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 紀曉嵐先生筆記云。里有古氏。業屠牛。所殺不可縷數。後古叟目雙瞽。古媼臨歿時。肌膚潰裂。痛苦萬狀。自言冥司仿屠牛之法宰割我。呼號月餘乃終。侍姬之母沈媼親見之。殺業至重。牛有功於稼穡。殺牛之業尤重。
【白話註解】
紀曉嵐先生筆記上記載：他的鄉里居民古氏，以殺牛為業，平生所殺的牛，不可計數。後來古某，突然雙目失明，古妻染患重病，臨死時，皮膚肌肉潰瘍破裂，痛苦萬狀。自言自語地說：「冥司仿照殺牛的方法，宰割我。」晝夜呼號，經過一個多月才死。
這件事跡，是紀曉嵐侍姬的母親沈婦親眼所見的。殺生的罪業深重，尤其是「牛」，勞苦耕田，生產五穀，有功於人類，人竟忍心宰殺，罪報必然更加慘重了。
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This account was recorded in the memoirs of Mr. Ji Syau Nan. Mr.- Ji said that in his native town there lived a Mr. Gu, who was a butcher of cattle. Throughout his life he had slaughtered uncountably many oxen.
One day, the man suddenly went blind and his wife was simultaneously struck with a fatal disease. Just before she died, her skin and flesh turned putrid, and she suffered excruciating pain. Not only that, she talked to herself non-stop, saying, "The underworld officers are butchering me as if I were a cow!" Day and night, she screamed and wailed. She was tormented this way for one month, until finally she died.
The entire incident was reported by the mother of Mr. Ji Syau Nan's concubine, who personally witnessed the lady's death.
The profession of slaughtering cattle entails a most heavy offense. This is because oxen labor so hard pulling plows and tilling the fields to help us grow the grain which constitutes our staple diet, and so they greatly benefit mankind. If, in spite of this, people just go ahead and slaughter them, of course, the retribution will be most serious.
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