法苑珠林 65.36

65.36

唐魏郡馬嘉運。以貞觀六年正月。居家日晚。出大門忽見兩人。各捉馬一匹。先在門外樹下立。嘉運問是何人。答云。東海公使迎馬生耳。嘉運素有學識知名州里。每臺使及四方貴客多請見之。及見聞名弗復怪也。謂使者曰。吾無馬。使者曰。進馬。以此迎馬生。嘉運即於樹下上馬而去。其身倒臥於樹下也。俄至一官曹將入大門。有男女數十人。門外如訟者。有一婦人先與運相識。是同郡張公瑾妾。姓元氏。手執一紙文書迎謂嘉運曰。馬生尚相識不。昔張總管交游。每數相見。總管無狀非理殺我。我訴天曹。於今三年。為王天主救護公瑾。故常見抑。今乃得申。官已追之。不久將至。疑我獨見枉害。馬生那亦來耶。嘉運先知元氏被殺。及見方自知死。使者引入門。門者曰。公眠未可謁。宜可就霍司刑處坐。嘉運見司刑。乃益州行臺郎中霍璋也。見嘉運延坐曰。此府記室官闕。東海公聞君才學欲屈為此官耳。嘉運曰。貧守妻子。不願為官。得免幸甚。璋曰。若不能作自陳無學。吾當有相識可舉令作。俄有人來云。公眠已起。引嘉運入。見一人在廳事坐。肥短黑色。呼嘉運前謂曰。聞君才學。欲屈為記室耳。能為之乎。嘉運拜謝曰。幸甚。但鄙夫田野。頗以經業教授後生。不足以當記室之任耳。公曰。識霍璋不。答曰識之。因使召璋。問以嘉運才術。璋曰。平生知其經學。不見作文章。公曰。誰有文章者。嘉運曰。有陳子良者解文章。公曰。放馬生歸。即命追于子良。嘉運辭去。璋與之別。倩君語我家狗。吾臨終語汝。賣我所乘作浮圖。汝那賣馬自費。速如我教造浮圖。所云我家狗者。謂其長子。嘉運因問。向見張公瑾妾。所言天主者為誰。璋曰。公瑾鄉。人王五戒者。死為天主。常救公瑾故得至今。今似不免矣。言畢而別。遣使者送嘉運。至一小澁道指令。由此路歸。嘉運具言之。其年七月綿州人姓陳名子良暴死。經宿而蘇。自言見東海公。欲用為記室。辭不識文字。別有吳人陳子良卒。公瑾亦亡。但二人亡後。嘉運嘗與人同行於路。忽若見官府者。嘉運色憂。悑唯趨走。頃之乃定。同侶問之。答曰。而見東海公使人云。欲往益州追人仍說。陳子良極訴君。霍司刑為君被誚讓。君幾不免。賴君贖生之福。故得免也。初嘉運在蜀之日。將抉池取魚。嘉運時為人講書得絹數十匹。因買池魚贖生。謂此也。至貞觀中車駕在九城宮聞之。使中書侍郎岑文本就問其事。文本錄以奏云爾。嘉運後為國子博士卒官（右此一驗出冥報記）。

