淨土往生傳 3.3

3.3

釋僧衒。并州壽陽人。少念慈氏。期生于內院。至年九十。遇道綽禪師。以淨土誘掖。未悟始迴心焉。衒以迫其頹暮。積累之功不大。於是早暮。禮佛常千拜。念佛之號常萬遍。寤寐勤策。兢兢而不懈者三年。真元九年有疾。至于大漸謂弟子曰。吾有漏人。方茲有疾詎意。阿彌陀佛授我香衣。觀音勢至示我寶手。由此以西皆淨土境。吾其從佛去矣遂終。終之既七日。異香不散。并汾之人。因於淨土發信焉。時汾西悟真寺。有啟芳圓果二法師。昔甞以老敬衒。加又目擊其事。乃於觀音像前。懺露往咎。仍折楊枝。置觀音手。誓曰。芳等若於淨土果有緣耶。當使楊枝七日不萎。至期而楊枝益茂。芳果慶抃。以夕兼晝。不捨觀念。後數月。一夕於觀念中忽覺。自臨七寶大池。池間有大寶帳。身入其中。且見觀音勢至坐寶華臺。臺下蓮華彌滿千萬。阿彌陀佛。由西而來。坐一最大蓮華。華出光明。互相輝映。芳等前禮問曰。閻浮眾生。依經念佛得生此耶。佛告芳曰。如念我名。皆生我國。無有一念而不生者。又見其國。地平如掌。寶幢珠網。上下間錯。又見一僧御一寶車逐。逐而來謂芳等曰。吾法藏也。以夙願因故來迎汝。芳等乘車前邁。又覺其身坐寶蓮華。又聞釋迦如來與文殊菩薩。以梵音聲稱讚淨土。其前又有大殿。殿有三道寶階。第一道上純是白衣。第二道上僧俗相半。其第三道惟僧無俗。佛指道上僧俗。謂芳曰。此皆閻浮念佛之人。遂生矣。汝奚不自勉也。芳果既寤。歷與其儔言之。之五日二人無病。遽聞鐘聲。問之傍僧。咸曰不聞。芳果曰。鐘聲乃我事。非爾有矣。不頃刻二人同終焉。

Shi Sengxuan was a native of Shouyang in Bingzhou. In his youth, he contemplated Maitreya and aspired to be born in the Inner Court. When he reached the age of ninety, he met Chan Master Daochuo, who guided and encouraged him with the Pure Land. Though he had not yet awakened, he then turned his mind [toward it]. Since Sengxuan was pressed by his declining years and had accumulated little merit, he thereafter made a thousand bows before the Buddha and recited the Buddha's name ten thousand times each morning and evening. Awake or asleep, he diligently urged himself on, fearful and vigilant without slackening for three years. In the ninth year of Zhenyuan he fell ill, and when his condition became grave, he said to his disciples: "I am a man of outflows; now that I am afflicted with this illness, who would have thought that Amitābha would confer upon me a fragrant robe, and Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta would show me their jeweled hands? From here westward, all is the realm of the Pure Land. I shall follow the Buddha and depart!" He then passed away. Seven days after his passing, an extraordinary fragrance had not dispersed. Because of this, the people of Bingzhou and Fenzhou developed faith in the Pure Land. At that time, at Wuzhen Monastery west of Fen, there were two Dharma masters, Qifang and Yuanguo. Formerly, they had respected Sengxuan for his old age, and moreover had witnessed these events with their own eyes. They therefore repented and revealed their past transgressions before a statue of Avalokiteśvara, and broke a willow branch, placing it in Avalokiteśvara's hand, vowing: "If we, Qifang and the other, truly have an affinity with the Pure Land, let this willow branch not wither for seven days!" When the time came, the willow branch was even more luxuriant. Qifang and Yuanguo rejoiced and clapped their hands, and joining night to day, did not abandon their contemplation and recitation. Several months later, one night during their contemplation, they suddenly became aware of themselves approaching a great pool of seven jewels. In the pool was a great jeweled canopy, and they entered within it. They also saw Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta seated on jeweled lotus daises, beneath which lotus blossoms fully filled [the space by] tens of thousands. Amitābha came from the west and sat upon the largest lotus blossom, and the blossoms emitted radiance that mutually shone upon one another. Qifang and the other stepped forward, bowed, and asked: "Can the sentient beings of Jambudvīpa be born here by reciting the Buddha's name according to the sūtras?" The Buddha told Qifang: "If they recite my name, all will be born in my land; there is not a single thought [of my name] that does not bring rebirth." They also saw that the ground of that land was as flat as the palm of a hand, with jeweled banners and pearl nets interlinked above and below. They also saw a monk driving a jeweled chariot who came swiftly and said to Qifang and the other: "I am Dharmākara. Because of the cause of past vows, I have come to welcome you." Qifang and the other mounted the chariot and proceeded forward, and felt their bodies sitting upon jeweled lotuses. They also heard Śākyamuni Tathāgata and the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī praising the Pure Land with Brahmā voices. In front of them was a great hall, which had three tiers of jeweled stairs. Upon the first tier were purely laypeople. Upon the second tier, monastics and laypeople were half and half. Upon the third tier, there were only monastics and no laypeople. The Buddha pointed to the monastics and laypeople on the stairs and said to Qifang: "These are all people from Jambudvīpa who practiced buddhānusmṛti and were thereupon born here. Why do you not exert yourselves?" After Qifang and Yuanguo awoke, they related all this to their companions. After five days, neither had any illness, but they suddenly heard the sound of a bell. Asking the nearby monks, all said they did not hear it. Qifang and Yuanguo said: "The sound of the bell is our affair; it is not for you." In no time at all, both passed away together.