法苑珠林 91.36

91.36

Guo Quan of Shunyang in the Song, courtesy name Zhongheng, was the Regional Inspector of Yizhou under the Jin. More than thirty years after his death, in the eighth year of the Yuanjia era, he suddenly manifested his form and visited the home of his son-in-law, Liu Ningzhi of Nanyang, with an extremely grand retinue of carriages and guards. He said to Ningzhi, "I have been subjected to punishment; could you hold an assembly of thirty monks on my behalf? Then I should be able to obtain exemption." When he finished speaking, he disappeared. Liu thought it was a goblin and did not take it to heart. Later, Quan appeared in a dream to his daughter and said, "I am suffering punishment, and I already told your husband to hold an assembly for me; can you not show pity to me?" The daughter rose in the morning and saw Quan passing by the doorway, saying in anger, "In the end you cannot save me; now I must go to face punishment!" The daughter wept, leaped up, and tried to detain him, asking where the vegetarian feast should be prepared. He replied, "You may return to my house." Suddenly, he vanished again. Ningzhi then hurried in fluster to prepare the offerings. When the assembly ended, there was someone who said, bringing a message from Quan to Ningzhi: "I am grateful for your generous kindness; the matter has only now obtained pardon." Having spoken, he disappeared, and thus it ended. (This one proof comes from the *Records of Signs from the Unseen Realm*.)