法苑珠林 89.124

89.124

Xiahou Jun was a native of Fucheng in Jizhou. In the second year of Xianqing, he fell ill, and after more than forty days he became delirious and was on the verge of death. He himself said that he had been sentenced to be a ox, and had repeatedly made bitter appeals, pleading: 'I once received the precepts and performed deśanā three times before Master Yin. Reflecting on myself, I have no fault; how can you bear to send me to assume an ox's body and endure suffering like this?' Jun had already been assigned to the millhouse. After twenty days of hard labor, they checked whether his receiving the precepts was true and not false, and only then was he spared the punishment. In ordinary life, this man had great physical strength, drank heavily, and loved to fight. Now he has abstained from alcohol and meat, becoming a pure and faithful worthy, remaining a disciple of Master Yin with unbroken observance of the fasts and precepts. (The above one proof is from the Mingxiang Shiyi.)