见慈氏归去来

三月初三。伤势严重。仍趺坐。不视。不言。不食。不饮。侍者法云。宽纯在侧。而围者履施楚鞭将死。至十一日。则吉祥卧。气绝脉停而体温。十二日复苏。语梦至兜率内院。庄严瑰丽非世有。弥勒菩萨座上说法。有志善。紫柏等。阿难作维那。公位第三。

宣化偈曰：

唯心识定法。慈氏亲口宣。
业缘暂回去。事竟再复还。
　

Seeing "the Kindly One" and then returning,

In the first three days of the third lunar month, the Master's condition was critical due to his injuries. He still sat in the meditation posture, but could no longer see, speak, eat, or drink. Two attendants, Fa Yun (Dharma Cloud) and K'uan Ch'un (Broad and Pure), were at his side, but his captors repeatedly flogged him without mercy to the point of death. By the eleventh, the Master had assumed the Auspicious Resting Posture30; his breath and pulse had stopped, but his body was still warm. On the twelfth, he regained consciousness and said that he had been to the inner court of the Tushita Heaven. It was adorned in the extraordinary beauty of another world. Maitreya Bodhisattva was on a throne speaking the Dharma, and Dharma Masters Chih Shan (Utmost Goodness) and Tzu Pai (Purple Cypress) were present among others. The Venerable Ananda was the wei-no, and the Master was shown to the third seat.

The gatha says:
Mind only is the method of samadhi,
As Maitreya himself told the Master, saying:
"Temporarily return, due to karmic conditions.
When affairs are over, you will be able to come back here."

30. The position in which the Buddha entered Nirvana.