法苑珠林 46.48

46.48

In the Taishi reign period under the Song, there was a man named Zhang Yi who suffered from flogging sores whose pain would not cease. Someone instructed him to burn dead human bones into powder and apply it. He hired a young boy of the same household to climb a hill, fetch a human skull, and burn it to apply to the sores. That night, inside the door, there was a brazier with a fire burning, and this boy was tending the fire. In the air there was an object that pressed the boy's head into the fire, cursing, 'Why did you burn my head? Now I pay you back with this fire!' The boy cried out loudly, 'Zhang Yi burned it!' It replied, 'If you had not taken it and given it to Zhang Yi, how could Zhang Yi have burned it?' It pressed his head for a long time until his hair was completely burned away and his skin and flesh were scorched and rotten, before releasing him. Yi was terrified; he took the remaining bones and buried them in their former place, offering libations of wine and meat, and there were no further disasters or anomalies. (The two proofs above are from the Shuyi ji.)