On the west bank of the lake, near the village of a thousand springs at Ch’uan-chou, there is a tiny temple to the goddess Kuan-yin. In front of it stretches the lake, behind it lie the fields, and it is quite separated from other houses. Far from the noisy highway, it is an ideal place for study, and Li, a prominent scholar, had chosen it for his place of abode, thinking it particularly suited for reading and teaching. But in course of time many people had been drowned in the lake, and at dusk and during the night it became very lively, until eventually the spirits tried to entice men into the water even in broad daylight. The ghosts of the drowned have to find substitutes before they can leave the site of their accident, and when Li saw people dashing madly into the lake, he knew that they had been bewitched by the spirits, and to save them he loudly called out a warning. In this way he prevented the water-spirits securing a substitute, and naturally they hated him for his interference and looked upon him as their bitter enemy.
Li had a few pupils who used to come in the morning and return home at night, leaving Li alone to work. Then the water-spirits, who were angry with him, appeared outside his window as shadows and tried to terrify him by uttering strange sounds. But Li was very brave and refused to be intimidated, and if the ghosts made too much noise, he shouted at them to be quiet till they realized that they were powerless against him.
But one of the female spirits was particularly savage and used to remain behind after all the others had departed. Li knew her and planned to give her a lesson. One evening when she came again she waited outside the window till he had finished reading an essay, and then asked him for a light. Li told her to put in her arm and take it, but when she did so he wrote the character ‘Fire’ on her hand. The spirit gave a shriek and tried to withdraw her arm, but she was unable to do so.
Do you know why she could not do so? The reason was that Li was destined to become a Minister and therefore his handwriting in red ink possessed great power. When he wrote the word ‘Fire,’ fire appeared and burnt the hand of the ghost.
‘Please, sir, I promise never to disturb you again. Please wipe the character off my hand,’ she begged Li, who took a piece of paper and scraped off the sign. The spirit fled, but several nights later it reappeared and behaved in the most exemplary manner, hardly daring to make a sound. ‘Master,’ she said, ‘I am always looking for a person to take my place, and this time you prevented me. Have pity on me! If I cannot find a substitute, I must remain for ever in the water. Save me!’ ‘Do you want to be born again?’ asked Li. ‘Fortunately, you have not harmed anyone and I can find you a place. In such and such a village a new Buddha has just been made; you can go and live in that.’
The spirit thanked Li, and its soul went off to take up its post in the image of the Buddha. The next day it was rumoured in the village that the new Buddha was possessed, and from that time it performed countless miracles. Superstitious people came from far and near to say their prayers and burn their incense before it.
Many years later Li passed the State examinations and was appointed Minister, after which he begged for leave to visit the graves of his ancestors. It is a great day for a town when a Minister visits it, and I need not tell you that he brought a large retinue with him. One day, on his way home from a visit, he passed by a temple in which a great fair was taking place in honour of the god. The crowd was so great that his chair-bearers could not get through the throng, and even on foot he could scarcely make any progress.
At this point he recognized the temple in which he had confined the water-spirit, and he pushed his way through the throng to see what was happening. He saw before him a beautiful new temple in which thousands of incense-sticks were being burnt by people who hoped to influence the god in their favour. Li went to the entrance of the temple, and pointing at the image with his finger, he said: ‘Water-spirit! Have you still found no peace?’ And from then on the god performed no more miracles.