法苑珠林 97.54

97.54

漢北海營陵有道人。能令人與已死人相見。其同郡人婦死已數年。聞而往見之曰。願令我一見亡婦。死不恨矣。道人曰。可卿往見之。若聞鼓聲。疾出勿留。乃語其相見之制。於是與婦言語悲喜。思情如生。良久聞鼓音聲。恨不能得住當出戶時。揜閉其衣裾。戶間掣絕而去。至後歲餘。此人身亡。室家葬之。開塚見婦棺。蓋下有衣裾。

In the Han dynasty, in Yingling of Beihai, there was a Daoist master who could enable the living to meet the dead. The wife of a man from that same commandery had been dead for several years. Hearing of this, the man went to see him, saying: 'I wish only to see my deceased wife once, and then I would die without regret.' The Daoist master said: 'You may go and see her. If you hear the sound of a drum, leave swiftly and do not linger.' He then instructed him in the rules for their meeting. Thereupon, he spoke with his wife in grief and joy, their affection just as in life. After a long while, he heard the sound of the drum. Regretting that he could not stay, as he stepped out the door, the door caught and trapped the hem of his robe, which tore off as he pulled away. More than a year later, the man died, and his family buried him. When they opened the tomb, they saw beneath the lid of his wife's coffin the hem of his robe.