Yi Shizhen of the Yuan Dynasty recorded such a story: his friend Wang Jiulian practiced the Pure Land Sect and devoted himself to contemplating the Buddha's good appearance. But at night, the Buddha he dreamed of was all dull statues, not real Buddha bodies, and he was helpless for a while, thinking that what was wrong with his cultivation?
One day, he met a monk and asked him about it. "It's a very simple thing. So she asked Wang Jiulian, "Can you visualize what your deceased father looked like when he was alive?" ”
Wang Jiulian replied, "Of course." Shangong asked, "Did you see in your dream that your father was inconsistent with him when he was alive?" The answer is exactly the same.
From now on, you should visualize your father's appearance, and think of him as Amitabha, first imagine that your father has a white light between his eyebrows, and his face is like real gold, sitting on a lotus flower, and then visualize that he is like a Buddha and gradually becoming larger, and visualize all the Buddha's appearances in your father's body one by one, then your father will be like a living Buddha. ”
When Wang Jiulian came back, he visualized in this way, and when he dreamed of his father, he thought to himself that this was the Buddha. Over time, he dreamed that his father was like a Buddha and walked on a lotus flower to speak for him. Since then, he has become more and more proficient in cultivation, his visualization has become clearer and clearer, and finally he has become very proficient in cultivation.
One day, a friend of his father's surname Ma came to his house, he had been doing business in Sichuan for ten years and had not returned, and this time he made a special trip to his house, told Wang Jiulian a particularly strange thing, and thanked him with gratitude.
Mr. Ma said to him: "I have encountered a strange thing, in a dream I was taken to hell by the underworld, I know that it is not good, I am afraid but I am helpless. When it was dim, I saw a dazzling golden light shining on me, and when I looked up at the golden light, there was a golden person sitting on the lotus and calling my name. I took a closer look, and it turned out that Jin Ren was my good friend and your father! He ordered the servants to release me and to send me home, so that I could be resurrected. Because of this, I have traveled all the way from Sichuan to thank you. ”
Mr. Ma asked Wang Jiulian: "This thing is so strange, I want to know why your father can cultivate to such a good realm?" ”
Wang Jiulian didn't expect that she could visualize the convenient method of the Buddha, and by the way, she could transcend her father into a Buddha and Bodhisattva, and she was also very shocked, so she told him about her practice method according to what Shangong said.
Mr. Ma was amazed, he didn't expect that the visualization would have such great merit, and he vowed that he would also practice like Wang Jiulian in order to survive in the Pure Land.
From this point of view, the method of Monk Shangong can not only save himself, but also save others, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone, and no one has ever done it before.