阿彌陀經通贊疏 3.23

3.23

Commentary: Third, distinguishing the number, and fourth, clarifying the signs of confirmation. 'Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā like these' distinguishes the number. 'Each in his own land' distinguishes and clarifies the signs of confirmation. The number of Buddhas like these is comparable to the sands of the river and cannot be listed in full, hence it says 'and... like these.' As for the number of the Gaṅgā, in Sanskrit it is Gaṅgā, corrupted and abbreviated as Henghe; it is the name of a river goddess, and the river is named after her. The pronunciation of jing is qi-ling fan in the departing tone. Sūtras use the sands of this river as a metaphor. From the Anavatapta Lake four great rivers flow out, and this river is one of them. It has five points: 1. because of the abundance of sand; 2. because people in the world regard it as auspicious water, in which washing eradicates sins and throwing oneself to death brings rebirth in heaven; 3. although kalpas are destroyed, its name always remains; 4. the Buddha often proclaimed the wondrous Dharma near it; 5. it is familiar to everyone; therefore, it is often used as a metaphor. Furthermore, it takes the river of forty square li where it first emerges from the mouth of the lake as the metaphor. Clarifying the signs of confirmation: 'the Buddhas each in his own land extending the broad and long tongue mark' means each extends the mark of the tongue in his own land. As for the 'trichiliocosm,' according to the Da zhidu lun: one thousand Mount Merus, one thousand suns and moons, one thousand sets of four continents, and one thousand Brahmā Kings constitute a small chiliocosm; taking the small chiliocosm as one unit up to a thousand is called a great chiliocosm, hence it is called three thousand [fold], and being neither small nor medium it is called a great chiliocosm. The Abhidharmakośa states: the small chiliocosm reaches up to the First Dhyāna, the medium chiliocosm reaches up to the Second Dhyāna, and the great chiliocosm reaches up to the Third Dhyāna; they share a single cycle of formation and destruction all across, hence it is said to cover all over, and so it says 'covering all over the trichiliocosm.' This expresses that through countless kalpas the mouth has been free from the four faults, thereby inducing this tongue mark. To confirm a small matter, it covers the face up to the hairline; now, confirming a great matter, it extends to the three thousand [worlds]. Now, teaching that the cause is subtle yet the fruit is supreme, he feared sentient beings might doubt; this is indeed the essential gate for casting off suffering and distress, the swift path to realising eternal bliss. Since the matter is vast, the auspicious sign manifested is not slight: extending the tongue mark to cover the great chiliocosm confirms that the Western realm is true bliss.