淨土論 3.10

3.10

Dharma Master Zhizhong, master of the private chapel of the Prince of Han in Bingzhou during the Sui dynasty, had gone forth as a palace youth before the fourth year of Renshou. Throughout his life he was diligent and energetic, never holding money in his hands, making offerings to the Three Jewels, and guiding those with karmic affinity. He also especially focused his mind on the practice of beholding the Buddha, aspiring to see Amitābha. When he was about to die, the eye of his mind was clear and bright, and he saw heavenly men and heavenly maidens from Tuṣita Heaven coming to welcome him; they then approached the Dharma Master and grasped his kāṣāya, claiming they wished to take him up to heaven. The Dharma Master rebuked them, saying: 'I did not aspire to that place,' and refused to go with them. The disciples at his side recited [the name of] Amitābha Buddha, and in an instant they saw the transformed Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Western Pure Land coming to welcome him. He turned and told the assembly: 'The realm I aspired to, the Bodhisattvas of the Pure Land, have now arrived.' Thereupon, his life ended.