淨土往生傳 1.18

1.18

釋慧進。俗姓姚吳興烏程人也。性雄勇好任俠。年四十覺身夢幻。乃之楊都高座寺出家焉。進以中年出家。不能窮賾圓頓。願誦法華。以畢殘報。用心勞苦。執卷病生。歎曰豈業障深厚。如來之教難勝耶。乃復發願。造經百部。以悔先障。始聚錢一千六百。一夕群賊來寇。進無驚撓。惟俯身合掌指其錢曰。此經錢也。出於檀越之家。吾無有焉。群賊聞之愧𧹞而去。爾後果成百部。部帙既滿。病亦隨損。進迴所營功德。俱資淨土。願心深固。俄有空聲。告曰汝事已辦。願亦已遂。其生淨土。非汝而誰。進聞之曰。進本不敢以冀上品。但下品之下。亦其無退轉矣。至齊永明三年。無病而卒。卒年八十餘。

Shi Huijin, whose secular surname was Yao, was a native of Wucheng in Wuxing. By nature he was brave, valiant, and fond of chivalric deeds. At the age of forty, realizing that his body was like a dream and an illusion, he went to Gaozuo Monastery in the capital Yangdu and left the household. Because Jin had left the household in middle age, he could not probe the mysteries of the perfect and sudden [teaching], so he vowed to recite the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka to finish out his remaining retribution body. He applied his mind so laboriously that, holding the scrolls, he fell ill. He sighed and said, 'Could it be that my karmic obstacles are so deep and heavy, and the Tathāgata's teaching so hard to master?' He then made another vow to produce a hundred sets of the scripture to repent of his past obstacles. At first, he gathered sixteen hundred cash. One night, a band of bandits came to raid; Jin was neither startled nor disturbed, but only bowed his body, pressed his palms together, and pointed to the money, saying, 'This is scripture money, derived from the households of dānapatis; I possess nothing.' When the bandits heard this, they withdrew in shame and contrition. After this, he indeed completed the hundred sets. As the fascicles reached their full number, his illness also cleared up accordingly. Jin dedicated the merit he had achieved entirely to assist his rebirth in the Pure Land, his resolute vow being deep and firm. Presently, a voice from the sky announced to him, saying, 'Your task is already done, and your vow is also fulfilled. As for being born in the Pure Land, who could it be if not you?' Jin heard this and said, 'Jin originally did not dare hope for the superior grade; but even in the lowest of the low grades, there will be no falling back.' In the third year of the Yongming era of the Qi dynasty, he passed away without illness, at an age of over eighty.