The topmost picture of Great Master Yìnguāng about to enter a Niànfó retreat is perhaps the only photo of him smiling… slightly. While still retaining his famous sternness, it also expresses gentle kindness for all, with firm personal resolution.
虚度七十,
来日无几。
如囚赴市,
步步近死。
Worthlessly [having] passed [more than] seventy [years],
[my] coming days [are] without many.
Like [a] prisoner going [to the] city [to face execution],
step by step nearing death.
谢绝一切,
专修净土。
倘鉴愚诚,
是真莲友。
Thankfully declining all [visitors],
[to] focus [upon] cultivating [to reach] Pure Land.
[Those] if reflecting [on my] heartfelt sincerity,
are [my] true lotus friends.
释印光谨白
(净土宗十三祖印光大师)
By Shì Yìnguāng sincerely stated
(Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng)
(苏州报国寺关房题壁偈:民廿四年)
(Sūzhōu’s Bàoguó Monastery’s Retreat Room’s Verse Written For Wall: 24th Year of Republic of China; 1935 C.E, 5 years before departure for Pure Land in 1940 at age of 80)