阿彌陀經通贊疏 2.5

2.5

First, explaining the name: *shi* (world/loka) means destructible; *jie* (boundary/dhātu) means the delimitations of the realm, which is the land inhabited. That it is named "Sukhāvatī" (Utmost Bliss): "bliss" is the inhabitant, the feeling of pleasure associated with the sixth consciousness. *Shi* is *jie*, which is an appositional compound (karmadhāraya). "Utmost" means the feeling of supreme bliss, while "world" is insentient, which is a Dvandva compound. Presenting its substance: "Sukhāvatī" is the feeling of supreme bliss. As for "world" (*shi*), on the basis of conditioned dharmas, both sentient and insentient, being unstable and destructible, the name *shi* is established; thus it is nominally established upon form and mind. As for *jie*, its substance consists of the four dusts or five dusts; although in a holy realm there is no connotation of defilement or foulness, being of the class of sensory dusts, it is also called dust. The subtle alteration of the four marks is also named "world." Discerning nominal and real: if it is a transformed pure land, it is merely nominal, being forms produced by meditative concentration (dhyāna-samādhi); sentient beings who have not eliminated their defiled seeds cannot transform and obtain a pure land, but only alter their mind like the three transformations of lands, not violating consciousness-only. Sorting out contaminated and uncontaminated: if it is the Buddha's fundamental-substance pure land, it is solely uncontaminated; if it is the pure land transformed by reborn sentient beings and bodhisattvas, it is solely contaminated, because it is the fruit of the eighth consciousness transformed, not the cause. Distinguishing within the five categories of phenomena: "Sukhāvatī" is subsumed under mental associates; "world" is subsumed under form dharmas. Subsuming within the three classifications: "Sukhāvatī" is subsumed under the aggregate of formations; "world" is subsumed under the aggregate of form; among the twelve sense bases, "Sukhāvatī" is subsumed under the dharma base, while "world" is subsumed under the form base; among the eighteen elements, it is subsumed under the dharma element and among the six sensory objects. Resolving objections: Question: The happiness of the Buddha lands in the ten directions is all equal; why specifically point to the west and urge people to be born there? Answer: Truly because the karma of ordinary beings is heavy and they produce attachment everywhere, if one does not specifically point to one direction, they would not tie their minds in single-minded focus. Therefore the *Lotus Sūtra* states: "Sentient beings cling everywhere; I guide them so they may emerge." Furthermore, the master of the Western Pure Land is superior and his vows are powerful; specifically urging rebirth there enables one to swiftly attain holy fruit, which is why it is specifically pointed out.