淨土往生傳 1.20

1.20

釋法琳。俗姓樂晉原人也。落䰂于本郡。志學于蜀郡。常謂蜀中無師。慨然有不足歎。及隱公至。琳乃以日兼夜。委心師問。隱歸陝西。琳亦隨之。數載之後。諸部毘尼。洞曉持犯。尋又還蜀。止靈建寺。蜀之僧尼。駕跡宗奉不可勝數。而琳之心若亡焉。琳於律部。而外談佛國土。必指極樂為受生處。以故早暮常誦觀經。以繫諸念。或時誦之。輒見一僧形甚魁大以在其右。琳雖異之。不甞形諸口吻。惟執侍小童子見焉。齊建武二年。不悆且見一大寶樹。樹下有三蓮華。華上而有一佛二菩薩像。琳大喜曰。修淨業者得見寶像。即除無量億劫重罪。吾豈其人耶。幸吾見之。不慮金蓮玉池不得而生。於是囑其後事。無費僧物。無循俗尚。當循西土火葬以簡其禮。其晚又謂僧曰。今夜爾聞鐘聲。即來視我。至于夜半。果聞鐘聲。琳乃就席閉目。違代僧徒。依其遺旨。於新繁路口。積木燔尸。煙火炎炎。三日乃熄。

Shi Falin, whose secular surname was Yue, was a native of Jinyuan. He shaved his hair in his home commandery and set his mind on learning in Shu Commandery. He often said that there were no masters in Shu, uttering deep sighs of inadequacy. When Master Yin arrived, Lin took day into night, entrusting his mind to questioning the master. When Yin returned to Shaanxi, Lin also followed him. After several years, he had thoroughly understood the keeping and breaking of the various sections of the Vinaya. Soon he returned to Shu and resided at Lingjian Monastery. The monks and nuns of Shu who rode up to follow and revere him were countless, yet Lin's mind remained detached, as if absent. Beyond the Vinaya texts, when discussing Buddha-lands, he invariably pointed to the Land of Ultimate Bliss as the place to take birth. For this reason, he constantly recited the Contemplation Sūtra morning and evening to anchor his various thoughts. Sometimes while reciting it, he would always see a monk of exceedingly tall and grand stature standing at his right side. Though Lin found this extraordinary, he never gave voice to it, and only the young attendant boy saw it. In the second year of the Jianwu era of the Qi dynasty, he fell ill and saw a great jeweled tree, beneath which were three lotus flowers, and atop the flowers were images of one buddha and two bodhisattvas. Lin rejoiced greatly and said, 'One who cultivates pure karma, on seeing the jeweled images, immediately eliminates the heavy sins of immeasurable koṭis of kalpas. Could I be such a person? Fortunate am I to have seen them; I have no fear that I will fail to be born in the golden lotuses and jade ponds.' Thereupon, he gave instructions regarding his final affairs: not to squander monastic property and not to follow secular customs, but to follow the Western method of cremation so as to simplify the rites. That evening, he also said to the monks, 'Tonight, when you hear the sound of the bell, come at once to see me.' At midnight, the sound of the bell was indeed heard. Lin then took his seat, closed his eyes, and departed from the world. His monastic disciples, following his bequeathed instructions, piled wood at the road junction of Xinfan and cremated the corpse. The flames blazed, extinguishing only after three days.