觀無量壽佛經義疏 3.39

3.39

"The Buddha said to Ānanda and Vaidehī: 'Having seen this matter, next you should contemplate the Buddha.'" Sentient beings from beginningless time have not known the true Buddha, but have mostly seen images; therefore he has them first contemplate [an image]. By using an image to express the true, contemplating the Buddha is easy to accomplish. Second, directly showing the method of contemplation has three parts: first, generally showing the purpose of contemplating the Buddha; second, directly explaining the method of contemplating the Buddha; third, concluding instructions. First, generally showing the purpose of contemplating the Buddha has four parts: first, explaining that the Buddha's body is universally pervasive and able to respond to the minds of beings; second, explaining that when the practitioner's contemplation is achieved, they are already endowed with the Buddha's substance; third, citing his fruition virtues to generate faith in the causal mind and concluding with an exhortation that cultivating the cause must rely on the fruition virtues. In this passage of the sūtra, our Buddha, the Tathāgata, wished to explain the contemplation of the Buddha, and therefore before the contemplation of the image he first recounted the merit of contemplating the Buddha, which is the revelation of the essential path for sentient beings to attain buddhahood. The wondrous purport of the entire sūtra resides solely in this text; later students discussing it must investigate it with thorough precision. If this is not understood, what else can be said? First, explaining that the Buddha's body is universally pervasive has two parts: first, a question; second, the instruction. First, the question.