法苑珠林 75.52

75.52

During the Xianning era of the Song, the son of Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Han Bo, the son of Administrator of Kuaiji Wang Yun, and the son of Grandee of the Splendid Happiness Liu Dan were touring the shrine at Mount Jiang together. In the shrine were statues of several women that were extremely dignified and beautiful. In their drunkenness, each pointed to a statue to take as his wife, joking and jesting about the pairings. That very night, all three had the same dream: Lord Jiang sent a messenger to announce to them, saying, 'The girls of my household are quite plain and ugly, yet they have received your generous regard. I have therefore set a certain day of a certain month when all will be welcomed.' Since their dreams matched this extraordinary event, they sought out one another to ask, and indeed, each had experienced the identical dream, fitting together like a single seal. Thereupon, they were terrified, and they prepared three sacrificial animals and went to the shrine to apologize and plead for mercy. They again all dreamt that Lord Jiang came in person and said to them, 'Gentlemen, since you already extended your regard, I truly yearned for it. Now that the appointed time is at hand, how could there be room for regret in the middle of things?' Shortly thereafter, they all died. (This one verification is from the Zhiguai zhuan.)