唐京师僧善导
[9] Táng [Dynasty’s] Capital City’s Monastic Shàndǎo
善导，贞观中，见西河绰禅师净土九品道场，于是笃精勤苦，若救头然。
Shàndǎo, [when in] Zhēnguàn[‘s years] within, saw [the] West River’s Chán Master Dàochuò’s [道绰] Pure Land’s nine grades’ place [for realising the] path, [he was] thereupon [with] sincere [and] concentrated diligence [and] devotion, like saving [his] head [from] burning.
每入佛堂，合掌胡跪，一心念佛，非力竭不休。虽寒冰亦须流汗，以表至诚。
Every [time he] entered [the] Buddha Hall, [he would with] joined palms half-kneel, wholeheartedly recite [the] Buddha[‘s name. If] not [with] energy exhausted, not resting. Although [in] winter’s ice[-cold weather practising], likewise waiting [till there is] flowing sweat, with [this] expressing [his] utmost sincerity.
出即为众说净土法门，无暂时不为利益。三十余年，不暂睡眠。
[When] leaving [the monastery], then for all speaking [the] Pure Land Dharma door, without temporarily not for benefitting [others, For] more [than] thirty years, not temporarily [with] sleeping.
般舟行道，礼佛方等，专为己任。
[For] Pratyutpanna [Samādhi] practising [the] path, prostrating [to the] Buddha, [and reciting the] Great Vehicle[‘s sūtras, with these] focused [upon] as [his] responsibilities.
护持戒品，纤毫不犯；未尝举目视女人；绝意名利，远诸戏笑。
Protecting [and] upholding [the] body [of] precepts, [even with the] very small not transgressed, never once raising [his] eyes [to] see women. Cutting [off] intentions [for] fame [and] gain, [he was] far [from] all jesting [and] joking.
所行之处，净身供养。饮食、衣服有余，并以回施。好食送大厨供众，粗恶自食。乳酪、醍醐皆不饮啖。
Beyond those practices, bathing [his] body [before] making offerings. [With] drinks, food [and] clothing having [the] excess, also with [them] returned [and] given [to others. With] good food giving [to the] chief chef [for] offering [to the] assembly, [with the] coarse [and] inferior personally eating. [Of] milk, cheese, butter [and] cream, all not drinking [and] eating [them].
[Note 1: The Great Master practised Mahāyāna veganism (or Mahā-veganism for short), as defined by these key teachings taught by the Buddha: http://TheDailyEnlightenment.com/veg.]
诸有䞋施，用写《阿弥陀经》十万余卷，画净土变相三百余壁。
[With] all existing alms given, [he] used [them to] write [the] Amitā[bha] Sūtra, [with] more than a hundred thousand scrolls, drawing more than three hundred [of] Pure Land’s changing forms [on] walls.
见坏寺及塔，皆悉修营。然灯续明，每岁不绝。
Seeing damaged monasteries and pagodas, [for] all repairing [and] building. Lighting lamps [to] continue [their] brightness, [in] every year without end.
三衣瓶钵，不使人持洗，始终无改。
[With his] three robes, bottle [and] alms bowl, not telling people [to] hold [and] wash [them, from the] beginning [to the] end, without changing [them].
不与众同行，恐谈世事，妨修行业。
Not with all together walking, fearing discussion [of] worldly matters, [that] hinders cultivating practice [of pure] karma.
展转授净土法门者，不可胜数。
Passing through many persons [to] give [them the] Pure Land Dharma door, [they] cannot [be] completely counted.
或问导云：「念佛之善，生净土否？」答云：「如汝所念，遂汝所愿。」于是导自念阿弥陀佛一声，则有一道光明从其口出；十声以至百声，光明亦如此。
Perhaps asking Shàndǎo, ‘[With the] good of mindfulness [of] Buddha, [does this lead to] birth [in] Pure Land or not?’ [He] answered, ‘Like you [with] that mindful [of], thereupon [are] you [with] that aspired [for].’ Thereupon, Dǎo personally recited Āmítuófó[‘s name, with] one recitation, then having one ray [of] bright light from his mouth emitting. [With] ten recitations, up to [one] hundred recitations, [the] bright light [is] likewise thus.
其《劝化偈》云：
「渐渐鸡皮鹤发，看看行步龙钟。
「假饶金玉满堂，难免衰残老病。
「任是千般快乐，无常终是到来。
「唯有径路修行，但念阿弥陀佛。」
His Verses [For] Encouraging [And] Transforming says,
‘Gradually [with] chicken[-like wrinkled] skin [and] crane[-white] hair, examine [how your] walking [becomes] feeble [and] slow. [Even] if [with] abundant gold [and] jade filling [the] hall, [it is] difficult [to] avoid weakness [and] disability [with] ageing [and] sickness. Even though [having a] thousand kinds [of] “happiness”, impermanence [in the] end certainly arrives. Only having [this] short path [for] cultivating practice, [with] only mindfulness [of] Āmítuófó[‘s name].’
后谓人曰：「此身可厌，吾将西归。」乃登寺前柳树，投身自绝。
Later [i.e. 681 C.E.], calling [to] people, [he] said, ‘[As] this body [is] loathsome, I will [to the] West[ern Pure Land] return.’ Then climbing [the] front [of the] monastery’s willow tree, throwing [off his] body [to] self-end [his life].
