阿彌陀經義疏 1.42

1.42

次、釋名中分三：初至念經徵前經名，上句已見前文，故但問下二句，恐未曉故問釋之；舍利下，二示義，又二：先敘聞持，是諸下，次、明得益。初中聞經受持者，牒上二報莊嚴，正明行法二大章也；及諸佛名者，牒上引佛勸信，第三一章初科所引六方名也。次、得益中，諸佛護念直至菩提，護謂覆護，不使魔嬈，念謂記念，不令退失，《勢至章》云：「十方如來憐念眾生，如母憶子」，《大論》云：「譬如魚母若不念子，子即壞爛」等。阿耨多羅此翻無上，三藐云正等，三菩提云正覺，即佛果號，薄地凡夫業惑纏縛，流轉五道百千萬劫，忽聞淨土志願求生，一日稱名即超彼國，諸佛護念直趣菩提，可謂萬劫難逢，千生一遇，誓從今日終盡未來，在處稱揚，多方勸誘，所感身土所化機緣，與阿彌陀等無有異，此心罔極，唯佛證知。

Next, within explaining the title, there are three parts: first, up to 'mindfully protected sūtra,' examining the previous sūtra title: since the upper phrase has already appeared in the preceding text, it only asks about the lower two phrases, asking and explaining them out of concern that they may not yet be understood; second, from 'Śāri[putra]' onward, revealing the meaning, which again has two: first recounting hearing and upholding, and next, from 'these persons' onward, clarifying the attainment of benefit. In the first, 'hearing this sūtra and upholding it' reiterates the two major chapters above on the adornments of the two rewards and directly clarifying the method of practice; 'and hearing the names of all the buddhas' reiterates the names of the six directions cited in the first heading of the third major chapter above, which cites the buddhas to urge faith. Next, in attaining benefit, all the buddhas mindfully protect them straight to bodhi: 'protect' means shielding and safeguarding so that māras do not harass them; 'mindfully' means keeping them in mind so they do not fall back. The Chapter on Mahāsthāmaprāpta says: 'The Tathāgatas of the ten directions pity and are mindful of sentient beings, as a mother remembers her child'; the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra says: 'For example, if a mother fish is not mindful of her young, the young will rot away,' and so forth. 'Anuttara' translates here as 'unsurpassed'; 'samyak' means 'correct and equal'; 'saṃbodhi' means 'correct awakening'; this is the title of the fruit of buddhahood. Common mortals bound on the thin earth, entangled by karmic afflictions, revolve through the five realms for hundreds of thousands of myriads of kalpas; suddenly hearing of the Pure Land, they aspire to seek rebirth, and reciting the name for a single day, they immediately transcend to that land. Mindfully protected by all buddhas, they proceed straight toward bodhi. This can truly be called hard to encounter in ten thousand kalpas, met once in a thousand lifetimes! We vow that from this day until the exhaustion of the future, we will praise it everywhere and urge and guide [others] through manifold ways, so that the bodies and lands brought about and the karmic capacities transformed will be equal and no different from Amitābha's. This mind is boundless, and only the buddhas can bear witness to it.