往生西方淨土瑞應傳 1.15

1.15

隋朝天台顗禪師頴川人。陳代講淨名經次。忽見三道寶階從空而下。數十梵僧執爐。入堂遶顗三迊。顗遂告曰。吾從生已來。坐向西方。念阿彌陀佛摩訶般若觀音勢至。威神之力不過此也。吾多請觀音懺悔。從染疾來。西方之念彌切。吾應隨去。有送藥者。答曰。病不與身合。年不與心合。藥豈能遣病乎。吾生勞毒器。死脫休歸。觀音勢至今來迎我。令唱法花經題。讚曰。法門父母。慧解由生。微妙難測。絕於今日。又唱無量壽經。讚曰。四十八願。莊嚴淨土。花池寶樹。易往無人。又命維那曰。臨終聞鐘。增其正念。且各默然。吾將去矣。言訖而終。年六十。開皇十七年十一月二十四日遷化。造寺四十五所。度僧四千人。寫經十五藏。造金銀旃檀像十萬餘體。即智者法空大師也。

Dhyāna Master Zhiyi of Mount Tiantai during the Sui dynasty was a native of Yingchuan. During the Chen dynasty, while lecturing on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, he suddenly saw three flights of jeweled stairs descend from empty space, and several dozen Indian monks holding incense burners entered the hall and circumambulated Zhiyi three times. Zhiyi thereupon declared, "Throughout my life, I have sat facing west, practicing buddhamanasikāra toward Amitābha, Mahāprajñā, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta; the awesome spiritual power [of the Dharma] does not exceed this. I have often petitioned Avalokiteśvara in kṣamā. Since contracting this illness, my thought of the Western Pure Land has grown ever more earnest; I should follow and go." When someone brought medicine, he replied, "Illness does not unite with the body; age does not unite with the mind. How could medicine dispel illness? In life I was burdened by this poisonous vessel; in death I am released and return to rest. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta have now come to welcome me." He ordered the title of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra to be recited, praising it: "Father and mother of the Dharma gate, / From which wisdom and understanding arise; / Subtle, wondrous, and hard to fathom, / It terminates on this day." He also had the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra recited, praising it: "The forty-eight vows / Adorn the Pure Land; / Flower ponds and jeweled trees, / It is easy to reach, yet few people go." He further instructed the karmadāna, saying, "At the point of death, hearing the bell increases one's right mindfulness. Let everyone remain silent; I am about to depart." When he finished speaking, he passed away at the age of sixty. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month in the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang reign era, he passed away. He had constructed forty-five temples, ordained four thousand monks, copied fifteen sets of the tripiṭaka, and made over one hundred thousand gold, silver, and sandalwood images. He was the Great Master Zhizhe Fakong.