往生集 2.77

2.77

宋蘇軾。號東坡。官翰林學士。南遷日。畫彌陀像一軸。行且佩帶。人問之。答曰。此軾生西方公據也。母夫人程氏歿。以簪珥遺貲。命工胡錫。繪彌陀像。以薦往生。

Su Shi of the Song dynasty went by the sobriquet Dongpo and served as an Academician of the Hanlin Academy. When banished to the south, he carried a hanging scroll of an image of Amitābha with him as he traveled. When people asked him about it, he replied: "This is Shi's official passport for birth in the Western Direction." When his mother, Lady Cheng, died, he used her bequeathed hairpins and earrings to commission the artisan Hu Xi to paint an image of Amitābha in order to dedicate it toward her rebirth.