淨土論 3.8

3.8

Dharma Master Śramaṇa Tanluan was a native of Wenshui in Bingzhou. He was still present at the end of the Wei and the beginning of the Northern Qi. His spiritual wisdom was lofty and far-reaching, renowned across the three kingdoms; he had a penetrating understanding of the numerous sutras, walking alone beyond ordinary men. The Emperor of Liang, King Xiao, constantly bowed northward in homage to the Bodhisattva Tanluan. He annotated the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu's Wangsheng lun, arranging it into two fascicles. The Dharma Master compiled the Amitāyus Sūtra, respectfully praising it in a hundred and ninety-five lines of seven-character verses, together with one fascicle of questions and answers, which circulated widely in the world. He exhorted monastics and laypeople alike to attain rebirth definitely and behold the Buddhas. He constantly prayed to the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna for awakening at the time of death. Truly, as he wished, when his karmic retribution in this region was exhausted, within the middle of the night the image of a holy monk appeared, suddenly entering the room and saying: 'I am Nāgārjuna.' He then spoke to him: 'A leaf that has already fallen cannot be reattached to the branch. Millet not yet bundled cannot be sought in the storehouse. A white colt passing a crack cannot be detained for a moment. What is already gone cannot return; the future cannot yet be pursued. Where is the present now? The white colt is difficult to turn back.' The Dharma Master deeply understood the meaning of the words. As he thus neared his end, in the middle of the night he dispatched messengers to announce everywhere to the white-robed disciples of the various villages and the monastic disciples within the monastery, so that around three hundred people gathered at once like raining clouds. The Dharma Master bathed, put on clean new robes, held an incense burner in his hands, sat facing directly west, and admonished his disciples to pursue the karma for the Western [Land]. At sunrise, the great assembly recited [the name of] Amitābha Buddha with one voice, and he thereupon reached the end of his life. Five li west of the monastery, there was a convent of bhikṣuṇīs, all of whom were his disciples. After dawn appeared, they gathered in the hall to eat congee, and the entire assembly heard wondrous music in the air coming from the west and going east. A wise person among them addressed the assembly, saying: 'Our master, the Dharma Master Upādhyāya, taught people throughout his life to cultivate the karma for the Pure Land. Now, this sound going eastward must surely be mostly welcoming the Dharma Master.' When the meal was over, they urged one another to go visit the Dharma Master, waiting in front of the courtyard. Before they had even left the monastery courtyard, they again heard the music far off in the sky heading west. The nuns went there together, only to find that he had passed away. Based on the sutras and treatises, he was definitely reborn in the Western [Land].