廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.55

4.55

公姓文，諱彥博。守洛陽，嘗致齋往龍安寺瞻禮聖像，忽見像壞墮地略不加敬，但瞻視而出。傍有僧曰：「何不作禮？」公曰：「像既壞，吾將何禮？」僧曰：「先德道『譬如官路土，人掘以為像，智者知路土，凡人謂像生。後時官欲行，還將像填路。像本不生滅，路亦無新故。』」公聞之有省，由是慕道甚力，專念阿彌陀佛期生淨土，晨香夜坐未嘗少廢。每發願曰：「願我常精進，勤修一切善。願我了心宗，廣度諸含識。」每見一切人則勸以念佛，誓結十萬人緣同生淨土。如如居士有頌贊曰「知公膽氣大如天，願結西方十萬緣。不為一身求活計，大家齊上渡頭船。」

The Duke's surname was Wen, and his taboo name was Yanbo. When he served as the prefect of Luoyang, he once observed a fast and went to Long'an Temple to pay homage to a sacred image. Suddenly seeing that the image had broken and fallen to the ground, he showed not the slightest reverent regard, but merely gazed at it and walked out. A monk by his side asked, "Why do you not make obeisance?" The Duke replied, "Since the image is already ruined, to what should I bow?" The monk said, "An ancient worthy declared: 'It is like the earth of the public highway: people dig it up to make an image; the wise know it is highway earth, while the common person says an image has arisen. Later, when an official wishes to travel, the image is used once more to fill the road. The image fundamentally neither arises nor ceases, and the road likewise has neither new nor old.'" Upon hearing this, the Duke had an awakening. From then on, he aspired toward the Way with great vigor, focusing exclusively on chanting the name of Amitābha Buddha and expecting rebirth in the Pure Land, never neglecting his morning incense and evening sitting meditation in the least. He always made this vow: "May I be ever diligent / and vigorously cultivate all good. / May I comprehend the Mind lineage, / and broadly deliver all sentient beings." Whenever he saw anyone, he would exhort them to buddhānusmṛti, vowing to forge bonds with a hundred thousand people to be reborn together in the Pure Land. Upāsaka Ruru praised him in verse: "I know the Duke's spirit is as vast as the heavens, / vowing to forge a hundred thousand bonds for the Western Direction. / Seeking no livelihood for his own single person, / may everyone board the ferry-boat together!"