirely hot ashes and fragmented embers, just deep enough to submerge one's ankles. The boy cried out and ran toward the south gate, but as soon as he neared it, it shut. He ran toward the east and west gates as well, and it was the same in every case: before he arrived they were open, but as soon as he reached them, they closed. At that time, the villagers had gone out to pick mulberry leaves; there were a great many men and women, and they all saw this boy in the plowed fields, running back and forth in all directions with cries coming from his mouth. They all said to one another, 'Is this boy mad? He has been like this since dawn, playing without rest.' When it came to mealtime, the mulberry gatherers all returned. The boy's father asked, 'Did you see my son?' The mulberry gatherers replied, 'Your son is running and playing south of the village; we called him, but he would not come.' The father went outside the village, saw his son running in the distance, and loudly called his name. At a single shout, [the boy] stopped immediately. The city and ashes suddenly disappeared. Seeing his father, he collapsed, weeping and wailing as he told him what happened. When [the father] inspected his feet, from mid-calf upward the flesh and blood were charred dry, and below his knees was scorched and blistered as if broiled. He carried him home to care for and treat him. The flesh from the thighs upward returned to normal, but below the knees it became withered bone. When the neighbors heard of this, they vied to ask about the cause, and he answered just as he had seen. The people examined the place where he had run, and the footprints were clear and unobstructed, with no ashes or fire whatsoever. This was truly because, due to his sinful karma, he perceived hell wherever he went. Thereupon, the people of the district, regardless of whether they were men or women, old or young, all held to the fasts and pure precepts until death without lapse. The monk of great virtue, Dharma Master Daohui, was originally from Jizhou, and recounted this in detail to [Tang] Lin, as he was from an adjacent district.