法苑珠林 79.43

79.43

唐尚書刑部郎中宋行質。博陵人也。性不信佛。有慢謗之言。至永徽二年五月病死。至六月九日。尚書都官令史王璹暴死。經二日而蘇。自言。初死之時見四人來至其所云。官府追汝。璹隨行入一大門。見廳事甚壯。向北為之。廳上西間有一人坐。形容肥黑。廳東間有一僧坐。與官相當。皆面向北。各有床几案縟。侍童子二百許人。或冠或辮。皆美容貌。階下有吏文案。有一老人。著枷被縛立東階下。璹至庭亦已被縛。吏執紙筆問璹。辭曰。貞觀十八年任長安佐史之日。因何改李須達籍。答曰。璹前任長安佐史。貞觀十六年轉選。至十七年蒙授司農寺府吏。十八年改籍。非璹罪也。廳上大官讀其辭辯。顧謂東階下老囚曰。何因妄訴耶。囚曰。須達年實未至。由璹改籍。加須達年大。豈敢妄耶璹云。璹至十七年。改任告身見在。請追驗之。官司呼領璹者三人。解璹縛將取告身。告身至大官。自讀之。謂老囚曰。他改任大分明。汝無理令送老囚出北門外。昏闇多有城。城上皆有女牆。似是惡處。大官因書案上。謂璹曰。汝無罪。放汝去。璹辭拜。吏引璹至東階拜辭僧。僧印璹臂曰好去。吏引璹出東南。行度三重門。每皆勘視臂印。然後聽出。至四門。門甚壯大。重樓朱粉三戶並開。狀如官城門。守衛嚴切。又驗印聽出。門東南行數十步。聞有人從喚璹。璹迴顧見侍郎宋行質。面色慘黑。色如濕地。露頭散腰著故緋袍。頭髮短垂。如胡人者。立於廳事階下。有吏主守之。西近城有一大木牌。高一丈二尺許。大書牌上曰。此是勘當擬過王人。其字大方尺餘甚分明。廳事上有床坐几案。如官府者。而無人坐。行質見璹悲喜。口云。汝何故得來。璹曰。官追勘問改籍。無事放還。行質捉其兩手謂璹曰。吾被官責問功德簿。吾手中無功德簿。坐此困苦。加之飢渴寒苦不可言說。君可努力。至我家急語令作功德也。如是殷勤四囑之。璹乃辭去。行數十步。又呼璹。還未及言。廳上有官人來坐怒璹曰。我方勘責事。汝何人輒至囚處。使卒搭其耳推令去。璹走又至一門。門吏曰。汝被搭耳。耳當聾。吾為汝却其中物。因以手挑其耳。耳中鳴乃驗。即放。出門外黑如。漆璹不知所。在以手摸西及南。皆是牆壁。唯東無障礙而闇不可行。立待少時見向者追璹之吏從門出來。謂璹曰。君尚能待我甚善。可乞我錢一千。璹不應。內自思曰。吾無罪放來。何為覓賄。吏即謂曰。君不得無行。吾向若不早將汝過官令。二日受縛。豈不困耶。璹心然之。因愧謝曰。依命。吏曰。吾不用汝銅錢。欲得白紙錢。期十五日來取。璹許。因問歸路。吏曰但東行二百步。當見一處。牆穿破見明。可推倒之。即至君家。璹如信行。至牆推之良久。乃至依倒處出。即至其所居。隆政坊南門矣。於是歸家見人坐泣。入戶而蘇。至十五日。璹忘與錢。明日復病困絕。見吏來怒曰。君果無行。期與我錢。遂不與。今復將汝去。因即驅行。出金光門令入坑。璹拜謝百餘拜。遂即放歸。又蘇璹告家人。買紙百張作錢送之。明日璹又病困。復見吏曰。君幸能與我錢。而錢不好。璹辭謝請更作許之。又蘇。至二十日。璹令用六十錢買白紙百張作錢并酒食。自於隆政坊西門渠水上燒之。既而身輕體健。遂念誦不廢。臨問其事。時與刑部侍郎劉燕客大理少卿辛茂將。在大理鞫問請。劉召璹至。與辛卿等對問之云耳（右三驗出冥報記）。

