阿彌陀經要解 1.6

1.6

Third, clarifying the guiding principle: The guiding principle is the essential path of cultivation, the pivotal mechanism for realizing the substance, and the guiding thread of the myriad practices. When the thread is lifted, all meshes open; when the collar is taken up, the lapels and sleeves follow. Therefore, following the substance, one must discern the guiding principle. This sūtra takes faith, aspiration, and recollection of the name as the essential guiding principle of cultivation. Without faith, it is insufficient to give rise to aspiration; without aspiration, it is insufficient to guide practice; without the wonderful practice of recollection of the name, it is insufficient to fulfill what is aspired to and realize what is believed. Therefore, in the sūtra, it first expounds the circumstantial and direct retribution of Sukhāvatī to generate faith; next it encourages that one should generate aspiration to guide practice; next it shows that seven days of holding the name directly leads to ascending to avivartika. Faith means believing in self, believing in other, believing in cause, believing in effect, believing in phenomena, and believing in noumenon. Aspiration means being repulsed by and departing Sahā, and rejoicing in and seeking Sukhāvatī. Practice means holding firmly to the name with one mind undisturbed. Believing in self means believing that my present single thought of the mind is originally neither a lump of flesh nor shadows of conditions; vertically it has no beginning or end, and horizontally it cuts off boundaries; all day it accords with conditions, and all day it is unchanging. The dust-mote lands of the empty space of the ten directions are originally things manifest within my single thought of the mind. Although I am now confused, deluded, and inverted, if I can turn my mind in a single thought, I will certainly be reborn in the Sukhāvatī originally possessed within my own mind, without any further doubt or hesitation: this is called believing in self. Believing in other means believing that Śākyamuni Tathāgata definitely has no deceptive speech, Amitābha the World-Honoured One definitely has no empty vows, and the broad and long tongues of the Buddhas of the six directions definitely have no twofold speech; according with the true instructions of all Buddhas, with a resolved will one seeks rebirth without any further doubt or hesitation: this is called believing in other. Believing in cause means deeply believing that even reciting the name with a scattered mind is still the seed for becoming a Buddha; how much more so with one mind undisturbed—how could it not be the cause of rebirth in the Pure Land! This is called believing in cause. Believing in effect means deeply believing that the gathering of the supremely good persons in the Pure Land is entirely born from buddhānusmṛti-samādhi; just as planting melons yields melons and planting beans yields beans, or as a shadow must follow a form and an echo must answer a sound, it is definitely never in vain: this is called believing in effect. Believing in phenomena means deeply believing that because this present single thought right now cannot be exhausted, all worlds of the ten directions manifest relying on the mind likewise cannot be exhausted; there truly exists the land of Sukhāvatī beyond a hundred thousand koṭis of lands, exquisitely pure and adorned, unlike Master Zhuang's allegories: this is called believing in phenomena. Believing in noumenon means deeply believing that although the land of Sukhāvatī is distant by a hundred thousand koṭis of lands, in truth it does not go beyond my present, minute single thought of the mind right now, because the nature of the mind of our present single thought truly has no exterior. Furthermore, it means deeply believing that the Western direction's circumstantial and direct retributions, whether host or companions, are all shadows manifest within my present single thought of the wondrous, bright, true mind; the entirety of phenomena is noumenon, the entirety of delusion is truth, the entirety of cultivation is nature, and the entirety of other is self. Because my mind is pervasive, the Buddha's mind is also pervasive; because the Buddha's mind is pervasive, the nature of the mind of all sentient beings is also pervasive. For example, in a room with a thousand lamps, the lights pervade each other, interpenetrating layer upon layer without obstructing one another: this is called believing in noumenon. Having believed in this way, Sahā is the defilement felt by one's own mind, and one's own defiled mind ought in principle to be repulsed and departed; Sukhāvatī is the purity felt by one's own mind, and one's own pure mind ought in principle to be rejoiced in and sought. Repulsing defilement must be relinquished to the ultimate before there is nothing left to relinquish; rejoicing in purity must be grasped to the ultimate before there is nothing left to grasp. Therefore, the Miaozong chao says: 'If grasping and relinquishing are taken to the extreme, they are not a different path from non-grasping and non-relinquishing.' Now, if one does not apply oneself to grasping and relinquishing, but merely prizes non-grasping and non-relinquishing, this is clinging to noumenon and abandoning phenomena; having abandoned phenomena, the noumenon is also not perfect. If one penetrates that the entirety of phenomena is noumenon, then grasping is noumenon and relinquishing is also noumenon; every single act of grasping and relinquishing is nothing other than the dharmadhātu. Therefore, after faith, aspiration is clarified. As for 'holding firmly to the name with one mind undisturbed': the name summons virtue; since the virtue is inconceivable, the merit of the name is also inconceivable. Because the merit of the name is inconceivable, it causes even invoking the name with a scattered mind to become the seed of buddhahood; how much more so holding firmly to it to the point of one mind undisturbed—how could one not directly ascend to avivartika! However, the essential practices of the Pure Land shown across the sūtras are myriad and varied, such as contemplating the image, visualization, prostrations, offerings, the five repentances, the six mindfulnesses, and so forth; when each and every practice is perfected, one is reborn in the Pure Land. Yet only this single Dharma of holding firmly to the name gathers the broadest capacities and is easiest to start with. Therefore, the compassionate honored Śākyamuni expounded it without inquiry in this sūtra, specifically picking it out for Śāriputra of Great Wisdom; it can be called the foremost skillful means among skillful means, the unsurpassable definitive meaning among definitive meanings, and the most extremely perfect and sudden among the perfect and sudden. Therefore the ancients said: 'When a bright pearl is cast into turbid water, the turbid water cannot but become clear; when the Buddha's name is cast into a scattered mind, the scattered mind cannot but become Buddha.' Faith, aspiration, and holding firmly to the name serve as the true cause of the ekayāna, and the four kinds of pure lands serve as the wondrous fruit of the ekayāna; when the cause is raised, the fruit must follow. Therefore, faith, aspiration, and holding firmly to the name are taken as the sūtra's correct guiding principle. As for the marks of the four kinds of pure lands, they are detailed in the Miaozong chao and the Fanwang xuanyi and are not fully stated here; when explaining the text on circumstantial and direct retribution later, I shall point them out briefly.