法苑珠林 26.41

26.41

The monk Xuangao of Zhili Temple in Fuyang County, Xiangzhou, had the secular surname Zhao. His elder brother's son had in his previous life been a boy of the Ma family in the same village. The boy of the Ma family died toward the end of the Zhenguan era. At the point of death, he looked back and said to his mother, "I have past karmic affinities with the family of Zhao Zong. After death, I shall become a grandson to Zong's family." Zong was from the same village. His mother did not believe it, so she marked the boy's left flank with ink, making a large black birthmark. The wife of the Zhao family also dreamed that this boy came and said, "I shall become your child." She thereupon became pregnant. What she saw in the dream was unmistakably the boy of the Ma family. After giving birth, they examined the ink mark, and it was still in the former place. When the boy reached three years of age, without anyone guiding him, he walked to the Ma family of his own accord, saying, "This is my former home." He is still alive today, already fourteen or fifteen years old. The monks Huiyong, Fazhen, and others of Zhili Temple in Xiangzhou recounted this. (The above two pieces of evidence are from the Mingbao shiyi.)