[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [淨土往生傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071) › 3.15 # 淨土往生傳 3.15 淨土往生傳 3.15 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3.15) 釋鴻莒。俗姓唐永嘉人也。出家于會稽龍興寺。就學于長安寶興寺。長安之人。以為僧門秀異。無如莒者。而莒謙謙。未始以自得。甞與陳留蔡圭。遊化度寺。寺有碑文。莒讀之目贍數行。圭心異之。問莒曰。子能誦乎。莒曰。稍誦之。因覆其文了無一誤。圭疑莒偶熟其文。復之崇聖寺。寺碑僅十片。與莒偕讀。纔一過。覆而誦之亦如初。圭歎曰。吾忝為儒聞之俊人。而目未之見。今日見之於子矣。莒不答。暮年游越。越之僧尼。請為二眾依止。其為行有常。其所游有方含育慈忍。未甞叱猫犬。其於人也可知矣。每誦觀經。結想于安養。疊感祥異。而莒擯而不說。後唐天成三年。水澇之後民荐飢饉。有盜入其室。莒心無撓。反謂盜曰。汝曹但為天災所困餘無他矣。過此一時。當自惜之。盜者愧焉。弟子有欲襲其無備。莒曰。汝之至此。非吾弟子。吾當捨汝去矣。弟子乃止。後唐長興四年。恬然無病。謂弟子曰。淨土勝相。適已來現。吾之謝世。汝當易新衣。以畢吾事。其夕三更。果謝世焉。棺斂之三日。一夕倏聞扣棺。弟子發棺。莒乃自棺而起曰。吾甞告汝。易以新衣。汝負吾言。今茲海眾謂我衣物不潔。或難親之。故我就汝易焉。易畢長謝如初。 > Shi Hongju, secular surname Tang, was a native of Yongjia. He was ordained as a monk at Longxing Monastery in Kuaiji, and went to study at Baoxing Monastery in Chang'an. The people of Chang'an regarded him as having no equal among the Buddhist sangha for brilliance and distinction. Yet Hongju was modest and courteous, never satisfied with himself. He once traveled to Huadu Monastery with Cai Gui of Chenliu. There was an inscribed stele at the monastery; Hongju glanced through it, taking in several lines at a glance. Gui thought it extraordinary and asked Hongju, "Can you recite it?" Hongju said, "I can recite a little of it." He then repeated its text with not a single error. Gui suspected that Hongju just happened to be familiar with that text, and they went again to Chongsheng Monastery, which had nearly ten stele tablets. Reading them together with Hongju, after just one reading, he repeated and recited them just as before. Gui sighed and said, "Though unworthy, I am known as a talent among the literati, yet I had never seen such a thing with my own eyes. Today I have seen it in you!" Hongju did not reply. In his later years, he traveled in the Yue region. The monks and nuns of Yue asked him to be a refuge for both assemblies. His conduct was constant, his travels purposeful; he harbored compassion and forbearance, never having scolded even a cat or a dog. How he was toward people can well be known! Whenever he recited the Visualization Sūtra, he focused his thoughts on Anyang. Auspicious and unusual signs repeatedly occurred in response, yet Hongju set them aside and did not speak of them. In the third year of the Tiancheng reign era of the Later Tang, after a flood, the people suffered repeated famines. A thief entered his room, but Hongju's mind was undisturbed. Instead, he said to the thief, "You are merely distressed by natural calamity, with no other intent. Once this period has passed, you should value yourself." The thief felt ashamed. One of his disciples wished to strike the thief while he was unprepared. Hongju said, "If you have come to this, you are not my disciple. I must leave you." The disciple then stopped. In the fourth year of the Changxing reign era of the Later Tang, placid and free of illness, he said to his disciples, "The auspicious signs of the Pure Land have just appeared. When I depart this world, you must change me into new robes to complete my affairs." That evening at the third watch, he indeed departed this world. Three days after he was encoffined, one evening a knocking on the coffin was suddenly heard. The disciples opened the coffin, and Hongju rose from the coffin and said, "I once told you to change me into new robes, yet you failed my words. Just now, the ocean-like assembly said my robes were impure and that it would be difficult to draw near them. Therefore I have come to you to change them." After the change was completed, he took his final leave as before. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 3.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3.14) - [Next: 3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3.16) - [Up: 3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071~en-mt.3.15) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2071.3.15) · Pramāṇa