(Note: Below are four true stories of monks who were successfully reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.)
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#26 – Northern Zhou – Huiming and Fayin
Huiming, whose lay surname was Guo, was a native of Jinyang, Taiyuan, in present-day Shanxi Province. After leaving the household life, he devoted himself to practicing repentance according to the Vaipulya Sutras and the Samantabhadra Repentance ritual. He studied under the Chan Masters Enguang and Xianlu, and later traveled to Xiansheng Mountain.
Before his arrival, there was a Daoist priest named Meng Shou who developed faith in the Three Jewels, abandoned his former beliefs, and took refuge in Buddhism. He donated his Daoist temple, which was converted into a Buddhist monastery and stupa. Shortly before Master Huiming arrived at Xiansheng Mountain, Meng Shou, while in a dreamlike state, saw a great assembly of spirits solemnly standing guard on both sides of his former Daoist temple.
Not long after awakening, Master Huiming arrived. Meng Shou then donated his own residence as well, renaming it Shanguang Monastery, and respectfully offered it to Master Huiming. Gradually, many cultivators gathered there to practice.
After a short time, Huiming bade farewell to Xiansheng Mountain and returned to his former mountain retreat. At that time, there was a Chan Master named Fayin, who was a close friend of Huiming. Together they traveled to Changsha, where they studied meditation under Chan Master Neng at Guoyuan Monastery.
Later, the two returned together to Xiansheng Mountain and lived there for five years. By then, both Huiming and Fayin already knew the time of their approaching rebirth. Walking together beneath a grove of pine trees, they smiled at one another and said, “This is the very place where we shall end our lives.”
At first, their attendant did not understand the meaning of their words.
Less than ten days later, both became ill. On the fifth day of the eleventh month in the third year of Tianhe during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou (568 CE), Huiming sat upright in the full lotus posture, faced the west, and recited the name of the Buddha. At that moment, everyone saw Amitabha Buddha come to receive him. Huiming immediately joined his palms, continued reciting the Buddha’s name, and was reborn in the Pure Land.
Among those present, some dreamed that heavenly beings descended from the heavens, with magnificent banners and canopies shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Others heard a clear voice resounding through the monastery, proclaiming, “Excellent! Excellent!” Wondrous fragrance and heavenly music filled both the inside and outside of the monastery. Everyone experienced these exquisite sounds and delightful fragrances, which were extraordinarily beautiful and inspiring.
Soon afterward, on the seventeenth day of the same month, Chan Master Fayin also sat in the very same place, recited the Buddha’s name, and was reborn in the Pure Land. The auspicious signs that appeared at his passing were just as extraordinary as those accompanying Huiming’s rebirth. Both masters were thirty-eight years old at the time of their passing.
Later, their disciples built a brick stupa beneath that pine tree to enshrine their remains.
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#27 – Northern Zhou – Jing’ai
Jing’ai, whose lay surname was Zheng, was a native of Xingyang in present-day Henan Province. As a youth, he visited a monastery and saw murals depicting the various torments of the hell realms. Filled with great fear, he resolved to leave the household life and seek liberation from birth and death. He went to Waguan Monastery, where he received ordination under Chan Master He.
At the age of seventeen, he received the full monastic precepts. He strictly upheld the Vinaya and monastic discipline and became thoroughly versed in the sutras and treatises. He especially cultivated the practice of great compassion. He never wore silk, brocade, embroidered garments, or clothing and footwear made from the skins of living beings. Throughout his life, he wore only coarse cloth.
When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou prepared to suppress Buddhism, Master Jing’ai personally traveled to the capital and submitted a memorial to the imperial court, defending the Buddhadharma. He openly appealed to the emperor, pleading that Buddhism not be destroyed. However, his petition was ultimately rejected. He therefore withdrew into the Zhongnan Mountains with his disciples. Later, he hid in Xigu Valley on Mount Taiyi, where he dressed in rough hemp garments and secretly propagated the Mahayana teachings. He composed many writings, which he concealed within caves among the cliffs.
Deeply grieved that the Buddha’s great Dharma had fallen into decline, he told his disciples:
“Since I can no longer benefit this world, I intend to relinquish this body and seek rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.”
One day, he sat alone in a separate cave and instructed his attendant to descend the mountain and return early the following morning.
