淨土往生傳 1.3

1.3

In Anāthapiṇḍada's Park, the assembly of sages and worthies was fully gathered. At that time, not a single word of request came from the assembly. The Tathāgata suddenly announced to them, saying: "Passing beyond here to the west, past a hundred thousand koṭis of lands, there is a Pure Land. That land is vast and extensive, adorned with hundreds of jewels." He also said: "If sentient beings ponder it, mindfully recollect it, and seek to be born there, all will have their wishes fulfilled." Commentators say: The twelve limbs of the teaching encompass all that exists; this is the limb of the udāna (unsolicited discourse). What is its significance? It is like a mother caressing her infant without waiting for it to ask: she only wishes to look after its limbs, suckle and feed it, and embrace it to her bosom. Now, the Tathāgata departed from Śuddhodana's palace and descended upon Kapilavastu; for fifty years he taught the Dharma, spreading compassion and nurturing beings, giving instructions according to their capacities. During this time, dragons, devas, Śakra and Brahmā, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the great assemblies of mahāsattvas cast aside heads and eyes, donated marrow and brains, and gave away external realms and precious jewels; more than once did they earnestly make requests three times. The Tathāgata at times declined or remained silent, saying, "Cease, cease! Do not speak of it." Yet when it came to this [matter], he spoke it of his own accord. Truly he grieved for the ordinary beings of the five defilements drifting incessantly through long kalpas! Now, whoever wishes to weary of the five defilements and hopes to be born in the Pure Land must focus on single-minded mindfulness. When the extremity of mindful speech is reached, it connects to contemplation; hence the sixteen contemplations provide support in graded stages. The sūtra states that the ocean of the samyaksaṃbuddhas' omniscience arises from the mental contemplation of the mind. What is the reason for this? It illuminates their beginning; it refers to pointing out their gradual progress. Practice begins with cultivation; wisdom begins with habituation; the unsurpassed, ultimate fruit begins with the deeply resolute mind. The deeply resolute mind is firm and immovable. Therefore, a single recitation transforms the suffering of the three lower paths; ten recitations form steps to the virtues of the nine grades. Although all the Mahāyāna vaipulya sūtras present and elaborate this mutually, it is not expounded by merely a single scripture. Since the Han and Wei dynasties, those who set their sincere gaze toward the west were rarely heard of; this was truly because the Great Dharma had only begun to spread and scriptural texts were not yet complete. During the Western Jin, when Liu Yao invaded and disrupted the capital of Luoyang, Sengxian took refuge in the Jiangdong region; relying for the first time on the three causal vows, he suddenly experienced auspicious omens. Yet, his earnest aspiration having encountered an age of disorder, his bequeathed style and supreme deeds were hardly known to subsequent generations. At the end of the Eastern Jin, Master [Hui]yuan rested his footsteps on Mount Lu. At that time, fellow Dharma Masters of the same aspiration—Shi Daobing, Zhu Daosheng, and Buddhayasas—together with lay elites such as Liu Yimin, Lei Cizong, Zhou Xuzhi, and others, one hundred and twenty-three in all, formed an association of worldly-detached companions, admiring his virtue and gathering together. Because the time of illusory assembly could not be preserved forever, and the body of a dream-wanderer could not long endure, Master [Hui]yuan pointed to the Land of Amitāyus, uniting with them to make it their distant journey's destination. He also said: "That land is pure; it has neither the three lower paths nor the six destinies. Sentient beings rely on it and aspire toward it from various walks of life; when they are born there, jeweled banners serve as their vanguard and golden lotuses receive their bodies." Thereupon they mutually conceived the idea of the Lotus Society. Today's references to the Lotus Society, and so forth, indeed began with this. At times it was also called the Pure Society, and its significance is fully comprehensive. From Huiyuan onward, the practice of the Pure Land flourished ever more. Thus the Song had Tanhong, the Qi had Huijin, and the Liang had Daozhen; between the eras of the Li-Tang dynasty, men of brilliant awakening and thorough understanding, such as Daochuo and Shandao, appeared again and again. I, living in the remnants of the latter part of the Semblance Dharma age, have encountered the bequeathed Dharma of the Buddha. I have cherished the pure karma for many years. Whenever I noticed that the deeds of former worthies were scattered across various biographies and lost in different eras, lacking classification and unable to be viewed in continuous order, I therefore systematically examined the records and biographies composed by the twelve masters from the Liang and Sui downward, including Huijiao and Daoxuan, up to the new biographies by Master Tonghui of the Great Song. I obtained seventy-five individuals, beginning with Sengxian and others. Because the principles of those biographical works were sometimes obscure and their wording was sometimes cluttered, I consequently revised, corrected, and clarified them. In addition, there were sixty-two persons such as Hongye and Huiming: throughout their lives they had practiced contemplation, but when it came to the moment of relinquishing life, they had not witnessed auspicious signs. Including them would be insufficient to arouse deep faith, so they were left without inclusion. Should brilliant and discerning individuals of later times consider this an omission and glean materials to supplement them, that too would remedy my deficiencies.