觀無量壽佛經疏 1.27

1.27

第三、重舉九品返對破者。諸師云：上品上生人是四地至七地已來菩薩者。何故《觀經》云：「三種眾生當得往生。何者為三：一者但能持戒修慈。二者不能持戒修慈，但能讀誦大乘。三者不能持戒讀經，唯能念佛法僧等。此之三人，各以己業專精勵意。一日一夜，乃至七日七夜相續不斷。各迴所作之業，求願往生。命欲終時，阿彌陀佛及與化佛菩薩大眾放光授手，如彈指頃，即生彼國。」以此文證，正是佛去世後，大乘極善上品凡夫，日數雖少，作業時猛，何得判同上聖也。然四地七地已來菩薩，論其功用，不可思議。豈藉一日七日之善，華臺授手，迎接往生也？此即返對上上竟。

Third, raising the nine grades again to counter and refute them: the various masters say that a person of the superior-upper birth is a bodhisattva from the fourth bhūmi to the seventh bhūmi. Why, then, does the Dhyāna Sūtra state: 'Three kinds of sentient beings shall attain rebirth. What are the three? The first is able only to uphold the precepts and cultivate compassion. The second is unable to uphold the precepts and cultivate compassion, but is able to read and recite the Great Vehicle. The third is unable to uphold the precepts and read the sūtras, but is only able to be mindful of the Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, and so forth. These three persons each, through their own karma, apply their minds with dedicated diligence, continuous and uninterrupted for one day and one night, or up to seven days and seven nights. Each dedicates the karma they have performed, aspiring and vowing to attain rebirth. When life is about to end, Amitābha Buddha together with transformation Buddhas and the assembly of bodhisattvas emit light and extend their hands, and in the space of a snap of the fingers, they are immediately born in that land.' Proved by this passage, these are precisely supreme pṛthagjanas of the highest virtue in the Great Vehicle after the Buddha's decease. Although the number of days is few, the moment of their action is fierce; how could they be determined as identical to the superior noble beings? Now, in terms of their functional capacity, bodhisattvas from the fourth to the seventh bhūmi are inconceivable; how could they rely on the good of one to seven days to have hands extended from a lotus platform to welcome them for rebirth? This concludes countering the superior-upper.