法苑珠林 95.44

95.44

Yuan Wuji of the Chen commandery under the Jin resided in Dongping. At the beginning of the Yongjia era (307–313), he contracted an epidemic pestilence. More than a hundred people in his household nearly all died. To escape, they left the large mansion and temporarily stayed in a farm cottage. There was a small room where the brothers slept together on a wooden bed with several layers of mats. Sleeping into the night, when dawn broke, the bed was found outside the door. This happened night after night. The brothers were bewildered and frightened, and none could sleep. Later, they saw a woman coming before the door; knowing that Wuji and the others were not asleep, she paced back and forth outside the door. It was not yet dawn, and the moon was bright enough to see her. She was dressed in colorful robes and white cosmetics, and on her head were floral hairpins, a silver hairpin, and an ivory comb. Wuji and the others chased her. At first she ran around the house, tumbling about, and her hair and the floral hairpins and other items all fell off. Wuji picked them all up. She then ran out the door to the south. Beside the road was a well, and she plunged into it. Wuji returned to sleep. At dawn, looking at the floral hairpins, the hairpin, and the ivory comb, they were all real objects. Digging up the dilapidated well, they found a catalpa coffin, two-thirds submerged in the well water. Wuji changed the coffin, vessels, and clothes, returned her belongings, and buried her in a high and dry place, after which the disturbance ceased. (This verification is from the Zhiguai ji.)