佛祖統紀 27.58

27.58

Zijue lived at the Chonglin Cloister on Mount Ping, where he preached to ghosts and spirits for three years, frequently experiencing auspicious responses. He once made forty-eight vows, wishing that through Avalokiteśvara's great compassion he might meet Amitābha Buddha. Thereupon he led the assembly in building a temple and casting a forty-nine-foot statue of the Great Compassionate One. Prostrating before the statue, he declared his vow: 'The holy image is completed and the pure monastery is finished. I vow to rely on the holy power to ascend early to the Land of Peaceful Nurture.' In the middle of the night, he suddenly saw two rays of auspicious golden light, with the Buddha and Bodhisattvas flanking them to the left and right. The Buddha lowered his hand, touched Jue's head, and said, 'Keep your vow and do not change it; make benefiting living beings your priority. In the end, you will attain your wish to be born in the jeweled pond.' Eleven years later, he saw a great deity reveal half his body from the clouds and say to him, 'The time for the Land of Peaceful Nurture has arrived.' He immediately sat cross-legged before the image and passed away.