In the Tang dynasty, Ma Jiayun of Wei commandery, in the first month of the sixth year of the Zhenguan era, was at home toward evening. Going out through the main gate, he suddenly saw two men, each holding a horse, who had already been standing under a tree outside the gate. Jiayun asked who they were. They answered, saying, 'The Duke of the Eastern Sea has sent us merely to welcome Scholar Ma.' Jiayun had always possessed learning and was renowned in the prefectures and villages; whenever commissioners from the censorate or noble guests from the four quarters arrived, many requested to see him. When they called him by name, he was not surprised. He said to the envoys, 'I have no horse.' The envoys said, 'We present this horse; with it we welcome Scholar Ma.' Jiayun thereupon mounted the horse under the tree and departed, while his physical body lay fallen beneath the tree. Soon they arrived at an official bureau and were about to enter the main gate. There were several tens of men and women outside the gate as if they were litigants. There was a woman who was previously acquainted with Jiayun; she was the concubine of Zhang Gongjin from the same commandery, of the Yuan surname. Holding a sheet of official documentation in her hand, she came forward and said to Jiayun, 'Scholar Ma, do you still recognize me? Formerly, when Commander-in-chief Zhang associated [with you], we often met. The Commander-in-chief, villainous and unprincipled, murdered me. I lodged an appeal to the Celestial Bureau, and now it has been three years. Because King Deva-master protected Gongjin, I was constantly suppressed. Only now have I obtained redress. The officials have already summoned him, and he will arrive before long. I was wondering why I alone was wronged and harmed; why have you also come, Scholar Ma?' Jiayun had previously known that Lady Yuan had been killed, and only upon seeing her did he realize that he himself had died. The envoys led him inside the gate. The gatekeeper said, 'The Duke is asleep and cannot yet be visited. You should go and sit at the quarters of Huo, the Director of Penal Law.' When Jiayun met the Director of Penal Law, it turned out to be Huo Zhang, the former Bureau Director of the Branch Department of State Affairs of Yizhou. Seeing Jiayun, he invited him to sit and said, 'The post of Record Keeper in this office is vacant. The Duke of the Eastern Sea has heard of your talent and learning, and wishes to condescend to employ you in this post.' Jiayun said, 'Being poor, I guard over my wife and children and do not wish to be an official. If I can be spared, it would be most fortunate.' Zhang said, 'If you cannot do it, plead for yourself that you lack learning. I have an acquaintance whom I can recommend to do it.' Shortly after, someone came and said, 'The Duke has awoken from sleep.' He led Jiayun inside, where he saw a man sitting in the hall, short, fat, and dark-complexioned. Calling Jiayun forward, he addressed him, saying, 'I have heard of your talent and learning, and wish to condescend to employ you as Record Keeper. Can you do it?' Jiayun bowed in gratitude and said, 'I am most fortunate. However, I am a rustic fellow of the fields, who merely teaches canonical learning to the younger generation; I am not sufficient to undertake the responsibilities of Record Keeper.' The Duke said, 'Do you know Huo Zhang?' He answered, saying, 'I know him.' Thereupon he sent for Zhang and asked about Jiayun's talents. Zhang said, 'All along I have known of his canonical learning, but have not seen him compose literary works.' The Duke said, 'Who is capable of literary composition?' Jiayun said, 'There is Chen Ziliang, who understands literary composition.' The Duke said, 'Release Scholar Ma to return.' He immediately ordered the summoning of Chen Ziliang. Jiayun took his leave, and Zhang parted from him, saying, 'I trouble you to speak to my son Gou: "When I was facing death, I told you to sell the horse I rode to build a stūpa. Why did you sell the horse for your own expenses? Swiftly construct the stūpa as I instructed."' What he called 'Gou' refers to his eldest son. Jiayun then asked, 'Just now I saw the concubine of Zhang Gongjin. Who was the Deva-master she mentioned?' Zhang said, 'A fellow countryman of Gongjin, Wang Wujie, died and became a Deva-master. He constantly rescued Gongjin, which is why he lasted until now. Now, it seems he cannot escape.' Having finished speaking, they parted. An envoy was dispatched to escort Jiayun. Arriving at a narrow, rough path, [the envoy] pointed and instructed him to return by this road. Jiayun recounted the whole matter. In the seventh month of that year, a man from Mianzhou surnamed Chen and named Ziliang died suddenly. After passing a night, he revived. He himself said he had seen the Duke of the Eastern Sea, who wished to employ him as Record Keeper, but he excused himself on the grounds of not knowing letters. Another Chen Ziliang, a man of Wu, also died. Gongjin likewise passed away. However, after both men died, Jiayun once walked on the road with someone. Suddenly he seemed to see an official bureau; with an anxious and frightened expression, Jiayun only hurried away. After a while he calmed down. His companion asked him about it, and he replied, saying, 'I just saw an envoy of the Duke of the Eastern Sea, who said they were going to Yizhou to summon someone, and further said: "Chen Ziliang bitterly denounced you; Huo, the Director of Penal Law, was reproached on your account. You almost did not escape. It was thanks to your merit of ransoming living beings that you managed to escape."' Formerly, when Jiayun was in Shu, people were about to drain a pond to take the fish; Jiayun, who had earned several tens of bolts of silk by lecturing on the classics for others, thereupon bought the fish in the pond to ransom their lives. It was this that was meant. During the Zhenguan era, when the imperial retinue was at Jiucheng Palace, [the emperor] heard of this and sent Vice Director of the Secretariat Cen Wenben to inquire into the matter. Wenben recorded it to present in a memorial, and it was so. Jiayun later became an Erudite of the National University and died in office. (The above single verification is taken from the Mingbao ji.)