法苑珠林 65.76

65.76

'Long life brings no joy; dying in the evening brings no sorrow. This is because in birth nothing is born, and in extinction nothing is extinguished.' Before his passing, the great earth shook continuously, and he died after seven days. When his corpse was moved to the forest, the mountain earth shook again. The Grand Astrologer reported: 'The star of a person who has attained the Way has been extinguished.' Contemporary opinion attributed this to him. When he was first about to pass away, he spoke before the assembly, saying: 'Last night two bodhisattvas came to welcome me: one was a physical body, and one was a Dharma body. I have already consented to them. Soon after, various devas also came to welcome me, but because I did not wish to be reborn [in heaven], I did not consent.' A flowing radiance shone upon the door of Meditation Master Kan. Kan, astonished at the time by the brilliant light, stepped out of the door to look and saw two people heading toward Bu's room, not knowing they were sages. But when he went to recount it, it tallied perfectly. Having spoken, Bu sat upright and passed away. One who could see ghosts saw from afar that banners and flowers filled the temple, with bright light flaring upward like flames; not fathoming the cause, he entered the mountain to inspect it and only then learned that the venerable Bu had departed the world. On the twenty-third day of the eleventh month in the first year of Zhenming of the Chen dynasty, he passed away at his original dwelling, at the age of over seventy.