四分律行事鈔資持記 3.861

3.861

次文。中國本傳，《壇經》所謂別傳是也。日光沒處者，《壇經》云：西方為無常之院，由終歿於天傾之位也；今寺亦有，但方隅不定，不知法故。以下，出別堂所以。今號延壽，豈非相反？專心念法者，由非舊處，無心戀著；但念無常，必思勝法故也。其堂中下，次明設像。立彌陀者，歸心有處也。然十方淨土，而偏指西方者；繫心一境，想念易成故；西方諸佛，而獨歸彌陀者；誓願弘深，結緣成熟故。是以古今儒釋，靡不留心；況濁世凡愚，煩惱垢重；心猿未鎖，欲馬難調；捨此他求，終無出路；請尋大小《彌陀經、十六觀經、往生論、十疑論》等諸文，詳究聖言，必生深信矣。像面向西，病者在後；謂將終之時已前，常須瞻像，令其繫心。忍土者，梵語娑婆，此云堪忍；《大悲經》云：此界眾生，忍受三毒，及諸煩惱故。人間臭穢者，《感通傳》，天人云：人中臭氣，上熏於空四十萬里；諸天清淨，無不厭之；但以受佛付囑，令護於法；佛尚與人同止，諸天不敢不來。恒在佛所者，恐心無繫，念世事故。

The next text: The native transmission of the Central Country (India) is what the Platform Sūtra calls the separate transmission. "Where the sunlight sets": The Platform Sūtra says, "The west is the hall of impermanence, because life ends in the direction toward which heaven inclines." Monasteries today also have them, but their directions are unfixed because they do not know the method. "Below" gives the reason for a separate hall. Today it is called "Prolonging Life"—is that not the very opposite? "Exclusively focusing the mind on the Dharma" is because it is not one's old dwelling, so one has no mind to cling to it; only contemplating impermanence, one will surely contemplate the superior Dharma. "Inside the hall" below next explains setting up an image. Erecting [an image of] Amitābha provides a destination for taking refuge. Now, although there are pure lands in the ten directions, pointing specifically to the west is because fixing the mind on a single realm makes visualizations easy to accomplish; among the Buddhas of the west, taking refuge exclusively in Amitābha is because his vows are vast and deep, and karmic connections are ripe. Therefore, neither Confucian nor Buddhist scholars from antiquity to the present have failed to set their minds on this; how much more so for the ordinary fools of the defiled world whose afflictions and defilements are heavy! When the monkey of the mind is not locked up and the horse of desire is hard to tame, setting this aside to seek elsewhere will ultimately yield no way out. Please consult the Large and Small Amitābha Sūtras, the Sixteen Contemplations Sūtra, the Treatise on Rebirth, the Treatise on Ten Doubts, and other texts; thoroughly examine the sacred words, and you will surely generate deep faith. The image faces west, and the sick person is behind it; this means that before the time of death approaches, one must constantly gaze upon the image, causing one to fix one's mind. "The land of endurance": in Sanskrit Sahā, translated here as "bearing"; the Mahākāruṇika Sūtra says that sentient beings in this realm endure the three poisons and all afflictions. "The stench and filth of the human world": in the Biographies of Spiritual Resonance, a deva says that the stench of humanity fumigates upwards into the air for four hundred thousand li; all the pure devas loathe it without exception; but because they have received the Buddha's entrustment to protect the Dharma, and the Buddha still dwells together with humans, the devas do not dare not to come. "Constantly being in the presence of the Buddha" is out of fear that the mind will have nothing to fasten upon and will think of worldly matters.