淨土論 3.12

3.12

沙門道綽法師者，亦是并洲晉陽人也，乃是前高德大鸞法師三世已下懸孫弟子，講《涅槃經》一部。每常讚嘆鸞法師智德高遠，自云相去千里懸殊，尚捨講說，修淨土業。已見往生，況我小子，所知所解，何足為多、將此為德？從大業五年已來，即捨講說，修淨土行。一向專念阿彌陀佛，禮拜供養相續無間。貞觀已來，為開悟有緣，時時敷演《無量壽觀經》一卷，示誨并土晉陽太原汶水三縣道俗，七歲已上並解念彌陀佛：上精進者，用小豆為數，念彌陀佛，得八十石或九十石；中精進者，念五十石；下精進者，念二十石。教諸有緣，各不向西方涕唾便利、不背西方坐臥。撰《安樂集》兩卷，見行於世。去貞觀十九年歲次乙巳四月二十四日，悉與道俗取別。三縣內門徒就別，前後不斷，難可記數。至二十七日，於玄忠寺壽終。時有白雲從西方來，變為三道白光，於自房中徹照通過，終訖乃滅。後燒墳陵時，復有五色光三道於空中現，映遶日輪，繞訖乃止。復有紫雲，三度於陵上現。遺終弟子同見斯瑞。若准經斷，並是諸佛慈善根力能令眾生見如此事。又准《華嚴經》偈說「又放光明名見佛，此光覺悟命終者。念佛三昧必見佛，命終之後生佛前。」

Dharma Master Śramaṇa Daochuo was also a native of Jinyang in Bingzhou. He was a remote disciple three generations below the former master of lofty virtue, Tanluan, and had lectured on the entire Nirvana Sutra. He constantly praised Master Luan's lofty wisdom and virtue, saying himself that they were as far apart as a thousand li, yet [Master Luan] still abandoned lecturing to cultivate the Pure Land karma. 'Having already witnessed his rebirth, how much less should I, an insignificant lad—in what I know and understand—consider it sufficient, or treat this as virtue?' From the fifth year of Daye onwards, he abandoned lecturing and cultivated the practices of the Pure Land. He single-mindedly and exclusively focused on mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha, worshipping and making offerings in unbroken succession. From the Zhenguan era onward, in order to awaken those with affinity, he from time to time expounded the single fascicle of the Guan wuliangshou jing, instructing monastics and laypeople in the three counties of Bingzhou—Jinyang, Taiyuan, and Wenshui—so that all who were seven years of age and older understood mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha: those of superior diligence used small beans to keep count, reciting [the name of] Amitābha Buddha to the amount of eighty or ninety dan; those of middling diligence recited fifty dan; those of lower diligence recited twenty dan. He instructed those with affinity never to spit or relieve themselves facing west, and never to sit or lie with their backs to the west. He composed the Anle ji in two fascicles, which currently circulates in the world. In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, the year yisi, on the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month, he bid farewell to all monastics and laypeople. Disciples from within the three counties came to bid farewell, continuously without interruption, difficult to count. On the twenty-seventh day, his life ended at Xuanzhong Monastery. At that time, a white cloud came from the west and transformed into three beams of white light, illuminating and passing through his own room, disappearing only after he passed away. Later, when his burial mound was cremated, five-coloured light again appeared in the sky in three beams, circling the solar disk and stopping only after circling it. Furthermore, purple clouds appeared three times above the mound. His surviving disciples all saw these auspicious signs. If judged according to the scriptures, these are all the power of the compassionate roots of goodness of the Buddhas that can cause sentient beings to behold such things. Furthermore, as a verse in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'Again emitting light named Seeing the Buddha, / This light awakens those whose lives are ending. / Through buddhānusmṛti-samādhi one definitely sees the Buddha, / And after life ends, is born before the Buddha.'