法苑珠林 63.39

63.39

Under the Qin, beside the lake in Danyang County, there was the shrine of Aunt Mei. In life, the Aunt possessed the arts of the Dao and could walk upon the water wearing pattens. Later, she went against the methods of the Dao. In anger, her husband killed her and cast her corpse into the water. It drifted with the flowing waves, arriving at the site of the present shrine. The spirit-medium attending the bells declared that she should be laid in a coffin and need not be buried in a tumulus. Immediately, a square-headed lacquered coffin appeared beneath the shrine hall. On the days of the new and full moon, a figure wearing pattens was occasionally seen faintly amidst the water mists. Fishing and hunting were forbidden around the shrine; anyone who attempted them suffered the calamities of losing their way or drowning. The spirit-medium said: “Since the Aunt died of violent injury, she abhors witnessing slaughter.”