淨土往生傳 1.22

1.22

Shi Tanluan was a native of Yanmen. When young, he traveled to Mount Wutai, and moved by its divine marvels, he vowed to leave secular life. He mastered the texts and tenets of the three vehicles, both sudden and gradual. Once, while reading the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra, he found its phrases and meaning deeply obscure and difficult to comprehend, so he took up his brush to compose an extensive commentary. He also once fell ill; walking as far as Fenchuan, he suddenly saw the dark clouds abruptly vanish and the gates of heaven open wide, revealing the stages of the six desire realms layered above and below. Just as Tanluan blinked, his illness was cured. From that time on, Tanluan applied his mind to the Buddha's path, always as if he could never catch up, educating the unlearned and guiding the laypeople, whether near or far. Earlier, Tanluan had been fond of the occult arts. Hearing that Tao Hongjing in Jiangnan had obtained the Daoist methods of longevity, he traveled a thousand li to study with him in order to complete his training. Tao bestowed ten fascicles of immortal scriptures upon him. Tanluan was delighted and content, believing that the art of the immortals was certainly true. Later, he returned to Luoyang and met Bodhiruci, whom he held in high esteem. He asked Bodhiruci: "Does the Buddha's path have a way to achieve longevity? Can it stave off old age and bring about immortality?" Bodhiruci laughed and replied: "Immortality and longevity belong to our Buddha's path. What could the Daoists have of them?" He then handed him the Contemplation of Amitāyus Sūtra, saying: "If you recite this, you will never again be reborn in the three realms or wander endlessly through the six destinies. Waxing and waning, growth and decay, misfortune and blessing, success and failure will find no omen [in you], and that is your longevity. There is the kalpa-stone and there are the sands of the Ganges: the sands of the Ganges have an end, but the count of this lifespan has no limit. This is the longevity of our Golden Immortal." Tanluan accepted his words, was suddenly filled with deep faith, burned the immortal scriptures he had studied, and focused exclusively on the Contemplation Sūtra. Whenever he grasped its principles and meaning, he cultivated the threefold meritorious karma and visualized the nine grades; even through changes of cold and heat or the onset of illness, he never slackened in his initial resolve. The ruler of Wei, admiring his aspiration and praising his extensive self-cultivation and transformation of others, named him "Divine Luan" and decreed that he dwell at Dayan Monastery in Bingzhou. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Xuanzhong Monastery in Bigu of Fenzhou. One night, while Tanluan was reciting, he saw an Indian monk approach with an imposing bearing, enter his room, and say: "I am Nāgārjuna. My dwelling place is the Pure Land. Because you have a mind set upon the Pure Land, I have come to see you." Tanluan said: "What instruction do you have for me?" Nāgārjuna said: "What has passed cannot be reached; what is to come cannot be pursued. Where is the present right now? The white colt [of time] cannot be turned back." Having spoken, he disappeared. Tanluan, considering the extraordinary nature of what he had seen, knew that the time of his death had surely arrived. He immediately gathered several hundred disciples and delivered earnest instructions: "Toilsome are the four kinds of birth; their ceasing has no set day. The various sufferings of hell must be feared; the pure karma of the nine grades must be cultivated." He then ordered the disciples to raise their voices in unison and chant "Amitābha." Tanluan turned toward the west, closed his eyes, bowed his head to the ground, and entered extinction. At that time, both monastics and laypeople heard the sounds of flutes and strings coming from the west and fading away to the west. The ruler of Wei said: "This was truly a genuine practitioner among the Buddha's disciples; his destination is certain." He ordered him buried in Wengu, west of Fen, and had a stele erected recording what he had practiced throughout his life.