In Xuan Cheng, an old lady by the Name Yao Chun Lin attained a rebirth in the Pure Land at 84. She is an illiterate and she is very pious. As her ancestors have faith in the Buddha, she is influenced by the Buddha teaching from a very young age. But she does not understand the Buddha’s principles and she only knows how to pray with incense and bowing. During the Cultural revolution, no one is allowed to believe in the Buddha, no one can make offerings to the Buddha. So, secretly she burnt incense in the hole of the mud stove, to make offerings to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. As the kitchen stove belongs to the Kitchen God, she prayed to the Kitchen God and said, ‘Kitchen God Bodhisattva. I do not have a place to burn incense for Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. Do you mind if I burn the incense at your place?’ It looks as though she is very stupid. Actually, she is very kind, abiding by her position. After the Cultural Revolution, people are free to have their own faith. At the beginning, she was quite worried, that the law of the Government prohibits her faith. So, she still conducts her prayer secretly. After some time, her daughter told her, ‘What era is it now, that you are still hiding your prayers? Now, we are free to believe in the Buddha. Mother should simply make offerings to the Buddha openly.’ Only then did she bring the Bodhisattva out to make offerings. But she still does not know the aim of learning the Buddha Dharma. She only knows she must be kind and accrue virtues, besides helping others. Later, a lotus friend told her, ‘Old lady is so sincere in your prayers. How come you do not recite Namo Amitabha Buddha?’
She asked, ‘What Buddha should I recite?’
‘Recite Namo Amitabha Buddha!’
‘Oh! Recite Amitabha Buddha, but I am praying to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.’
‘Besides making offerings to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, you should recite Amitabha Buddha, to seek a rebirth in the Western World of Ultimate Bliss.’ Only then that she managed to hear about the World of Ultimate Bliss. At that time, she was already eighty-one -year- old. After another two months only then she began to recite Namo Amitabha Buddha at home, phrase after phrase. Besides, she also got herself a recital device. She still continued to recite Namo Amitabha Buddha. But in her heart, there is still some doubts. A lotus friend came to tell me, ‘The elderly lady Yao is a very pious woman. But she is still very worried about her qualification to go to the World of Ultimate Bliss. Besides, she has not met with any left home people her whole life. Now, she is very ill. I think it will not take long. Can Shifu go to see her as she wishes so much to see a Shifu.’
I listened to this and felt that she was a worthy lady.
I went to see her. On seeing me, she put her palms together respectfully and we started chatting.
She said, ‘I am afraid that I am not qualified. I am illiterate. I do not know any Sutras either. Do you think Amitabha Buddha want people like me?’
I told her, ‘Yes, Amitabha Buddha wants you! As long as you recite Namo Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha will take all in! He welcomes you to go as you are his precious child!’
On hearing this, she was so happy and said, ‘It is so good! It is so good! It is so good!’ She exclaimed three times. You see, this is having ripe good roots. After hearing my words, she has no doubts at all. She continues to recite Namo Amitabha Buddha whole-heartedly.
She was down with the last stage of liver cancer. Liver cancer (Hepatocellular carcinoma) is a very painful disease. But she did not have the pain. She only felt numbness in the area around the liver. When the two daughters came home, she would ask them to recite Namo Amitabha Buddha. One day, the two daughters were sitting by her side. The younger daughter recited softly but the eldest daughter was silent. The old lady was not happy, asking her the reason for not reciting. The eldest daughter was shameful when her mother asked her and answered, ‘Mother, I recited in my heart.’
‘What do you mean you are reciting with your heart? Why can’t you open your mouth?’ She did not allow her to recite in her mind, asking her to open her mouth to recite.
Her children are mostly very filial. Once they reached home, she would say, ‘Everyone recite Namo Amitabha Buddha. Do not talk other nonsense.’ So, everyone also recited Namo Amitabha Buddha. After sometimes, she was too ill. The lotus friends went over to conduct aided recitation. At that time, the weather was especially hot, around August. The lotus friends recited six syllable words she would recite six syllable words. The lotus friends recited four syllable words she would recite four syllable words, ‘Amitabha, Amitabha… ‘When the recitation was loud, she would be loud too. Sometimes, she even sat up to recite Namo Amitabha Buddha, following our recitation. In such a situation, it looked as though she was leading the lotus friends to recite Amitabha Buddha. Though the weather was so hot, lotus friends who joined the aided recitation said instead, ‘This is the only old lady who have made us so energetic in aided recitation!’ No one was talking. Everyone recited Namo Amitabha Buddha for the whole session.
I was getting ready to go to Nanking the next day. So, I do not have the chance to send her. On that day itself, she passed away early in the morning. Later, I went over to see her and she looked very good. She had passed away in the most supreme way, in the most adorned manner! Her hands and bones were softer than baby just as if she was boneless. Everyone went forth to shake hands with her. After the cremation, there appeared the relic, the relic flowers. After such an experience, her two daughters started to have faith in the Buddha. The whole family including the old and young members, males and females come to a few tens in number take vegetarian food for forty -nine days on her behalf. She is truly a very wonderful lady! This is a lady with low wisdom. She is illiterate but she has attained a rebirth in the Pue Land. So, we can see it does not depend on our cultural level to attain a rebirth.
