往生集 2.42

2.42

宋楊傑。無為州人。號無為子。少年登科。官尚書主客郎。提點兩浙刑獄。尊崇佛法。明悟禪宗。謂眾生根有利鈍。易知易行惟西方淨土。但能一心觀念總攝散心。仗佛願力決生安養。甞作天台十疑論序。及彌陀寶閣記。安養三十贊。淨土決疑集序。弘闡西方教觀。接引未來。晚年繪彌陀丈六尊像。隨行觀念。將終之日。感佛來迎端坐而化。辭世頌曰。生亦無可戀。死亦無可捨。大虛空中之乎者也。將錯就錯。西方極樂。

Yang Jie of the Song was a native of Wuwei Prefecture, known by the style Wuweizi. Having passed the examinations in his youth, he served as a bureau director of receptions in the Ministry of Rites (zhukelang) and judicial commissioner of Liangzhe. He revered the Buddhadharma and had a clear awakening into the Chan lineage. He held that sentient beings' faculties have sharp and dull dispositions, and that which is easy to know and easy to practice is solely the Western Pure Land: if one can only single-mindedly contemplate and recollect, totally collecting the scattered mind and relying on the Buddha's vow-power, one is certain to be reborn in Peaceful Nourishment. He once wrote a preface to Tiantai's Treatise on Ten Doubts, a Record of Amitābha's Precious Pavilion, Thirty Praises of Peaceful Nourishment, and a preface to the Collection Resolving Doubts Concerning the Pure Land, widely propagating the teachings and contemplations of the Western Direction to guide future generations. In his later years, he had a sixteen-foot image of Amitābha painted, which he took along with him for contemplation and recollection. On the day of his passing, he elicited the Buddha's welcoming arrival, sat upright, and passed away. His verse bidding farewell to the world ran: 'In living there is nothing to cling to, / In dying there is nothing to abandon. / In the great empty space: "of," "it," "which," and "also." / Making the best of an error, / Sukhāvatī of the Western Direction.'.