樂邦文類 5.95

5.95

極樂世界有方所，秖在尋常日沒處，
所以佛教韋提希，諦觀落日如懸鼓。
善哉姚氏一老嫗，能以是心求淨土，
暮觀朝想無歲年，行持坐念忘寒暑，
彌陀忽從心想生，恍惚之間明又覩。
是時虛空絕纖雲，桑榆尚駐羲和御，
佛日晃耀奪陽輝，紺目玉毫妙相具，
目駭心驚喜且悲，走告導師彌陀喻，
具陳所見悉希有，願寫金容托毫素。
我聞勝事嘆希有，為說偈言開未悟，
當知去佛甚不遠，闡提那得稱其故？
雖過剎土十萬億，一念超越如跬步；
若有迷人問路頭，向道恁麼驀直去。

The World of Ultimate Bliss has a location: / It is just where the sun usually sets. / Therefore the Buddha taught Vaidehī / To clearly contemplate the setting sun like a suspended drum. / Excellent is this old woman of the Yao clan, / Who was able with this mind to seek the Pure Land! / Contemplating in the evening and thinking in the morning without reckoning the years, / Walking and upholding, sitting and reciting, forgetting cold and heat. / Amitābha suddenly arose from her mental thoughts; / In a flash, clear and distinct, she beheld him. / At that time, the sky was devoid of the slightest cloud; / In the mulberry and elm trees Xihe's chariot still lingered. / The Buddha-sun shone brilliantly, eclipsing the solar radiance; / His dark blue eyes and jade-like ūrṇā endowed with wondrous marks. / Her eyes startled and her heart astonished, joyful yet moved to tears, / She ran to tell the guide, Yu Mituo, / Detailing all that she had seen as exceedingly rare, / Wishing to paint the golden visage with brush and silk. / Hearing of this supreme event, I sighed in admiration at its rarity; / For her sake I speak these gāthā verses to enlighten those not yet awakened. / You should know that the distance to the Buddha is not far at all; / How could an icchantika understand the reason for this? / Though passing through a hundred thousand koṭis of lands, / A single thought transcends it, like taking a single half-step. / If there is a confused person asking for the way, / Tell them: "Just go straight forward like this."