佛祖統紀 26.12

26.12

法師少康。縉雲周氏。母羅氏。夢遊鼎湖峯有玉女以青蓮華授之曰。此華吉祥當生貴子。及生青光滿室作芙蕖香。七歲未語。相者奇之。母携至靈山寺。指殿佛謂之曰。汝敬佛不遽。答曰。我佛釋迦誰不為敬。父母愈敬異。遂舍令出家。年十五誦通法華楞嚴等五部。尋往會稽嘉祥學究律部。後詣上元龍興。聽華嚴瑜伽諸論。唐貞元年初。洛下白馬寺。見殿中文籍放光。探之乃善導和上西方化導文。師曰。若於淨土有緣當更放光。言已光復閃爍。師曰。劫石可磨我願無易。遂至長安光明寺善導和上影堂。大陳薦獻。倏見遺像升空。而謂之曰。汝依吾教廣化有情。他日功成必生安養。師聞佛音如有所證。乃南適江陵。路逢僧曰。汝欲化人當往新定（今嚴州是）言訖而隱。師既入郡。人無識者。乃乞錢誘小兒曰。阿彌陀佛是汝導師。念佛一聲與汝一錢。兒務錢者隨聲念之。月餘孩孺念佛覓錢者眾。師乃曰。能念佛十聲者與一錢。如此一年。無少長貴賤。見師者皆稱阿彌陀佛。念佛之聲盈滿道路。十年乃於烏龍山建淨土道場。築臺三級集眾行道。師每升座高聲唱佛。眾見一佛從口而出。連唱十聲則見十佛。師曰。汝見佛者決得往生。時眾數千有不見者。嗚呼自責愈加精進。二十一年十月三日囑累道族。當於淨土起忻樂心。於閻浮提起厭離心。汝曹此時能見光明。真我弟子。遂放異光數道而逝。郡人為建塔於臺岩。漢乾祐三年。天台韶國師勸人重修其塔。後人多指師為後善導云。

Dharma Master Shaokang was from the Zhou clan of Jinyun. His mother, née Luo, dreamed that she wandered on the peak of Dinghu, where a jade maiden handed her a blue lotus flower, saying, 'This flower is auspicious; you will give birth to a noble son.' When he was born, blue light filled the room, giving off the fragrance of lotuses. At seven years old, he had not yet spoken, and physiognomists were amazed by him. His mother took him to Lingshan Monastery, and pointing to the Buddha in the hall, said to him, 'Do you revere the Buddha, or not yet?' He replied, 'He is our Buddha Śākya; who would not revere him?' His parents revered his wondrousness even more, and thereupon let him leave household life. At the age of fifteen, he had memorized and mastered five texts, including the Lotus and Śūraṅgama sūtras. Soon he went to Jiaxiang in Kuaiji to thoroughly study the Vinaya division. Later he went to Longxing in Shangyuan to listen to various treatises of the Avataṃsaka and Yogācāra. In the beginning of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang dynasty, at Baima Monastery in Luoyang, he saw the texts in the hall emitting light. Reaching for them, they turned out to be Upādhyāya Shandao's Western Guidance Writings. The master said, 'If I have affinity with the Pure Land, let them emit light again.' Having spoken, the light flickered once more. The master said, 'An eon-stone may be worn away, but my vow will not change!' He then went to Upādhyāya Shandao's portrait hall at Guangming Monastery in Chang'an, where he made grand offerings. Suddenly he saw the memorial portrait rise into the air, and it said to him, 'Rely on my teaching to broadly convert sentient beings; when your merit is completed in the future, you will certainly be born in Anyang.' Hearing the Buddha's voice, the master felt as though he had attained realization. He then went south to Jiangling. On the road he met a monk who said, 'If you wish to convert people, you should go to Xinding' (this is present-day Yanzhou). Having spoken, he disappeared. Once the master entered the prefecture, no one recognized him. He then begged for coins and enticed small children, saying, 'Amitābha Buddha is your guide; recite the Buddha's name once and I will give you one coin.' The children, seeking coins, recited along with his voice. After more than a month, many children were reciting the Buddha's name in search of coins. The master then said, 'Those who can recite the Buddha's name ten times will be given one coin.' After a year like this, whether young or old, noble or lowly, everyone who saw the master called upon Amitābha Buddha; the sound of reciting the Buddha's name filled the roads. In the tenth year, he established a Pure Land bodhimaṇḍa on Mount Wulong, building a three-tiered terrace and gathering the assembly to circumambulate and practice. Whenever the master ascended the seat and chanted the Buddha's name in a loud voice, the assembly saw a Buddha issue from his mouth; if he chanted ten times in succession, they saw ten Buddhas. The master said, 'Those of you who see the Buddha will decisively attain rebirth.' At that time, among the several thousand people in the assembly, some did not see it; lamenting and reproaching themselves, they became even more vigorous. On the third day of the tenth month in the twenty-first year, he gave his final charge to the monastic community: 'You should give rise to a mind of joyful longing for the Pure Land, and give rise to a mind of loathing and renunciation toward Jambudvīpa. If you can see light at this time, you are truly my disciples.' He then emitted several beams of extraordinary light and passed away. The people of the prefecture built a pagoda for him at Taiyan. In the third year of the Qianyou era of the Later Han, National Preceptor Shao of Tiantai urged people to rebuild his pagoda. Later people mostly referred to the master as the Latter Shandao.