淨土往生傳 1.20

1.20

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.