After the attendant departed, Jing’ai sat upright in the full lotus posture upon a flat stone. He then took a knife and cut flesh from his own body, placing it piece by piece upon the rock. He drew out his intestines and hung them upon the branches of a pine tree. His internal organs were laid bare, and he carefully cut apart the muscles, bones, limbs, head, and face. Finally, he cut out his own heart, held it respectfully in his hands, and peacefully passed away.
This occurred on the sixteenth day of the seventh month in the first year of Xuanzheng during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou (578 CE). He was forty-five years old.
When the attendant returned the following morning, he found Master Jing’ai still seated upright in the lotus posture facing west, his palms joined while holding his heart, exactly as he had been when he entered meditation. There was no trace of blood among his remains. Instead, a large quantity of white milky fluid had flowed out and solidified upon the stone. The attendant also found verses written by the master’s own hand upon the cave wall.
The inscription read:
“All those who have conditions with the Dharma—whether monks or laypeople, men or women—should firmly abide in their own minds and never allow thoughts of retreat to arise in the Buddhadharma. Whoever gives rise to thoughts of retreat will lose immeasurable wholesome roots and benefits. I now relinquish this body ahead of its natural end for three reasons.
First, because I have realized the countless faults and sufferings of this body.
Second, because I am unable to protect and uphold the Buddhadharma.
Third, because I long to behold the Buddha as soon as possible.”
His verses continued:
“This useless body is not only impure and defiled, but also burdens people with endless toil in caring for it.
Therefore I have cut apart this body and spread it upon these barren rocks, scattering its pieces among the pine branches upon the mountain cliffs.
Whether heavenly beings, humans, asuras, mountain spirits, tree spirits, or any who sincerely seek the Buddha Way—may all who behold my sacrifice of this body receive benefit.
May all who see these bones cause the great ship of ignorance and afflictions to sink forever.
May all who hear of my relinquishing this body attain the heavenly ear and ultimately perfect unsurpassed enlightenment.
May all who remember me become endowed with every meditative concentration, mindfulness, vast learning, wisdom, and the ability to uphold the Buddhadharma.
When this karmic body comes to an end, the four great elements disperse and decay. The quiet mountain paths that I once walked beside clear springs and deep forests will soon disappear. The cave that has long remained silent will become even more deserted and still.
May I offer this body completely to all birds, beasts, and even insects. May every being that eats my flesh or drinks my blood become filled with wholesome roots and perfected in merit and wisdom.
May I swiftly attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi in the future, become completely free in body and mind, and universally liberate all sentient beings throughout the ten directions.”
He further wrote:
“All those with conditions should understand that this physical body is fundamentally impure.
The lower half of the body is merely a skin bag filled with urine and excrement. The nine openings constantly discharge filth, like a broken embankment leaking foul water.
This body is repulsive, foul-smelling, and unpleasant to behold. It is nothing more than a thin layer of skin covering pus and blood, entirely stained with impurities.
It reeks like the carcass of a dead dog.
This body is merely the false combination of the six sense faculties and the six sense objects. It was not created by gods, spirits, or Brahma.
One should contemplate this foul body and realize that it is forever bound by impermanence, unable to act freely. Whether walking, standing, sitting, lying down, advancing, or retreating, it never escapes the suffering of impermanence.
After death, if ants or insects consume it, the body cannot even preserve itself.
Those who cling to this life ultimately gain nothing and lose everything.
After death, it becomes food for foxes and wolves and finally decays into rotten flesh and swarming worms.”
He continued:
“Whether heavenly beings or humans, men or women, beautiful or ugly, noble or lowly, all must inevitably be consumed by the fire of death.
Every appearance that is temporarily seen vanishes in an instant like lightning or a spark from striking stone.
Death overtakes every living being and is the greatest of all sufferings.
Therefore I regard this body as my enemy and vow to cut off the very root of birth and death.
This body is not worthy of attachment. It is filled with every affliction, like a chest full of poisonous snakes.
It is merely the temporary union of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—and is constantly tormented by hundreds of thousands of illnesses.
All beings attached to form within the three realms inevitably gather together every kind of suffering.
The body is the deep abyss of aging, sickness, and death, and within it burn countless fires of affliction, together with immeasurable faults and deficiencies.”
