往生集 2.224

2.224

宋東平梁氏乳媼崔婆。淄州人。平生茹素極愚。不能與同輩爭長短。主母晁夫人留意禪學。崔朝夕在旁。但誦阿彌陀佛。虔誠不少輟。不持數珠。莫知其幾千萬遍。年七十二得疾。洞泄不下床。然持念愈篤。忽若無事時。倡偈曰。西方一路好修行。上無條嶺。下無坑。去時不用。著鞋襪脚踏蓮花步步生。諷咏不絕口。人問何人語。曰我所作。曰婆婆何時可行。曰申時去。果以其時去。用僧法焚之。舌獨不化。如蓮花然。

Old Woman Cui, the wet nurse of the Liang family of Dongping in the Song dynasty, was a native of Zizhou. Throughout her life she ate vegetarian food and was extremely simple-minded, incapable of contending with her peers over trivial matters. Her mistress, Lady Chao, turned her mind to Chan study. Morning and evening Cui was by her side, doing nothing but reciting the name of Amitābha, her piety never slacking in the least. She did not hold counting beads, so no one knew how many tens of millions of times she recited. At seventy-two years of age she fell ill, suffering diarrhea so severe she could not leave her bed; yet her recitation grew ever more devoted. Suddenly, as though nothing were wrong, she sang out a verse: / 'The path to the Western Direction is wonderful for cultivation; / Above there are no steep ridges, below there are no pits. / When departing, one need not wear shoes or socks— / Stepping upon lotus flowers, blooming at every step.' / She chanted and hummed it without stopping. People asked whose words they were, and she said, 'I composed them.' They asked, 'Old mother, when can you depart?' She said, 'I will leave at the hour of the Monkey.' She indeed departed at that hour. When they cremated her using the monastic method, her tongue alone did not disintegrate, appearing like a lotus flower.