46) 病中持名

Buddha Recitation in Times of Illness

A serious illness is a reminder of death. Death is the important lin k between sages and ordinary men, the pure and the impure. [In the event of terminal illness] you should develop thoughts of death (to avoid fearing it) and be diligent in reciting the Buddha’s name, awaiting death with determination. When the time comes, the light of Amitabha Buddha w ill appear to welcome and escort you, thus fulfilling your vow of rebirth in the Pure Land. If you stop reciting the Buddha’s name when you are ill, all your feelings of attachment, fear and affliction will create a turm oil in your mind, while all manner of sundry thoughts will arise. How then ca n you escape the path of Birth and Death?

Once, long ago, there was a monk who, afflicted with a serious illness, groaned loudly “help, help!” He then realized that a cultivator should remember to practice, and that to groan was wrong. Immediately, he began to recite the Buddha’s name.

However, his suffering did not diminish. Therefore, each time he groaned “help, help” he would fo low the groan with the Buddha’s name, day and night without fail.

Upon recovering, he told everyone: “when I was ill, each time I groaned, I fo lowed it with the Buddha’s name. Now that I am well, the words ‘Amitabha Buddha’ remain while the ‘Help, help’ has disappeared and is nowhere to be found. How amazing!”

This is an instance of being steadfast in the face of illness.

病者，死之机也。死者，凡圣净秽之关也，病中当作死想，勤念佛名，决定待死，必 有光明接引，遂我往生之愿，若于病中略一停想，则一切爱恋、恐怖、烦恼安排种种 杂念一齐现前，生死关头如何济事？昔有一僧病甚，呼啊耶，自觉其非，即念阿弥陀 佛，如是痛不自止，一声啊耶，一声阿弥陀佛，昼夜不绝，病愈谓人曰：我病中念啊 耶，念阿弥陀佛，今病好，阿弥陀佛尚在，啊耶二字不知何往矣！善哉此病中之精进 者也。

Commentary

No one in the world can avoid death. However, there are some people who are so afraid of death that they lose all self-respect or are so eager to live that they ignore death. What a pity!

Even if we fear death, we cannot escape it. Therefore, fear is superfluous …. Even when a relative, a very close one, dies, some persons do not dare to approach the corpse, let alone uncover the face and look at it. We should realize that death is ready for us at all times. Let us not fear it, but rather endeavor to ensure ourselves a [future] life where there will never be death: the path of liberation. Thus, we should redouble our efforts to recite the Buddha’s name and not fear death. The death of

this present body is but a temporary change of body. Count-less impermanent bodies w ill succee d one another in the future – if we have not achieved liberation.