觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 4.8

4.8

六、總觀，二：初、疏科。二、經文，四：初、明總觀，二：初、觀寶樓，二：初、「眾寶」下，正明觀樓。二、「其樓」下，二處樂聲。即樓中天作及空裏自鳴，此樂音中皆詮三寶微妙觀門。二、「此想」下，結成總觀。最初繫念且寄此土，落日及氷以為方便，次觀彼國地樹池樓。應知此四，得後後者必得前前，故樓觀成四事都現，是故至此得總觀名。雖云總見，若望後觀，此猶約略，故曰粗見。二、「是為」下，結。三、「若見」下，明利益。除無量億劫極重惡業者，華座中云除五萬億劫罪，前地觀除八十億劫。然其滅罪多少之數，皆是佛智如量言之，非是初心所能思議，但可信奉而已。四、「作是」下，顯觀邪正。

Sixth, the general contemplation, which has two parts: first, the commentary's division of the sections; second, the sūtra text, which has four parts: First, explaining the general contemplation, which has two parts: 1. Contemplating the jeweled pavilions, which has two parts: a. From "the various jewels" onwards, directly explaining the contemplation of the pavilions; b. From "in those pavilions" onwards, the musical sounds in the two places. Namely, played by devas within the pavilions and naturally resounding in the sky; within these musical tones, the wondrous contemplative approaches to the Three Jewels are all elucidated. 2. From "this visualization" onwards, concluding the accomplishment of the general contemplation. Initially, binding one's thoughts relied provisionally on the setting sun and ice of this realm as expedients; next, one contemplated the ground, trees, ponds, and pavilions of that land. One should understand that regarding these four, attaining the latter necessarily includes the former; therefore, when the contemplation of the pavilions is achieved, all four matters appear simultaneously, and for this reason it receives the name of "general contemplation" at this point. Although it is called seeing generally, looking ahead to the later contemplations, this is still summary; hence it is called rough perception. Second, from "this is" onwards, the conclusion. Third, from "if one sees" onwards, explaining the benefits. Regarding the eradication of extremely heavy evil karma of immeasurable kotis of kalpas, the flower throne [contemplation] speaks of eradicating sins of fifty billion kalpas, while the previous contemplation of the ground eradicated eighty billion kalpas. However, the number of sins eradicated—whether many or few—is spoken by the Buddha's wisdom in accordance with the actual measure; it cannot be conceived by beginners, but should simply be accepted with faith. Fourth, from "making this" onwards, revealing whether the contemplation is incorrect or correct.