淨土往生傳 3.13

3.13

Shi Daxing's surname cannot be traced. During the Qianfu era of the Tang, the bandit [Huang] Chao raided and plundered, and the people could not rest peacefully in their occupations. Thereupon, at Mount Tai, Daxing wove grass for clothing and gathered trees for food, practicing the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and Samantabhadra repentance for a cumulative three years. When his sincere devotion reached the utmost, it stimulated Samantabhadra to manifest his physical form. Daxing personally gazed upon him, feeling all the more joyful over his past causes. Thereupon he spurred on his various thoughts, reflecting that the Tathāgata's Dharma still remains, yet his own cultivation was not yet realized; morning and evening he was intense and earnest, to the point of forgetting to eat and drink. In his later years, he tentatively considered that the cultivation of the Buddha-way was not focused on a single object, and also that this illusory body was impermanent and would certainly return to extinction, not knowing what rebirth he would receive in a future life. He then entered the Great Canon, pursuing sincerity and knocking his heart, openly declaring: 'May I, with a faithful mind, select a scripture text, and according to what is obtained, eternally accept and uphold it.' Thereupon, letting his mind go, he drew and took one; that which he obtained was the Amitābha Sūtra. Day and night he chanted and upheld it, continuously directing his thoughts to Anyang. Before three seven-day periods had passed, suddenly at midnight, he saw lapis lazuli ground, pure and radiant, before him. Daxing felt the eyes of his mind become thoroughly enlightened, seeing Amitābha together with Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and countless transformation Buddhas. At that time the news spread near and far, and the matter reached the ears of Emperor Xizong. The Emperor summoned him into the palace and questioned him about what he had seen; Daxing answered everything in full. The Emperor said: 'This is the result brought about by energetic progress.' An imperial decree was issued bestowing the title 'Bodhisattva of Constant Energetic Progress' and granting him the nobility title of Duke Founding the State. One year later he contracted an illness and saw the lapis lazuli ground reappear before him. Daxing said: 'I have no visualization, yet the lapis lazuli ground reappears; how could I lack affinity with Anyang?' That very day, he manifested extinction in the meditation room where he resided.