高僧傳 5.14

5.14

Dao'an frequently made vows before Maitreya together with his disciple Fayu and others, aspiring to be reborn in Tuṣita. Later, on the twenty-seventh day of the first month of the twenty-first year of the Qin Jianyuan era, an unusual monk of very humble and crude appearance suddenly arrived at the monastery seeking lodging. Since the monastic cells were cramped, he was accommodated in the lecture hall. At that time, the karmadāna was on night watch in the hall and saw this monk entering and exiting through the window chinks. He hurried to report this to Dao'an. Dao'an arose in surprise, bowed, and inquired into the purpose of his coming. He replied: "I have come for your sake." Dao'an said: "Reflecting on my grave offenses, how can I be delivered?" The other replied: "You can indeed be delivered; however, if you briefly bathe the holy monk, your wish will surely be fulfilled." He fully instructed him in the method of bathing. When Dao'an asked where he would go in his next life, the monk brushed the northwestern sky with his hand; clouds immediately parted, and they fully beheld the wondrous and supreme recompense of Tuṣita. That night, several tens of people in the assembly all saw it together. Dao'an later prepared the bathing implements and saw an extraordinary small child with several tens of companions enter the monastery to play; shortly after, they went to bathe—it was indeed a sacred manifestation. On the eighth day of the second month of that year, he suddenly announced to the assembly: "I shall depart." On that day, after completing the vegetarian meal, he passed away without illness and was buried in the Wuji Temple inside the city. This was the tenth year of the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty; he was seventy-two years of age.