[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › 7.57 # 法苑珠林 7.57 法苑珠林 7.57 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [7.57](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7.57) 世尊度人之師。有頃令惡道中人皆出聽經。時云有百萬九千人。皆出地獄入百里城。在此到者奉法眾坐也。行雖虧殆尚當得度。故開經法。七日之中隨本所作善惡多少差次免脫。泰未出之頃。已見千人昇虛而去。出此舍復見一城。方二百餘里。名為受變形城。地獄考治已畢者。當於此城更受變報。泰入其城見有土瓦屋數千區。各有房巷。正中有瓦屋高床。欄檻彩飾。有數百局。吏對校文書云。殺生者。當作蜉蝣朝生暮死。劫盜者。當作猪羊受人屠割。婬妷者作鶴鶩麞麋。兩舌者。作鵄梟鵂鶹。捍債者。為駝騾牛馬。泰案行畢還水官處主者語泰。卿是長者子。以何罪過而來在此。泰答。祖父兄弟皆二千石。我舉考公府辭不行。修志念善不染眾惡。主者曰。卿無罪過。故相使為水官都督。不爾與地獄中人無以異也。泰問主者曰。人有何行死得樂報。主者唯言。奉法弟子精進持戒。得樂報無有謫罰也。泰復問曰。人未事法時所行罪過。事法之後得除以不。答曰。皆除也。語畢。主者開滕篋檢泰年紀。尚有餘算三十年在。乃遣泰還。臨別主者曰。已見地獄罪報如是。當告世人皆令作善。善惡隨人其猶影響。可不慎乎。時親表內外候視泰五六十人。同聞泰說。泰自書記以示時人。時晉太始五年七月十三日也。乃為祖父母二弟。延請僧眾大設福會。皆命子孫改意奉法課勸精進。時人聞泰死而復生多見罪福。互來訪問。時有太中大夫武城孫豐關內侯常共郝伯平等十人。同集泰舍。欵曲尋問莫不懼然。皆即奉法。 > the World-Honoured One, the teacher who liberates human beings.' Before long, he ordered the people in the evil destinies all to come out and listen to the sūtra. At that time, it was said there were one million and nine thousand people who all emerged from the hells and entered a city of a hundred leagues. Those who arrived here were the congregation who honored the Dharma and were seated; though their practice had been deficient and perilous, they were still to attain deliverance, and so the sūtras and teachings were opened for them. Within seven days, according to the greater or lesser amounts of good and bad they had originally done, they were released and freed in graded stages. Before Tai departed, he had already seen a thousand people ascend into the empty sky and leave. Leaving this hall, he saw another city, more than two hundred leagues square, called the City for Receiving Transformed Bodies. Those whose investigations and punishments in the hells were completed were to receive transformed retributions in this city. Tai entered the city and saw several thousand earthen and tiled houses, each with rooms and lanes. Right in the middle was a tiled house with a high couch, balustrades, and painted decorations. There were several hundred bureaus where clerks were cross-checking documents, saying: 'Those who took life shall become dayflies, born in the morning and dead by evening. Those who robbed and stole shall become pigs and sheep, to be slaughtered and sliced by men. Those who were lewd and licentious shall become cranes, ducks, roe deer, and musk deer. Those who indulged in double-tongued speech shall become kites, owls, and horned owls. Those who withheld debts shall become camels, mules, oxen, and horses.' When Tai finished his inspection, he returned to the place of the Water Official. The presiding officer said to Tai, 'You are a gentleman of noble birth; what fault or transgression brought you here?' Tai replied, 'My grandfather and brothers were all of the two-thousand-bushel rank. When recommended for testing by the Ducal Ministry, I declined and did not go; I cultivated my mind and contemplated good, remaining untainted by manifold evils.' The presiding officer said, 'You have no faults or transgressions; that is why we employed you as Chief Controller of the Water Bureau. Had it not been so, you would be no different from the people in the hells.' Tai asked the presiding officer, 'What practices must a person perform so that after death they receive happy retribution?' The presiding officer merely replied, 'Disciples who honor the Dharma, vigorously maintain the precepts, obtain happy retribution without penalty or reprimand.' Tai asked again, 'If someone committed transgressions before practicing the Dharma, can they be eradicated after one honors the Dharma or not?' He answered, 'They are all eradicated.' When he had finished speaking, the presiding officer opened a rattan chest and examined Tai's life span; there were still thirty years remaining on his count, so he sent Tai back. Upon taking leave, the presiding officer said, 'Now that you have seen the retribution for sin in the hells like this, you should inform worldly people and cause them all to do good. Good and evil follow a person just like shadow and echo; can one fail to be careful?' At that time, fifty to sixty of Tai's relatives from both inside and outside the clan had been attending to Tai, and they all heard Tai speak. Tai wrote the account himself to show people of the time. It was the thirteenth day of the seventh month in the fifth year of the Taishi reign of the Jin dynasty (269 CE). Thereupon, on behalf of his grandparents and two younger brothers, he invited the saṃgha and held a great gathering for blessings, and ordered all his descendants to change their minds, honor the Dharma, and be encouraged to strive with vigor. When people of the time heard that Tai had died and revived, having witnessed much regarding sin and blessing, they came one after another to visit and inquire. At that time, ten men, including Grandee of the Center Sun Feng of Wucheng and Marquis within the Passes Chang Gong and Hao Boping, gathered together at Tai's residence. They questioned him minutely, and none were not filled with dread; they all immediately honored the Dharma. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 7.56](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7.56) - [Next: 7.58](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7.58) - [Up: 7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.7.57) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7.57](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.7.57) · Pramāṇa