宣城有位老太太叫姚春林，八十四歲往生淨土。她一個大字不識，人很虔誠，因為祖上信佛，所以從小受過佛教的影響，但是不明佛理，只是燒香拜拜。「文革」時期不准信佛，不准供佛。她就在土灶的鍋洞裡偷偷地點香供觀音菩薩。因為灶上屬於灶王爺的地盤，她就跟灶王爺打招呼說：「灶王菩薩，我沒有地方給觀音菩薩燒香，就借你這個地方燒一燒，你沒有意見吧？」她這個心，好像挺愚鈍，其實很善良，很本分。「文革」之後，信仰自由了，一開始她還有點怕，還怕政策再不讓信佛，還是偷偷的。日子久了，她的女兒說：「這都什麼年代了，你還偷偷摸摸的？現在信佛自由了，你可以放心大膽供佛了。」這樣她才請菩薩來供。但是，她還是不知道學佛的目的，只知道行善積德，為人要善良。後來一位蓮友對她說：「老人家這麼虔誠！你怎麼不知道念佛啊？」
她問：「念什麼佛啊？」
「念阿彌陀佛！」
「哦！念阿彌陀佛——我供的是觀音菩薩。」
「供觀音菩薩，你也要念阿彌陀佛，要求生西方極樂世界。」她這才聽說極樂世界。這個時候，她已經八十一歲了。又過了兩個月，她才開始念南無阿彌陀佛，一句一句在家裡念，還請了念佛機。念歸念，她心裡還是有疑惑。一位蓮友就來跟我講：「這位姚老太太，人很虔誠，但是就怕自己不夠格，不能到極樂世界。另外，她一輩子沒有見過出家人，她現在病得很重，估計差不多快要走了。師父是不是去看看她，她很想見見出家人。」
我一聽，感覺她很可貴，我就去了。她一看見出家人，就恭敬合掌，然後就跟我聊上了。
她說：「我怕不行啊，我一個字也不認識，什麼經都不會，像我這樣的人，阿彌陀佛要嗎？」
我說：「阿彌陀佛要啊！你只要念佛，阿彌陀佛一個不漏！非常歡迎你去，把你當寶貝！」
她一聽就高興了：「那就好！那就好！那就好！」連講三遍。你看，這就是善根成熟了，講了她就不懷疑，就專心念這句名號。
她是肝癌晚期——肝癌是很痛的，但是她身上一點痛苦都沒有，只是肝部有點麻木的感覺。兩個女兒一回來，她就叫她們念佛。一天，兩個女兒在旁邊，小女兒小聲念，大女兒沒張口，老太太就不高興了，問她怎麼不念佛。大女兒被媽媽這一問，不好意思了，說：「媽，我在心裡念。」
「什麼在心裡念？你為什麼不能開口啊？」她不許她在心裡念，叫她開口念。
她家裡的孩子都挺孝順的。一回到家裡，她就說：「你們都念佛，其他事不要閒扯。」大家都念佛。這樣過了一段時間，說是不行了，蓮友們去助念。那時候天氣特別熱，我記得是八月分。蓮友助念，她隨你怎麼念：你唱六個字，她也唱六個字；你念四個字，她也念四個字，「阿彌陀佛，阿彌陀佛……」；你要是念大聲，她也念大聲。有時候她還坐起來念佛，跟著我們的聲音。那種情形，簡直就是她在帶蓮友念佛。雖然天那麼熱，助念的蓮友卻說：「這樣的老太婆，我們為她助念，感到就是有勁！」大家一句閒話都沒有，一句佛號念到底。
我當時要準備第二天去南京，就沒有機會送她走。就是那一天，她清早往生了。後來我去看她，她的面色、氣韻非常好，走得非常殊勝，非常莊嚴！手和骨節簡直比嬰兒還柔軟，就好像沒有骨頭一樣，所有的人都跑去跟她握手。火化之後，還得到舍利子、舍利花。有了這個經歷，她的兩個女兒都開始信佛了，家裡的男女老少，大大小小一共幾十口人，都為她吃素四十九天。所以，她也是很了不起的！這就是下智的人、沒有文化的人往生淨土。可見，不是靠我們的文化程度去往生。
A Comment by oridharma:
‘Having ripe good roots’—People who have ripe good roots will recite Namo Amitabha Buddha without doubts once they know about the Buddha and his rescue. People who do not have ripe good roots ask many questions and they do not even bother to recite the Buddha’s Name. They take Amitabha recitation as learning a knowledge. Most grateful to Namo Amitabha Buddha
‘善根成熟’—善根成熟的人知道念佛能往生，二话不说就念佛了。善根少的人问了很多问题都不念佛。 把念佛当成一种学问来研究。感恩南无阿弥陀佛
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