往生集 1.58

1.58

Daozhen of the Liang dynasty lived on Mount Lu cultivating pure karma. He dreamt that someone was riding a boat in the ocean. When he asked about it, the person said they were going to Amitābha Buddha's land. Zhen begged to follow. The boatman said: "You have not yet constructed a bathhouse, nor have you recited the Amitābha Sūtra; you may not go yet." Waking up, he provided baths for the monks and recited the sūtra without interruption for years. Suddenly, atop the surface of the pond in his room, a white silver dais descended. He quietly recorded the matter and wrote it in a sūtra box. On the evening his life ended, from the mountainside up, it was like a thousand blazing torches shining together. The townspeople saw it from afar and thought princes were arriving for an audience; only at dawn did they hear that Zhen had passed away. Later, when they inspected the sūtra box, they learned of Zhen's auspicious omen; it was only natural that he had long since been reborn in the Pure Land.