法苑珠林 90.56

90.56

宋沙門釋曇典。白衣時年三十忽暴病而亡。經七日方活。說初亡時見兩人驅將去。使輦米伴輦可有數千人。晝夜無休息。見二道人云我是汝五戒本師。來慰問之。即將往詣官主云。是貧道弟子。且無大罪。曆算未窮。即見放遣。二道人送典至家。住其屋上。具約示典。可作沙門勤修道業。言訖下屋。道人排典著屍掖下。於是而蘇。後出家經二十年。以元嘉十四年亡（右三驗出冥祥記）。

Bhikṣu Shi Tandian of the Song, while still a layman at the age of thirty, suddenly fell violently ill and died. Only after seven days did he revive. He recounted that when he first died, he saw two men driving him away, putting him to push cartloads of rice; his companions pulling carts were perhaps several thousand people, day and night without rest. He saw two clerics who said: 'We are your root masters who transmitted the five precepts.' They came to comfort and inquire after him, and immediately took him to the presiding official, saying: 'He is our disciple, and moreover has no great transgressions; his allotted lifespan is not yet exhausted.' He was then released. The two clerics escorted Tandian home and stopped atop his house. They gave detailed admonitions and instructions to Tandian: 'You should become a śramaṇa and diligently cultivate the path.' Having spoken, they came down from the roof. The clerics pushed Tandian under the armpit of the corpse, whereupon he revived. Afterwards, he left household life for twenty years and died in the fourteenth year of the Yuanjia era. (The above three verifications come from the Mingxiang ji.)