法苑珠林 49.38

49.38

Furthermore, Ding Lan was a man of Yewang in Henei. At the age of fifteen he lost his mother. He carved wood into the likeness of his mother and served and provided for it as if she were alive. Lan's wife one night burned the mother's face with fire; the mother's face developed sores. After two days, the wife's hair fell out of its own accord as if cut by knife and saw. Only then did she apologize for her fault. Lan moved the wooden mother to the main road, making his wife observe mourning attire for three years, bowing and prostrating. One night, a sudden gale and rain arose, and the wooden mother returned on its own. Whenever neighbors came to borrow items, if the mother's countenance was mild, he would lend them; if not mild, he would not lend them. (Zheng Jizhi's Xiaozi zhuan says: Lan's wife mistakenly burned the mother's face, and immediately dreamed of the mother in pain. Someone came asking for a loan, and Lan had agreed without first informing the mother. The neighbor said, 'What does withered wood know?' and thereupon struck the wooden mother with a knife, drawing blood. When Lan returned, he wailed in grief, made mourning clothes, and carried out funeral rites. The commandant of justice considered that the wooden figure had been moved to the point of death, and Emperor Xuan praised him and appointed him grand palace grandee.)