往生集 2.255

2.255

宋吳瓊。臨安人。先為僧。退道返俗。前後兩娶生二子。屠沽之事。靡所不為。常庖厨殺鷄鴨等。則持而唱云。阿彌陀佛子。奸脫此身去。連稱佛號。乃施刃。每切肉。念佛不輟。後目上生瘤。如鷄卵。遂大憂怖。搆草庵。分散其妻子。念佛禮懺。晝夜如不及。紹興二十三年。告人云。瓊來日戌時去也。人皆笑之。次晚以布衫換酒飲畢。書頌云。似酒皆空。問甚禪宗。今日珍重。明月清風。端坐合掌念佛。叫云。佛來。即化去。

Wu Qiong of the Song dynasty was a native of Lin'an. He was originally a monk, but retreated from the path and returned to secular life. Successively he married twice and had two sons. In the business of butchering and selling wine, there was nothing he would not do. Whenever he was in the kitchen slaughtering chickens, ducks, and the like, he would hold them and chant: 'Child of Amitābha, take advantage of this to cast off this body and depart!' He would invoke the Buddha's name repeatedly and only then apply the blade. Whenever he sliced meat, he practiced buddhamanasikāra without ceasing. Later, a tumor grew above his eye like a chicken's egg. He was thereupon seized by great sorrow and dread. He built a thatched hut, separated from his wife and children, and practiced buddhamanasikāra and ritual repentance day and night as if time would run out. In the twenty-third year of Shaoxing, he told people: 'Tomorrow at the xushi hour, Qiong shall depart.' Everyone laughed at him. The following evening, he traded a cloth shirt for wine, drank it, and wrote a eulogy: 'Like wine, all is empty; / Why ask of the Chan school? / Take good care of yourselves today; / Bright moon and pure breeze.' He sat upright with palms joined, practicing buddhamanasikāra, and called out: 'The Buddha comes!' and immediately transformed and departed.