淨土往生傳 1.19

1.19

Shi Huiguang, whose secular surname was Yang, was a native of Yifeng in Dingzhou. At the age of thirteen, he accompanied his father to Luoyang and met Chan Master Fotuo. Admiring his possession of the Way, he received the three refuges from him. Fotuo, seeing that Guang possessed extraordinary marks and would surely be able to propagate and bear the superior Dharma, encouraged him to follow the Buddha. Once Guang devoted himself to the Buddha's path, he applied himself diligently to study, memorizing several thousand words daily. In addition, he investigated profound purports as though guided by past awakening. Whenever inquiries were addressed to him at any time, Guang would surely give guidance that was clear and pleasant to hear. The people of Dingzhou called him the 'Holy Śrāmaṇera.' When he received full ordination, he greatly assisted the holy teaching. People of the time revered his virtue and often opened their purses to give to him, without an empty day all year round. Guang redirected all that was given to him to support the solitary and impoverished. He once composed commentaries on the Four-Part Vinaya, as well as the Avataṃsaka, the Nirvāṇa, the Daśabhūmika, and other texts, all exhausting the provisional and the real. Eminent worthies of the Qi dynasty, such as Supervisor Gao Longzhi and Marshall Linghu Ziru, all revered him. Yet, though Guang's practice was meticulous and arduous, he had never definitively settled upon which Buddha-land to entrust his rebirth to. When his illness reached an extreme gravity, heavenly hosts suddenly appeared. Guang then devoted his utmost sincerity, prostrating his head to the ground to beg to return to Anyang. In less than an instant, he saw the transformation buddhas and transformation bodhisattvas of the Pure Land filling the empty sky. Guang said, 'May the Buddha alone gather me in and fulfill my original vow!' He also said to his disciples, 'The transformation buddhas and bodhisattvas are beyond number. If I can lift my robes and follow behind them, my wish will be satisfied.' Thereupon, snapping his fingers and clearing his throat, his words and breath ceased together.