法苑珠林 90.56

90.56

Bhikṣu Shi Tandian of the Song, while still a layman at the age of thirty, suddenly fell violently ill and died. Only after seven days did he revive. He recounted that when he first died, he saw two men driving him away, putting him to push cartloads of rice; his companions pulling carts were perhaps several thousand people, day and night without rest. He saw two clerics who said: 'We are your root masters who transmitted the five precepts.' They came to comfort and inquire after him, and immediately took him to the presiding official, saying: 'He is our disciple, and moreover has no great transgressions; his allotted lifespan is not yet exhausted.' He was then released. The two clerics escorted Tandian home and stopped atop his house. They gave detailed admonitions and instructions to Tandian: 'You should become a śramaṇa and diligently cultivate the path.' Having spoken, they came down from the roof. The clerics pushed Tandian under the armpit of the corpse, whereupon he revived. Afterwards, he left household life for twenty years and died in the fourteenth year of the Yuanjia era. (The above three verifications come from the Mingxiang ji.)