Under the Southern Qi (479-502 CE) Ma Daoyou served as Director of the Department of State Affairs. In the first year Yongming (483), seated in the palace he suddenly saw spirits filling the space before him; the people around him saw nothing. Soon after, two spirits entered his ears, pulling out his ethereal soul, which fell onto his shoes. He pointed at it to show people, saying, “Gentlemen, do you see this?” None of those around him could see anything, so they asked him what his ethereal soul looked like. Daoyou said: “The ethereal soul looks exactly like a toad.” He said: “There can be no way to survive. The spirits are now in the ears. Look at how they swell up.” The following day he died. Taken from Shuyiji.
Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 327.2992
馬道猷
南齊馬道猷為尚書令史。永明元年。坐省中。忽見鬼滿前。而傍人不見。須臾兩鬼入其耳中。推出魂。魂落屐上。指以示人。諸君見否。傍人並不見。問魂形狀云何。道猷曰。魂正似蝦蟇。云。必無活理。鬼今猶在耳中。視其耳皆腫。明日便死。出述異記