He further explained:
“This body has no true self to govern it. Everything is driven by karma and cannot be freely controlled. Though there is in reality no permanent self, living beings mistakenly imagine and cling to one.
This illusory, selfless body is what ordinary people stubbornly grasp as ‘I.’
Because beings have been deluded by ignorance and inverted thinking throughout countless kalpas, they have concealed the originally pure mind that is fully endowed with every wholesome quality.
They believe they are nourishing this body, yet fail to realize that it is no more delightful than a corpse.
Throughout immeasurable kalpas we have already discarded hundreds of millions of impure bodies. The blood we have shed and the milk we have drunk are as vast as the great ocean.
The bones left from our previous lives would pile as high as Mount Sumeru, while the births and deaths yet to come will bring even greater suffering than before.
Within the cycle of birth and death there is absolutely no true benefit—only endless hardship endured in vain.”
Finally, he declared:
“I have been unable to benefit living beings, nor have I been able to prevent the decline of the Buddhadharma. Therefore, with great resolve, I now relinquish and offer this body, hoping that the merit of this sacrifice will become immeasurable.
I vow never to retreat from the Buddha Way and to be forever liberated from the suffering of the four modes of birth.
After casting aside this impure and defiled body, may I be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. May a lotus flower immediately bloom, and may I be born in the presence of Amitabha Buddha.
May I swiftly behold all the Buddhas and the great assembly of Bodhisattvas throughout the ten directions. May I forever leave behind the immeasurable sufferings of the three evil realms and irreversibly abide upon the path to supreme enlightenment.
May I immediately attain the five spiritual powers, fly freely without obstruction, nourish myself upon the true Dharma beneath the jeweled trees, and ultimately realize the Patience of the Non-Arising of Dharmas.
Having realized the liberation of the pure Dharma Body, may I never abandon great compassion or forsake the beings of the three realms. May I always regard protecting the true Dharma and overcoming the forces of Mara as my foremost task.
May I quickly surpass even the merits and wisdom of the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Grounds, possess boundless spiritual powers, perfect the Four Fearlessnesses, and become known as the Thus Come One, the Great Enlightened Dharma King.
After relinquishing this body, may I swiftly attain complete freedom of body and mind. Having realized the pure Dharma Body, may I return once more among the beings of the six realms, following conditions to benefit all sentient beings wherever they may be, protecting the Buddhadharma and liberating all beings.
Everyone should understand that all worldly karmic conditions ultimately come to an end. Everything conditioned is likewise impermanent, disappearing in an instant like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, or a shadow.
Throughout the three realms nothing escapes impermanence, which constantly deprives us of freedom.
Whether beings are killed by others or die naturally, all inevitably return to the impermanent cycle of the three realms. The wise do not delight in such a place.
Therefore, one should constantly contemplate in this way.
Since all conditioned causes and conditions have now gathered together, the karmic conditions of my own life also come to their end today.”
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#28 – Sui Dynasty – Zhishun
Zhishun, whose place of origin is unknown, deeply admired the virtuous conduct and accomplishments of Master Huiyuan. He therefore entered Mount Lu to study the Pure Land Dharma Door.
In the early years of the Daye era during the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (605 CE), after completing a lecture on the Visualization Sutra, he manifested signs of illness.
Before passing away, he saw parrots and peacocks all reciting the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, proclaiming the wonderful sounds of the Dharma. He then told his disciples, “Today I am going to be reborn.” After saying this, he peacefully passed away and was reborn in the Pure Land.
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Sui Dynasty – Master Deng
Master Deng, whose place of origin is unknown, lectured on the Mahaparinirvana Sutra at Xingguo Monastery in Bingzhou (present-day Shanxi Province). Everyone who came to hear his lectures was encouraged to recite Amitabha Buddha’s name and aspire for rebirth in the Pure Land.
He passed away in the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty (592 CE). At the time of his passing, a wonderful fragrance filled the entire room.
On the day of his funeral, fragrant clouds filled the sky and spread over the whole village.
(Note: If you want to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, get a prayer beads and diligently, persistently, and consistently chant Amitabha Buddha’s name every single day until the moment you pass away. You will surely attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death in the six realms of reincarnation! But your heart must always be with Amitabha Buddha. Keep him in your mind at all times, especially at the moment when you are about to pass away.)
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