佛祖統紀 28.42

28.42

孫抃。武林人。號無諍居士（母龔氏別有傳）幼學易。因曰。易所以窮理盡性。何必區區為進取計。掩關晦迹居絕俗務。沙門守寧與之交。謂曰。白樂天以儒修身。以釋治性。君聞之乎。抃深契僧語。日閱華嚴金剛彌陀經。嘗夢至蓮池與清照亨律師同立其側。又夢一人持書金字梵體。讀之不解。人曰。請十三日齋耳。十二月十三日忽得疾。請妙光律師欲為祈禱。抃曰。生死已定何必禱之。乃與開導往生淨土之旨。即加趺作印西向坐化。翌日清照至為入龕歸菴。三日亦坐亡。應同立蓮池之讖。

Sun Bian was a native of Wulin, styled Retired Scholar Wuzheng (Non-Contention; his mother, Madame Gong, has a separate biography). In his youth he studied the Yijing (Book of Changes) and remarked: 'The Book of Changes is that by which one exhausts principle and fully explores nature; why should one bother with the trivial pursuit of advancement?' He shut his gates, obscured his traces, and lived detached from secular affairs. The śramaṇa Shouning befriended him and said to him: 'Bai Letian used Confucianism to cultivate his person, and Buddhism to regulate his nature. Have you heard of this?' Bian resonated deeply with the monk's words. Daily he read the Avataṃsaka, the Diamond, and the Amitābha Sūtras. He once dreamt of arriving at a lotus pond and standing at its side together with Vinaya Master Heng of Qingzhao. He also dreamt of a person holding a text written in Sanskrit golden characters, which he read but could not understand. The person said: 'It is merely inviting you to a vegetarian feast on the thirteenth day.' On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, he suddenly fell ill. His relatives wished to invite Vinaya Master Miaoguang to pray for him, but Bian said: 'Life and death are already determined; why bother to pray?' Thereupon he expounded to them the principle of rebirth in the Pure Land. He then sat cross-legged, made a mudrā, and passed away sitting facing west. The next day, Qingzhao arrived to place him in his coffin and returned to his hermitage. Three days later, Qingzhao also passed away while sitting, fulfilling the prophecy of their standing together by the lotus pond.