佛祖統紀 26.30

26.30

Dharma Master Tanxun was a native of Guangling. In his youth, he renounced the householder's life under Master Yuan. He diligently cultivated pure karma and was also skilled in lecturing. He wrote a commentary on the *Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra* that circulated in the world. He often composed the *Treatise on Adversity and Prosperity* to clarify cultivation in past lives, and compiled the *Record of the Lotus Society* to record those who attained rebirth. Furthermore, he could discern the fine and dull temperaments of birds and beasts from their fur and feathers, and fully understand the sweet and bitter properties of the branches and trunks of plants and trees, plumbing their principles to the utmost subtlety. People realized that he possessed secret realization. In the seventeenth year of the Yuanjia reign era, he gathered the assembly and addressed them, saying: “Since the founding of this monastery until now, fifty years have passed. My westward journey will be the very last among them.” He immediately sat cross-legged, recited the Buddha's name one hundred times, held his breath, and passed away. His age was eighty.