淨土往生傳 3.8

3.8

Shi Qihan, courtesy name Dengzhi, was a son of the Shen family of Wuxing. His great-great-grandfather was a Chancellor of the Directorate of Education under the Chen dynasty; his great-grandfather was an Aide of Wei Prefecture under the Sui; his grandfather and father did not take office. In his youth, Han visited a monastery; treading upon this lofty, tranquil, and dustless ground, he was moved with a deep awareness of his past lives, and the places where he had previously been born became as clear as if seen with his own eyes. Thereupon he renounced the household life. In the eighth year of the Tianbao era of the Tang, he was attached to Yongding Monastery in his home prefecture. In the ninth year, he ascended the fivefold platform at Kaiyuan Monastery [to receive the precepts]. In the third year of the Dali era, he was transferred to Wuqiu [Monastery] in Liangzhou. Clerics and layfolk arrived day after day to take refuge and pay respect to him. Yet Han by nature did not cater to the times, and did not pursue fame through good deeds. Whenever he stayed alone in a room, it was as silent as though no one were there. He was solely devoted to arduous study, never wasting an inch of time, mastering the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, various other sūtras, and the vinaya texts with exceptional clarity and discernment. He promoted and elucidated the sublime practice, guiding and drawing forward junior scholars. He once said to Jiaoran of Wuxing: “To the utmost of what I see, let it aid what others hear; may every hair's breadth of good all revert to the Pure Land.” In the tenth year, he fell ill and entered a Flowing Water Buddhānusmṛti Practice Center; the landscape of the Pure Land manifested abruptly in a single thought. When Han came out of the practice center, he composed a gāthā: / “The flowing water stirs, its waves rippling; / The lotuses reflect one another, accompanied by jeweled light. / Riding the light to journey on, who will be my companions?” / On that day, he passed away at the Eastern Monastery of Huqiu, at the age of sixty-eight, having been thirty-six years a monk. Earlier, when Han came out of the practice center and finished composing the gāthā, he said to his disciples, “Good must not be abandoned, and time must not be lost. Can you all remain steadfast in the good of Anyang?” His disciples replied, “Who would dare forget it?” Han said, “If you do not forget the Buddha's path, your virtue will thereby flourish.” Someone asked, “When a venerable preceptor departs this life, why should he suffer illness?” Han said, “The appointed time of passing is unavoidable even for the sages; how much less can I avoid it!” Thereupon he turned to gaze upon the sacred image, and in an instant he expired.