國清百錄 3.31

3.31

I bow my head and pay reverence to the Buddhas of the three times. I humbly reflect that the Dharma-body has no form, yet manifests in accordance with capacities; the pure land is never destroyed, yet the multitudes see it burning. [The stone images] floated forth at Hudu, and the wondrous stūpa surged up from the earth. The heavenly music of Mount Shan, the dream communication of Lu Xian—the revered forms in these three places represent the power of the three times' roots of loving-kindness and good, benefiting this land. Yet as the years have deepened and the ages have receded, the sacred traces have fallen into decline; the images of the Buddhas are as if sunken away, and sentient beings have no anchor for their roots of good. I, through good fortune from past lives, have humbly taken part in the Dharma gate, but my virtuous conduct is slight, my accomplishments negligible, and I am mistakenly known by both clergy and laity. Looking at my shadow and ashamed of my person, I have no way to bear myself. Above, I am ashamed before the Three Jewels of lacking the ability to make them flourish and shine forth; below, I am chagrined before all living beings for having little power to uplift and rescue them. Even if I were to carve my bones and engrave my flesh, what could it remedy? Fortunately meeting this enlightened age, a pillar of the sun of the Buddha, I wish to rely upon the imperial breeze and also receive the power of the assembly, to exhort those with karmic affinity to repair and maintain these three places: first, to make the Buddha Dharma of the three times flourish and shine forth; next, to protect the realm of the great Sui; and below, for all sentient beings of the Dharma realm. If the stūpas and images are adorned and solemn, then [the Dharma] will be carried on and magnified without interruption, thereby repaying the Buddha's kindness. If every place is renewed with brilliance, so that the borders of the realm are naturally extraordinary and wonderfully fair, this will repay the sovereign's benevolence of water and earth. If those who see or hear of it generate the bodhi-mind, it will benefit all varieties of world-transcending karma. However, I have long harboured this wish in my heart, but due to conditions and hindrances it has not been fulfilled. Now, arriving at my appointed time as I set forth westward, my qi disorder has flared up; a vessel of poison, an earthen pitcher, is certainly nothing to treasure or spare. I have first offered my life to the Three Jewels, reverently submitting to their awesome spiritual power. If my bodily life remains, able to give rise to good in beings and not sully the Buddha Dharma, I humbly submit to [the Three Jewels'] bidding, begging that I may soon be cured, and my practices and vows quickly brought to fulfillment. If my life has not yet ended, but many demonic hindrances will arise to harm beings' roots of good and defile and disrupt the Buddha Dharma, why should I linger in this world? May I quickly turn to ashes and vanish. After my extinction, I entrust all these vows to those who come after, so that they may administer and establish the repairs, begging the Three Jewels to bestow their support so that they may swiftly be completed. I previously made this vow at the Suvarṇaprabhāsa bodhimaṇḍa on Folong; now once again before the stone-carved Honoured One I restate my foolish sincerity. I humbly pray that sages and mortals alike will deign once more to gather and embrace it. Reverently written. The twenty-first day of the eleventh month of the seventeenth year of Kaihuang.