往生集 1.91

1.91

唐法照。大歷二年。止衡州雲峯寺。慈忍戒定。為時所宗。甞於鉢內覩五色雲。有梵剎曰大聖竹林寺。後詣五臺見異光。果得竹林寺。入講堂則文殊在西。普賢在東。萬眾圍繞而為說法。照作禮問曰。末代凡夫。未審修何法門。文殊告曰。諸修行門無如念佛。我以念佛得一切種智。又問當云何念。曰此世界西。有阿彌陀佛。彼佛願力。不可思議。汝當繼念毋令斷絕。決定往生。後臘月朔。在華嚴院淨業道場。方憶二大士記我往生。乃一心念佛。忽見梵僧佛陀波利。謂曰。汝華臺已就。後三年華開矣。至期謂眾曰。吾行矣。端坐而逝。師甞於湖東寺。開五會念佛。感祥雲寶閣。覩阿彌陀佛及二菩薩身滿虛空。又於并州五會念佛。感代宗皇帝宮中聞念佛聲。遣使追尋。乃見師勸化之盛。遂詔入京。教宮人念佛亦及五會。號五會法師。

Fazhao of the Tang dynasty stayed at Yunfeng Temple in Hengzhou in the second year of the Dali era. For his loving-kindness, forbearance, precepts, and concentration, he was revered by his contemporaries. He once saw five-colored clouds inside his alms-bowl, within which was an Indian monastery named the Great Sage Bamboo Grove Temple. Later, he went to Mount Wutai and saw an extraordinary light, and indeed found the Bamboo Grove Temple. Entering the lecture hall, Mañjuśrī was in the west and Samantabhadra was in the east, surrounded by a multitude of ten thousand as they expounded the Dharma. Zhao paid homage and asked, “For ordinary beings of the final age, it is not yet known which Dharma gate should be cultivated?” Mañjuśrī told him, “Among all the gates of practice, none surpasses buddhamanasikāra. Through buddhamanasikāra, I attained the knowledge of all aspects.” He asked again, “How should one practice mindfulness?” [Mañjuśrī] replied, “West of this world, there is Amitābha Buddha. That Buddha’s power of vows is inconceivable. You should maintain continuous mindfulness without letting it be severed, and you are certain to obtain rebirth.” Later, on the first day of the twelfth month, while in the pure karma bodhimaṇḍa of the Huayan Cloister, he had just recalled the prediction of rebirth given to him by the two great beings and was practicing buddhamanasikāra with single-minded devotion. Suddenly he saw the Indian monk Buddhapāla, who said to him, “Your lotus terrace is already prepared; after three years, the flower will open.” When the time arrived, he said to the assembly, “I am departing,” and sitting upright, he passed away. The Master had once established the Five-Assembly Buddhamanasikāra at Hudong Temple, which evoked auspicious clouds and jeweled pavilions, and Amitābha Buddha and the two bodhisattvas were seen filling the sky with their bodies. He also practiced the Five-Assembly Buddhamanasikāra in Bingzhou, which evoked the sound of buddhamanasikāra to be heard within the palace of Emperor Daizong. The Emperor dispatched envoys to trace it, and thus witnessed the flourishing of the Master’s preaching and transformation. He thereupon summoned him to enter the capital to teach the palace attendants buddhamanasikāra also in five assemblies, and he was named Dharma Master of the Five Assemblies.