龍舒增廣淨土文 5.4

5.4

The monk Huiyuan was a native of Yanmen. He resided at Mount Lu, forming a Lotus Society to cultivate the Pure Land together with one hundred and twenty-three people, both monastics and laymen, including Liu Yimin, aspiring to entrust their birth into lotus flowers on a future day. Yuan stilled his mind and practiced contemplation; in the first eleven years, he saw sacred manifestations three times, but being deep and reserved, Yuan did not speak of it. Nineteen years later, on the evening of the last day of the seventh month, Yuan saw Amitābha Buddha face to face, his body filling empty space, with various transformation Buddhas within the round halo, and Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta standing in attendance on his left and right. He also saw flowing water of radiant light dividing into fourteen streams, each stream flowing up and down, naturally able to proclaim the wondrous Dharma of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, just as explained in the Sūtra of the Sixteen Contemplations. The Buddha told Yuan: 'Because of the power of my fundamental vow, I have come to comfort you; after seven days you shall be born in my land.' He saw the monks Buddhayasās, Huichi, and Tanshūn beside the Buddha, who stepped forward, bowed to Yuan, and said: 'The Dharma Master's aspiration preceded ours; why do you arrive so late?' Yuan saw them clearly with his own eyes, so he spoke of it to his disciples, saying: 'When I first dwelt here for eleven years, I fortunately saw the sacred manifestations three times in the Pure Land. Now seeing them again, my rebirth in the Pure Land is certain.' The next day he fell ill, and on the seventh day he died. In his youth, Yuan was widely read in the classics and histories, and was especially versed in Zhuangzi and Laozi. When he went to Mount Taihang and heard Dharma Master Dao'an lecturing on the Prajñā-sūtra, he was suddenly enlightened, and said: 'The diverse doctrines of the nine schools are mere chaff and husks.' He then shaved his hair and served him. Later he arrived at Mount Lu and did not leave for thirty years. He died at the age of eighty-two.