法苑珠林 97.65

97.65

唐曹州離狐人裴則男。貞觀末年二十一死。經三日而穌。自云。初死被一人將至王所。王衣白非常鮮潔。王遣此人將牛耕地。此人訴云。兄弟幼小無人扶侍二親。王即憫之。乃遣使將向南。至第三重門。入見鑊湯及刀山劍樹。又見數千人頭皆被斬布列地上。此頭並口云大飢。當村有一老母。年向七十。其時猶未死。遂見在鑊湯前然火。觀望訖還至王前。見同村人張成。亦未死。有一人訴成云毀破某屋。王遣使檢之。報云。是實。成曰。成犁地不覺。犁破其塚。非故然也。王曰。汝雖非故。心終為不謹耳。遂令人杖其腰上七下。有頃王曰。汝更無事。放汝早還。王乃使人送去遣。北出踰牆及登牆望見其舍。遂聞哭聲。乃跳下牆。忽覺起坐。既穌之後。具為鄉曲言之。邑人視張成腰上有七下杖迹迹極青黑。問其毀墓。答云不虛。老母尋病。未幾而死（右此一驗出冥報拾遺）。

Pei Zennan, a man from Lihu in Caozhou during the Tang, died at the age of twenty-one in the late Zhenguan period. After three days, he revived. He said of himself: "When I first died, I was taken by a person to the king's location. The king was dressed in white, which was extraordinarily fresh and clean. The king dispatched this person to take an ox to plow the land. This person pleaded, 'My brothers are young, and there is no one to attend upon my two parents.' The king thereupon took pity on him. He then dispatched an envoy to lead him toward the south. Arriving at the third gate, he entered and saw boiling cauldrons, the mountain of knives, and the tree of swords. He also saw several thousand human heads that had all been severed and arranged on the ground. These heads all cried out with their mouths, 'Great hunger!' In his own village there was an elderly woman, aged nearly seventy, who had not yet died at that time; he then saw her tending the fire before the boiling cauldron. After finishing his observation, he returned before the king and saw Zhang Cheng, a fellow villager who was also not yet dead. There was someone accusing Cheng of demolishing a certain house. The king dispatched an envoy to inspect it, who reported: 'It is true.' Cheng said: 'Cheng was plowing the field without realizing it and plowed through the grave; it was not intentional.' The king said: 'Although you did not do it intentionally, your mind was careless in the end.' Thereupon he ordered someone to strike his waist seven times with a staff. After a moment, the king said: 'You have no further business; I release you to return early.' The king then sent someone to escort him away, sending him north to climb over a wall. Upon climbing the wall, he looked out and saw his house, and thereupon heard the sound of weeping. He then jumped down from the wall, and suddenly awoke and sat up. After reviving, he recounted the matter in detail to the villagers. When the townsfolk looked at Zhang Cheng's waist, there were indeed seven marks from the blows of the staff, and the marks were extremely bluish-black. When they asked him about damaging the grave, he replied that it was not false. The elderly woman soon fell ill and died not long after. (The above evidential miracle is from the Mingbao shiyi.)