法苑珠林 95.30

95.30

As the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: 'If a sick person is a person of great virtue, they should be placed in an open, visible, and high-quality room so that monastics and laypeople coming to pay their respects and inquire after them may produce wholesome roots. Those caring for the sick must constantly burn incense, light lamps, smear the floor with fragrant liquid, and receive visitors.' According to the illustration of Jetavana Temple in the Western Regions: 'The northwest corner of the monastery, where the sunlight sets, is the Hall of Impermanence (Anitya-kūṭī). If there are sick people, they are placed within it. Because the hall is named Impermanence, many give rise to aversion [to worldly existence]; those who leave it [by death] are extremely numerous, while those who return [recovered] are only one or two. Inside the hall is set a standing image painted in gold, facing east. The patient should be placed seated before the image. If they lack the strength, let the patient lie down facing west, contemplating the physical marks and signs of the Buddha. In the hand of the image is tied a five-colored silk streamer; the patient is made to hold the end of the streamer with their hand, intending to be reborn in the Pure Land. Even if they discharge feces and urine at their seat, the World-Honoured One does not consider it defiled.' Considering that this world is originally an impure and defiled place, yet [the Buddha] still descends in spirit to receive and reach down to the lower classes of sentient beings, how much more so now, when one is committing one's life to the Buddha—would he ever abandon them? In accordance with whichever realm the patient delights in, an image of Amitābha, Maitreya, Akṣobhya, Avalokiteśvara, or the like may be made and arranged as described above. Burning incense and scattering flowers, offerings should continue without interruption, giving rise to wholesome thoughts in the sick person.