The Primordial Path of Kong Xuanming

As the Wu and Yao races prepared for war, a series of chanting sounds resounded throughout the western continent of the primordial universe: "Buddha is mind, mind is Buddha; mind and Buddha are both things. The body without body is the true body; the form without form is the true form; neither form nor emptiness nor non-emptiness; neither coming nor going nor returning; neither different nor the same nor existing nor non-existent; difficult to relinquish, difficult to grasp, difficult to hear and see. Inner and outer spiritual light are everywhere the same; a Buddha-land is in a grain of sand. A grain of sand contains a great thousand worlds; one body and mind are the same for all dharmas. To know this, one must understand the secret of no-mind; non-defilement and non-attachment are pure karma. All beings suffer; now we two also establish Buddhism, build the Western Pure Land, and create a world of ultimate bliss. Those who wish to come, come and achieve great good results."

If I attain unsurpassed Bodhi and become a fully enlightened being, the Buddha-land I reside in will be adorned with immeasurable and inconceivable merits and virtues. There will be no hells, hungry ghosts, birds, beasts, or even the smallest insects. All sentient beings, including those in the Yama realm and the three evil realms, who are reborn in my Buddha-land and receive my Dharma teachings, will all attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. They will no longer fall into evil realms. If this vow is fulfilled, I will become a Buddha. If this vow is not fulfilled, I will not attain unsurpassed enlightenment. When I become a Buddha, all sentient beings in the ten directions will be reborn in my Buddha-land. They will all possess bodies of pure purple-gold, with the thirty-two marks of a great man. They will be handsome, pure, and of the same kind. If there are differences in appearance, with some being beautiful and others ugly, I will not attain enlightenment… When I become a Buddha, from the earth's edge to the sky, palaces, pavilions, ponds, streams, flowers, trees, and all things in the land will be composed of immeasurable precious fragrances. This fragrance will pervade the ten directions. Sentient beings who smell it will all cultivate the Buddha's practices. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment. When I become a Buddha, all the bodhisattvas in the ten directions, upon hearing my name, will all attain purity, liberation, universal samadhi, and profound dharani, abiding in samadhi until they attain Buddhahood. In samadhi, they will constantly make offerings to all Buddhas, without losing their concentration. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment. When I become a Buddha, bodhisattvas in other worlds, upon hearing my name, who cultivate the bodhisattva path, possessing virtuous roots, and who at that time do not attain even one, two, or three kinds of forbearance, and who cannot directly realize the non-retrogression of all Buddha-dharma, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.

May this merit adorn the Pure Land of Buddha.

To repay the fourfold kindness above, and to relieve the suffering of the three lower realms below.

May all who see or hear this awaken the Bodhi mind.

May we, in this very lifetime, be reborn together in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

……

Countless merits from heaven bestowed upon those who established the teachings and made great vows.

The Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti were not sufficiently cultivated, and their merit in establishing their sect was not enough to become saints. So the two brothers made dozens of great vows in succession, which finally attracted the Great Dao Law to bestow great merit and merit, enabling them to attain sainthood.

Jieyin sat regally on the supreme innate treasure, the twelve-petaled lotus platform, beneath which emanated twelve-colored light. Behind his head, a colossal golden body appeared, holding a demon-subduing banner, illuminating the entire western continent.

The Daoist Zhundi stood atop a nine-petaled lotus flower born from the fruit of the Golden Lotus of Annihilation. In his hand, the Seven Treasures Tree, a supreme innate treasure, transformed into a colossal tree spanning billions of miles, its trunk shimmering with seven-colored divine light, a sight of unparalleled beauty. The sage's aura permeated the entire primordial continent, causing countless beings to kneel in worship. The laws of the Great Dao also rained down energy and light to baptize all living beings, celebrating the birth of the new sage.

The Daoist Jieyin and the Daoist Zhunti established Buddhism. From then on, Jieyin became the founder of Buddhism, and his Buddha name was Amitabha. Daoist Zhunti became the second founder of Buddhism, and his Buddha name was Shakyamuni Tathagata.

After countless eons of arduous cultivation, Jieyin and Zhunti finally attained the highest rule. Although they barely managed to attain sainthood through a clever trick, they still achieved sainthood nonetheless.