往生西方淨土瑞應傳 1.7

1.7

Dhyāna Master Daozhen of the Liang dynasty practiced buddhamanasikāra on Mount Lu. While performing water contemplation, he dreamed of seeing water, on which a hundred people were aboard a boat intending to go to the Western Pure Land. He asked to board, but the people on the boat would not allow it. Daozhen said, "I have cultivated the karma for the Western Pure Land all my life; why will you not allow it?" A person on the boat said, "Your karma is not yet complete: you have not yet recited the Amitābha Sūtra, nor have you constructed a bathhouse." Thereupon the people on the boat set out all at once. Since Daozhen could not go, he wept and awoke. He then recited the sūtra and provided baths for monks. After a long time, he dreamed again: a person riding a silver tower raised his hand and said, "Dhyāna Master Zhen, your karma is now complete; direct your mind well. I have come purposely to inform you: you are certain to be reborn in the Western Pure Land." On the night of his death, several thousand torches seemed to be lined up on the mountain peak, and a miraculous fragrance filled the temple. Afterward, his post-mortem record written while alive was found in a sūtra box; before his death, he had not spoken of it to anyone at all.