佛祖統紀 26.12

26.12

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.