淨土往生傳 1.21

1.21

Shi Sengrou, whose secular surname was Tao, was a native of Danyang in Runzhou. At the age of nine he engaged in study, his outstanding talent blossoming naturally. None of the elders of his village failed to praise his exceptional brilliance. Later, meeting Dharma Master Hongcheng, he abandoned his hairpins to become a monk. Cheng had great renown; at that time students came shoulder to shoulder to rely on him. Rou attended at his side, daily receiving his guidance and inspiration; therefore, the various vaipulya scriptures he studied were all penetrated to their profound subtleties. Later he entered Lingjiu Monastery on Mount Bai in Shan. A monk of the monastery dreamed at night of people holding axes and battle-axes in a procession filling the mountain slope. A monk questioned them, and a person said, 'Dharma Master Rou is arriving; we are going to welcome him.' When dawn came, Rou indeed arrived. The monastery monks vied to report the matter and marveled at Rou. Rou said, 'That I was seen by spirits—what is so marvelous about that?' Emperors such as Taizu, Shizu, and Wenxuan of the Qi dynasty all knew his name. Time and again they summoned him by imperial decree to Ye, showing him special imperial favor. Yet Rou did not mingle with the secular world nor prize fame, nor did he allow the waxing and waning of worldly conditions to affect his mind. He focused his mind solely on the karma for the Pure Land. Whenever the sun's chariot sank westward, he would compose his countenance, rectify his thoughts, and express his vows one by one. On the day of his death, Rou saw transformation buddhas, numbering nearly hundreds of thousands, and also smelled extraordinary fragrance wafting repeatedly inside and outside his room. Rou said, 'The extraordinary fragrance comes and brushes my robes; the sages and worthies embrace me—where will we return?' He then ordered a mat spread on the ground, faced west and reverently paid homage, immediately translating his spirit. His age was sixty-four. His complete body was buried to the south of that mountain. The śramaṇa Sengyou was closest to Rou; he gathered the details from his beginning to his end and carved them on stone.