Layman Cao Luchuan of Gusu recounted this story to me about his married daughter: One summer day, sitting at home, she saw a snake chasing a pigeon on the garden wall before falling to the ground and then got killed by her family. A few days later, possessed by the spirit of the snake, she began raving and talking nonsense. When Luchuan went to visit her, the spirit said: “I was the Governor of Jingzhou. When Gao Huan rebelled and pursued me to the riverbank, I got drown in the river. Can you help me find out if my parents, wife, and children are safe?”
Luchuan exclaimed in astonishment: “The rebel Gao Huan lived during the Six Dynasties period; we have since passed through the Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties and now we are in the dynasty of Great Ming!” Only then did the spirit realize that it had been dead for quite a long time, that it was last reborn into the animal realm as a snake. So it said: “Well, being dead is at least better than being a snake. Now I only wish you could have a Rite of Repentance (Emperor Liang’s Repentance Ritual) performed for me, then I shall leave.”
Luchuan subsequently invited the monk Dingkong from Sizhou Temple to conduct the ritual. Upon its conclusion, the merits were dedicated to the spirit, along with an offering of vegetarian food, and the following day his daughter was back to her normal self.
Truly, the merits of repentance are profound!
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
禮懺功德 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
姑蘇曹魯川居士為予言: 有女在夫家，夏坐室中，一蛇從牆上逐鴿，墮庭心，家人見而斃之。數日後，蛇附女作語。魯川往視，則云:「我昔為荊州守，高歡反，追我至江滸，遂死江中，我父母妻子不知安否? 」魯川驚曰:「歡六朝時人，今歷隋唐宋元而至大明矣!」鬼方悟死久，並知為蛇。曰:「既作蛇，死亦無恨，但為我禮梁皇懺一部，吾行矣!」乃延泗洲寺僧定空禮懺。懺畢，索齋，為施斛食一壇。明日女安穩如故。懺之時義大矣哉!
Buddha Mind 