觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊 2.217

2.217

The commentary says: Fourth is rejoicing, retiring, and propagation. Having obtained what was unprecedented, they rejoiced on this account. The matter being finished, they acted in accord with the teaching, hence they retired to propagate it. Evil fruits and evil causes arise in the end of this degenerate age; before Buddhas and after Buddhas, we grow up amid the states lacking leisure. Aspiring to be born in a pure land, wondrous practice remains unaccomplished; if hoping for the heavenly palace, one fears superior causes remain unknotted. Although a pure land has no defilement, the sacred teachings themselves have discrepancies; although the heavenly palace has sensual pleasures, in its principles there is definitely no doubt. Those who feel revulsion toward sensory realms remain undefiled though touching defiled phenomena; those who indulge in sensual pleasures become defiled even by undefiled phenomena. When moral karma is deficient and blessings and wisdom are shallow, since the Buddha manifested in the defiled realm in response to the capacities of beings, ordinary beings should also aspire to be born in accord with the sacred realm. If supreme sages and supreme worthies all engaged in this karma, how could inferior ordinary beings in low positions surpass it? Therefore, those whose practices align should all exclusively cultivate it. I have ventured to put forth my own interpretations, hoping they serve as causes for birth; for the rest of the accounts and traces, they are fully recorded in the separate biography.