淨土往生傳 1.6

1.6

Shi Sengxian, whose secular surname was Fu, was a native of Dai Commandery; or, as some say, a native of Nancheng in Linchuan. For successive generations his ancestors served as officials in Dai, and thus settled their household there. When Sengxian was young, he abandoned secular life; his conduct was pure and austere, and he did not engage in frivolous or insincere human affairs. He never gave outward expression to the shifts of flourishing and decline, or clever intrigue. At times he entered meditative absorption and remained so for several consecutive days. At the end of the Western Jin, when Liu Yao raided and devastated the capital of Luoyang, Sengxian took refuge in the Jiangdong region. Giving free rein to his inclinations among famous mountains, even when faced with sheer precipices and extreme perils untouched by human tracks, he would certainly traverse them. Late in life, at a retreat he had reached, he obtained a newly translated scripture from an Indian monk. The scripture's text fully set forth the Pure Land's three causal vows as well as the sequence of rebirth in the nine grades. Thereupon he rejoiced greatly, saying: "I have mingled my body in the five defilements, bound and entrapped by numerous sufferings. Suddenly obtaining this is like flying out of mud and coals to spread wings in the great void! From this day forth, my thoughts have a refuge!" Thereupon he directed his sincere intentions westward in contemplation, exerting himself without remiss for nine months. One evening he fell ill in bed, and saw Amitāyus descending from the sky; through the air there successively shone rays of light of a hundred jewels, illuminating his body. That night, Sengxian arose and bathed; to his co-dwellers and attendants tending to his illness, he spoke of what he had seen, and furthermore laid out admonitions on cause and effect to encourage those who had not yet attained understanding. Soon afterwards he passed away. In neighboring monasteries, some saw a golden dais descending from the west, while others smelled a wonderful fragrance filling the room; everyone marveled at this.