往生集 1.82

1.82

隋法智。髫年出家。晚歲聞徑直之門。莫如念佛。乃謂人曰。我聞。經言。犯一吉羅。歷一中劫。入地獄可信。又言。一稱阿彌陀佛。滅八十億劫生死重罪。則未之信。有明者示云。汝大邪見。俱是佛言。何得不信。遂於國清寺兜率臺。晝夜精勤念佛。忽辭道俗云。某生西方去也。中夜無疾而化。時有金色光明。照數百里。江上漁人謂是天曉。遲久方明。始知智之往生云。

Fazhi of the Sui dynasty undertook pravrajyā in his childhood. In his later years, he heard that among the direct gates, none surpasses buddhamanasikāra. He then said to others, “I have heard that the sūtras say committing a single duṣkṛta causes one to pass through an intermediate kalpa and enter hell, which is believable; but when they also say that chanting the name of Amitābha Buddha once eradicates the grave offenses of saṃsāra of eighty koṭis of kalpas, this I cannot believe.” A person of understanding instructed him, saying, “You have a great wrong view! Both are the words of the Buddha; how can you not believe them?” He thereupon practiced buddhamanasikāra day and night with diligence at the Tuṣita Terrace of Guoqing Temple. Suddenly, he took leave of monastics and laity, saying, “I am departing for rebirth in the Western Direction.” In the middle of the night, without illness, he was transformed. At that time, a golden radiance illuminated several hundred li. The fishermen on the river thought dawn had broken, but only after a long delay did it truly brighten; only then did they learn of Fazhi’s rebirth.