Song Xingzhi, Director in the Ministry of Justice of the Tang dynasty, was a man of Boling. By nature he did not believe in Buddhism, and he uttered disrespectful and slanderous words. In the fifth month of the second year of the Yonghui era, he died of illness. On the ninth day of the sixth month, Wang Shu, an archivist in the Department of General Affairs of the Department of State Affairs, died suddenly. After two days, he revived. He said of himself that when he first died, he saw four people come to his location and say, "The official bureau summons you." Shu followed them and entered a large gate, seeing that the office hall was extremely grand, oriented facing north. On the west side of the hall, a person sat, obese and dark in appearance. On the east side of the hall, a monk sat, equal to the official. Both faced north, each having couches, tables, and cushions, with about two hundred attendant boys, some wearing caps and some with braided hair, all of handsome appearance. Below the steps, clerks had official documents. There was an old man wearing a cangue and bound, standing below the eastern steps. When Shu reached the courtyard, he too was bound. A clerk holding paper and brush interrogated Shu, taking his statement: "In the eighteenth year of the Zhenguan era, while serving as a senior clerk in Chang'an, why did you alter the register of Li Xuda?" Shu replied, "Previously, Shu served as a senior clerk in Chang'an. In the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era, I was reassigned through selection, and in the seventeenth year, I was appointed as a government clerk in the Court of the National Granaries. The alteration of the register in the eighteenth year was not Shu's crime." The high official on the hall read his statement and defense, looked around, and said to the old prisoner below the eastern steps, "On what grounds do you make a false accusation?" The prisoner said, "Xuda's age indeed had not reached [the requirement]; it was because Shu altered the register that Xuda's age was increased. How would I dare make a false statement?" Shu said, "Shu's official appointment patent changing my post in the seventeenth year is extant. I request that it be retrieved and verified." The judicial official called three people who had brought Shu, loosed Shu's bonds, and sent them to fetch the appointment patent. When the patent arrived, the high official read it himself and said to the old prisoner, "His reassignment is perfectly clear; you have no grounds." He ordered the old prisoner sent outside the north gate. It was dark and murky, with many walls; upon the walls were parapets throughout, appearing to be an evil place. The high official then wrote upon his desk and said to Shu, "You are without guilt. I release you to go." Shu bowed in farewell. A clerk led Shu to the eastern steps to bow in farewell to the monk. The monk stamped Shu's arm, saying, "Go well." The clerk led Shu out toward the southeast. They proceeded through three gates, and at each, the stamp on his arm was inspected before he was allowed to pass through. When they came to the fourth gate, it was exceptionally grand and large, with a multistoried pavilion painted in vermilion and three gates all opened, resembling the gates of an imperial city, with strictly vigilant guards. They again inspected the stamp and allowed him to pass out. Walking several tens of paces southeast of the gate, he heard someone calling Shu from behind. Shu looked back and saw Vice Director Song Xingzhi. His complexion was grim and dark, resembling wet earth; his head was bare and his waist belt undone, wearing an old scarlet robe, with hair hanging short like that of a Hu foreigner. He stood below the steps of an office hall, with a clerk guarding him. To the west, near the wall, was a large wooden placard, about twelve feet high, with large characters written upon it: "This is the person under investigation to be handed over to the king." The characters were over a square foot large and extremely clear. On the office hall were couches and tables, resembling a government office, but no one sat there. When Xingzhi saw Shu, he was both sorrowful and joyful, and said, "For what reason were you able to come here?" Shu said, "The official bureau summoned and questioned me regarding the alteration of a register; having found nothing amiss, they released me to return." Xingzhi grasped both of his hands and said to Shu, "The officials are interrogating me about my merit register, but I have no merit register in my hands. Because of this I suffer hardship, compounded by hunger, thirst, and bitter cold beyond description. You must do your best: when you reach my home, urgently tell them to perform meritorious deeds for me." He gave him this earnest charge four times. Shu then took his leave and went away. Having walked several tens of paces, [Xingzhi] called Shu again. Before Shu could speak upon returning, an official came and sat on the hall, furiously shouting at Shu, "I am just now investigating matters! Who are you to come arbitrarily to the prisoner's place?" He had a soldier slap his ear and push him away. Shu ran and came to another gate. The gatekeeper said, "Your ear was slapped; you will surely become deaf. I will remove the thing inside for you." He then picked at his ear with his hand; a ringing sounded inside the ear, and it was healed, whereupon he let him out. Outside the gate it was as black as lacquer, and Shu did not know where he was. Feeling with his hands to the west and south, there were only walls everywhere; only the east was unhindered, but it was so dark he could not walk. Standing and waiting for a short while, he saw the clerk who had previously summoned Shu come out of the gate. He said to Shu, "It is very good that you could still wait for me. Please give me one thousand coins." Shu did not respond, thinking to himself, "I was released because I was without guilt. Why should he seek a bribe?" The clerk then said to him, "You must not lack conduct! Earlier, had I not quickly brought you before the official, causing you to be bound for two days, would you not have been miserable?" Shu agreed in his heart, and feeling ashamed, thanked him, saying, "I shall comply with your command." The clerk said, "I have no use for your copper coins; I want white paper coins. I schedule to come take them on the fifteenth day." Shu consented. He then asked for the road home. The clerk said, "Just go east for two hundred paces, and you will see a place where the wall is broken through, showing light. Push it down, and you will reach your home." Shu acted in trust. Reaching the wall, he pushed it for a long time, and finally came out through the collapsed section, immediately arriving at the southern gate of Longzheng Ward where he lived. Thereupon he returned home, saw people sitting and weeping, entered the door, and revived. When the fifteenth day arrived, Shu forgot to give the coins. The next day, he fell critically ill again, slipping into unconsciousness. He saw the clerk come in anger, saying, "You truly lack conduct! You agreed to give me coins, yet did not. Now I will take you away again." He then drove him along out of the Jinguang Gate and ordered him into a pit. Shu prostrated and apologized more than a hundred times, whereupon [the clerk] released him to return, and he revived again. Shu told his family to buy one hundred sheets of paper to make into coins and send them. The next day Shu again fell critically ill, and saw the clerk again, who said, "Fortunately you gave me coins, but the coins were of poor quality." Shu apologized and requested to make them again, which was permitted, and he revived. On the twentieth day, Shu ordered sixty coins to be used to buy one hundred sheets of white paper to make coins, along with food and drink. He personally burned them by the water canal at the west gate of Longzheng Ward. Afterwards, his body felt light and healthy, and he never ceased his recitations. At the time when this matter was investigated, Liu Yanke, Vice Director of the Ministry of Justice, and Xin Maojiang, Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, were conducting interrogations at the Court of Judicial Review. Liu summoned Shu to come, and questioned him face-to-face together with Vice Minister Xin and others. (The three testimonies above are from the Mingbao ji.)