[Note 2: This incident was misattributed in the past, thus handed down then, with the above supposedly done by a layperson instead, who assumed that the Pure Land can be quicker reached with suicide. However, it can be reached while alive. Technically, it was not an act of suicide, only if the person departed for Pure Land before dying. While there should not be unhealthy attachment to the body, there should still be reasonable care of the body, which is still needed, as it is the vehicle for the mind, with which we learn and practise the Dharma too. To kill oneself, thus taking a human life, breaks the First Precept too, which can karmically lead to a hellish rebirth by default instead.]
[Note 3: 据元代东林寺住持优昙普度大师所著《莲宗宝鉴》： 善导大师登所居寺前柳树西向愿曰：「愿佛威神，骤以接我，观音势至亦来助我。令我此心不失正念，不起惊怖，不于弥陀法中少生退墮。愿毕，于其树上端身立化。」大师且往生之后，身体柔软，容光如常，异香音乐，久而方歇。
According to Yuán Dynasty’s Dōnglín Monastery’s Abbot Great Master Yōután Pǔdù’s work, the Lotus Tradition’s Treasury Of Reflections, Great Master Shàndǎo climbed the front of the monastery’s willow tree where he lived, and towards the West spoke his Aspiration, ‘May the Buddha, with his majestic supernormal power, swiftly come to receive me. May Contemplator Of Sounds and Power Arrived Bodhisattvas also come to support me. Enable my this mind to not lose right mindfulness, not give rise to fear, and not within Amitābha Buddha’s Dharma, lose birth (in his Pure Land), to regress and fall. With my Aspiration completed, may I, on this tree above, with my upright body, stand and depart.’ Moreover, after the Great Master’s rebirth, his body was gentle and soft, and his face was radiant as usual, with extraordinary fragrance and music present for a long time, then stopping.]
高宗见其念佛口出光明，又舍身时精至如此，赐寺额为「光明」。
[Emperor Táng] Gāozōng [唐高宗], seeing his reciting [of the] Buddha[‘s name with his] mouth emitting bright light, also when renouncing [his] body, [with] sincerity utmost like this, bestowed [the] monastery [he dwelled in, with] ‘Bright Light’ [written], as [a horizontal] inscribed board, [naming it to be ‘Bright Light Monastery’ (光明寺), also naming him to be ‘Most Venerable (One With) Bright Light’ (光明和尚)].
本朝慈云式忏主略传云：「阿弥陀佛化身。至长安，闻浐水声，乃曰：『可教念佛。』
This [Sòng (宋)] Dynasty’s Repentance Master Cíyún Zūnshì (遵式), [in his] brief biography said, ‘[Great Master Shàndǎo is] Amitā[bha] Buddha’s manifestation body. [Having] arrived [at] Cháng’ān, [and] hearing Chǎn River’s [浐河] [flowing] waters’ sounds, [he] then said, “[Here, I] can teach mindfulness [of] Buddha.”
三年后，满长安城中念佛。
Three years later, filling Cháng’ān City within [was] recitation [of the] Buddha[‘s name].
后有法照大师，即善导后身也。」
Later having Great Master Fǎzhào, then [as] Shàndǎo’s later body too.’
[Note 4: This was so as the two Great Masters had similar thought (思想) and practice (行持). The first became named as the Pure Land Tradition’s Second Patriarch (净土宗二祖), and the latter as the Pure Land Tradition’s Fourth Patriarch (净土宗四祖). The Pure Land Tradition’s Fifth Patriarch Shǎokāng (净土宗五祖少康大师) was also known as the Later Shàndǎo (后善导) as an image of Āmítuófó emerged from his mouth with each recitation of his name.]
宋‧王日休
《龙舒净土文》
第五卷： 感应事迹三十篇
Sòng [Dynasty’s] Wáng Rìxiū
Lóngshū’s Pure Land Text:
Fifth Scroll: Thirty Essays [On] Deeds [Of] Connection [And] Response
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
相关教理
Related Teachings:
上篇
Previous Essay:
隋开觉寺僧道喻
[8] Suí Dynasty’s Kāijué Monastery’s Monastic Dàoyù
https://purelanders.com/2022/01/22/8-sui-dynastys-kaijue-monasterys-monastic-daoyu
下篇
Next Essay:
唐台州僧怀玉
[10] Táng Dynasty’s Táizhōu’s Monastic Huáiyù
https://purelanders.com/2022/01/24/10-tang-dynastys-taizhou-monastic-huaiyu
三十篇
Thirty Essays:
《龙舒净土文》
第五卷：感应事迹三十篇
Lóngshū’s Pure Land Text:
[5] Fifth Scroll: Thirty Essays On Deeds Of Connection And Response
https://purelanders.com/longshu5
相关传记
Related Biographies:
中国净土宗道绰大师传
Biography Of The Chinese Pure Land Tradition Great Master Dàochuò
https://purelanders.com/2017/08/03/biography-of-the-chinese-pure-land-tradition-great-master-daochuo/
中国净土宗二祖善导大师传
Biography Of The Second Patriarch Of The Chinese Pure Land Tradition Great Master Shàndǎo
https://purelanders.com/2017/11/08/biography-of-the-second-patriarch-of-the-chinese-pure-land-tradition-great-master-shandao
中国净土宗四祖法照大师传
Biography Of The Fourth Patriarch Of The Chinese Pure Land Tradition Great Master Fǎzhào
https://purelanders.com/2018/01/biography-of-the-fourth-patriarch-of-the-chinese-pure-land-tradition-great-master-fazhao
中国净土宗五祖法照大师传
Biography Of The Fifth Patriarch Of The Chinese Pure Land Tradition Great Master Shǎokāng
https://purelanders.com/2018/02/biography-of-the-fifth-patriarch-of-the-chinese-pure-land-tradition-great-master-shaokang
