廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.57

4.57

師俗姓申氏，本貫潞州黎城人也。自幼年於本州延祥院出家，禮僧道恭為師，年十六落髮授具。少通義學，為時所稱。長而遍訪名師廣弘知見，自爾講林德譽垂五十年。以大藏為遊息，以圓頓作門庭，先講《圓覺》等經，後集《圓覺》、《十六觀經》等疏。老年多於唐鄧汝頴之間講淨土《觀經》，兼勸人念佛求生安養，是時聽者如雲，皆稟淨業。後於唐州青臺鎮誓求安養，念佛觀想以為常住，三業四儀未嘗暫忘。大宋政和四年四月二十七日，忽於夢中見彌陀化佛，告曰：「汝說法只有六日在，後當生淨土也。」師覺白眾曰：「吾修求安養，似得因緣相應。適來化佛告我得生淨土，敢不信乎？」次日雖覺不豫，講唱不輟。於當年五月初四日丑時自知時至，乃鳴鐘集眾告曰：「因緣聚散固當有時，淨土勝緣唯憑時刻。幸望大眾念佛助往。」又告曰：「享年七十六，四大分離處，淨土禮彌陀，永超三界苦。」言訖坐滅，滿空雷鳴、白雲覆地，從西而來，三日方歇。師先有瑪瑙念珠一串、臨終盤於指上、眾人竟不能取。感應事繁、如別處說。

The master's secular surname was Shen; he was originally a native of Licheng in Lu prefecture. From childhood he went forth from household life at Yanxiang Cloister in his home prefecture, taking the monk Daogong as his teacher. At the age of sixteen, his head was shaved and he was conferred the full precepts. In his youth he penetrated doctrinal study and was praised by his contemporaries. Upon reaching adulthood, he visited famous teachers far and wide to broadly propagate knowledge and insight, and from that time on his virtuous reputation in the lecture groves lasted for nearly fifty years. Taking the great canon as his place of leisure and the perfect and sudden as his gate, he first lectured on sūtras such as the *Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra*, and later compiled commentaries on texts such as the *Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra* and the *Sixteen Contemplations Sūtra*. In his later years, he often lectured on the Pure Land *Guan jing* between the regions of Tang, Deng, Ru, and Ying, simultaneously exhorting people to practice buddhānusmṛti and seek rebirth in Sukhāvatī. At that time, listeners gathered like clouds, all receiving the pure karma. Later, at the town of Qingtai in Tang prefecture, he vowed to seek Sukhāvatī, making buddhānusmṛti and contemplation his constant abiding, never for a moment forgetting them across the three modes of karma and four postures. On the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month in the fourth year of the Zhenghe reign of the Great Song dynasty, he suddenly saw a transformed Buddha Amitābha in a dream, who told him: "You have only six days of preaching the Dharma remaining; after that, you shall be reborn in the Pure Land." Upon awakening, the master announced to the assembly: "My cultivation in seeking Sukhāvatī seems to have attained corresponding conditions. Just now the transformed Buddha told me that I would attain rebirth in the Pure Land; how could I dare not believe it?" The next day, although he felt unwell, he did not cease his lecturing and chanting. On the fourth day of the fifth month of that year, at the hour of chou [1:00–3:00 a.m.], knowing his time had arrived, he struck the bell, assembled the community, and announced: "The gathering and dispersing of conditions certainly have their times; the supreme conditions for the Pure Land depend solely on this moment. I rely on the assembly's buddhānusmṛti to assist my departure." He further announced: "Enjoying a life of seventy-six years, / at the parting of the four great elements, / I pay homage to Amitābha in the Pure Land, / forever transcending the suffering of the three realms." Having finished speaking, he passed away while sitting. The entire sky resounded with thunder, and white clouds covered the earth, arriving from the west and dispersing only after three days. The master previously possessed a rosary of agate beads, which wound about his fingers at his final hour; the assembly could not remove it at all. The marvels of resonance and response were manifold, as recounted in other records.