法苑珠林 64.28

64.28

唐交州都督遂安公李壽。始以宗室封王。貞觀初罷職歸京第。性好畋獵。常籠鷹數聯。殺他狗餧鷹。既而公疾。見五犬來責命。公謂之曰。殺汝者奴。通達之過。非我罪也。犬曰。通達豈得自在耶。且我等既不盜汝食。自於門首過。而枉殺我等要當相報終不休也。公謝罪請為追福。四犬許之。一白犬不許。曰我既無罪殺我。又未死間。汝以生割我肉臠。臠苦痛吾思此毒。何有放汝耶。俄見一人。為之請於犬者曰。殺彼於汝無益。放令為汝追福。不亦善乎。犬乃許之。有頃公蘇遂患偏風支體不隨。於是為犬追福。而公疾竟不差。除延安公竇惲云。夫人之弟。為臨說之耳（右四驗出冥報記）。

During the Tang dynasty, Li Shou, Duke of Sui'an and Area Commander of Jiaozhou, had initially been enfeoffed as a prince due to being of the imperial clan. In the early Zhenguan era, he was relieved of his post and returned to his capital mansion. By nature he was fond of hunting, and constantly kept several couples of hooded hawks, killing others' dogs to feed them. Soon afterward the Duke fell ill, and saw five dogs coming to demand his life. The Duke said to them, 'The one who killed you was my servant, Tongda; it was his fault, not my crime.' The dogs said, 'How could Tongda act on his own authority? Moreover, we did not steal your food, but were merely passing by your front gate, yet you unjustly slaughtered us. We must certainly have our retribution and will never rest.' The Duke apologized for his transgression and offered to cultivate posthumous merits on their behalf. Four of the dogs agreed, but one white dog refused, saying, 'Since I was innocent, you killed me, and before I had even died, you sliced away my flesh while I was still alive. The pain from being cut to ribbons was intense; when I think of this bitterness, how could I let you go?' Shortly thereafter, a person was seen pleading with the dog on his behalf, saying, 'Killing him will bring you no benefit. Is it not better to release him so that he can cultivate posthumous merits for you?' The dog then agreed. A short while later, the Duke revived, but thereupon suffered from hemiplegia, with his limbs unresponsive. Thereupon he cultivated posthumous merits for the dogs, but the Duke's illness ultimately did not heal. Dou Yun, Duke of Yan'an, said that his wife's younger brother related this to [Tang] Lin (the above four verifications are taken from the Mingbao ji).