往生集 2.298

2.298

大明唐延任。浙之蘭溪人。號體如居士。孝友醇慤。出自天性。少遊黌校有聲。已而覺世無常。傾心至道。參雲棲。受念佛三昧。遂力行之。凡十三年如一日。唯篤志以西方為歸。萬曆癸卯。值耳順。仲冬之旦。忽謂諸子曰。新春十有一日吾行矣。數日前禮誦如平時。至期盥漱整衣端坐。手結印。口稱佛名。含咲而逝。如入禪定。

Under the Great Ming, Tang Yanren was a native of Lanxi in Zhejiang, styled Layman Tiru. His filial piety, fraternal devotion, purity, and sincerity were innate to his nature. In his youth, he studied in the government schools and gained renown. Soon after, he perceived that the world is impermanent and inclined his mind toward the ultimate Way. He visited Yunqi, received the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, and vigorously put it into practice. For thirteen years, as if it were a single day, he devoted his aspiration solely to taking the Western Direction as his refuge. In the guimao year of the Wanli era, when he was sixty years of age, on the first day of the second month of winter, he suddenly said to his sons: 'On the eleventh day of the New Year, I shall depart.' A few days prior, his worship and recitation continued as usual. When the time came, he washed, rinsed, adjusted his clothes, and sat upright. His hands formed a mudrā, his mouth recited the Buddha's name, and he departed with a smile, as if entering meditative absorption.