阿彌陀經義疏 1.36

1.36

答：「祇由心本是佛，故令專念彼佛，《梵網戒》云：『常須自知我是未成之佛，諸佛是已成之佛。』汝心佛者，未成佛也；彌陀佛者，已成佛也，未成之佛久沈欲海，具足煩惱杳無出期；已成之佛久證菩提，具足威神能為物護，是故諸經勸令念佛，即是以己未成佛，求他已成佛而為救護耳。是故眾生若不念佛，聖凡永隔，父子乖離，長處輪迴，去佛遠矣！」

Answer: 'Precisely because the mind is fundamentally the Buddha, he causes us to exclusively contemplate that Buddha. The Brahma Net Precepts state: "One must constantly know oneself: I am a buddha who has not yet become one; all buddhas are buddhas who have already become so." The buddha of your mind is a buddha who has not yet become one; the Buddha Amida is a buddha who has already become one. The buddha who has not yet become one has long been sunken in the ocean of desire, fully possessed of afflictions with no prospect of escape; the buddha who has already become one has long realized bodhi, fully possessed of majestic spiritual power and able to protect beings. Therefore, the sūtras urge contemplating the Buddha: that is, by means of oneself as a buddha not yet become, one seeks another who has already become a buddha to provide rescue and protection. Thus, if sentient beings do not contemplate the Buddha, the noble and the ordinary remain forever separated, father and child estranged, dwelling long in saṃsāra, far removed from the Buddha!'