續高僧傳 25.39

25.39

釋道泰。元魏末人。住常山衡唐精舍。夢人謂曰。若至某年。當終於四十二矣。泰彌惡之。及至期年遇重病。甚憂悉以身資為福。友人曰。余聞供養六十二億菩薩。與一稱觀世音同。君何不至心歸依。可必增壽。泰乃感悟。遂於四日四夜專精不絕。所坐帷下忽見光明從戶外而入。見觀音足趺踝間金色朗照。語泰曰。念觀世音耶。比泰褰帷。頃便不復見。悲喜流汗便覺體輕。所患遂愈。年四十四。方為同意說之。泰後終於天命。更有一僧。其緣同泰。故不疏耳。

Shi Daotai was a man of the late Northern Wei. He resided at the Hengtang Aranya on Mount Chang. In a dream, a man said to him, "When you reach such-and-such a year, you will die at the age of forty-two." Tai detested this intensely. When the designated year arrived, he fell gravely ill; in great anxiety, he used all his personal wealth to create merit. A friend said to him, "I have heard that making offerings to sixty-two kotis of bodhisattvas is equal to reciting the name of Avalokiteśvara once. Why do you not take refuge with utmost devotion? Your life span can surely be prolonged." Tai had an awakening; thereupon, for four days and four nights, he concentrated his devotion without interruption.

Beneath the curtain where he sat, he suddenly saw a bright light enter from outside the door. He saw the tops of Avalokiteśvara's feet and ankles radiating bright golden light, which said to Tai, "Are you reciting Avalokiteśvara?" By the time Tai lifted the curtain, in an instant it was no longer visible. Weeping with sorrow and joy, he broke into a sweat and immediately felt his body become light; his affliction was thereupon cured. Only when he was forty-four did he recount this to like-minded friends. Tai later ended his life at the natural span allotted by Heaven. There was another monk whose circumstances were the same as Tai's, which is why they are not recounted here.