[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819) › 2.101 # 無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 2.101 無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 2.101 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [2.101](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2.101) 問曰：若不即等，復何待言？菩薩但登初地，以漸增進，自然當與佛等。何假言與上地菩薩等？答曰：菩薩於七地中得大寂滅，上不見諸佛可求、下不見眾生可度，欲捨佛道證於實際。爾時若不得十方諸佛神力加勸，即便滅度，與二乘無異。菩薩若往生安樂見阿彌陀佛，即無此難，是故須言畢竟平等。復次《無量壽經》中阿彌陀如來本願言「設我得佛，他方佛土諸菩薩眾來生我國，究竟必至一生補處；除其本願，自在所化，為眾生故，被弘誓鐙積累德本度脫一切，遊諸佛國修菩薩行，供養十方諸佛如來，開化恒沙無量眾生，使立無上正真之道，超出常倫諸地之行，現前修習普賢之德。若不爾者，不取正覺。」案此經推彼國菩薩，或可不從一地至一地。言十地階次者，是釋迦如來於閻浮提一應化道耳，他方淨土何必如此？五種不思議中佛法最不可思議，若言菩薩必從一地至一地無超越之理，未敢詳也。譬如有樹名曰好堅，是樹地生百歲，乃具一日長高百丈。日日如此，計百歲之長豈類修松耶？見松生長日不過寸，聞彼好堅何能不疑？即曰：有人聞釋迦如來證羅漢於一聽、制無生於終朝，謂是接誘之言，非稱實之說。聞此論事亦當不信。夫非常之言不入常人之耳，謂之不然亦其宜也。 > Question: If they are not immediately equal, why bother saying it? Once a bodhisattva ascends to the first stage, by gradually advancing, he will naturally become equal to the Buddha; why must one borrow the expression that he becomes equal to the bodhisattvas of the higher stages? Answer: In the seventh stage, a bodhisattva attains great tranquility and cessation; looking upward, he sees no buddhas to seek, and looking downward, he sees no living beings to deliver, so he wishes to abandon the Buddha path and realize the limit of reality (bhūtakoṭi). At that time, if he were not exhorted by the spiritual empowerment of the buddhas of the ten directions, he would immediately enter nirvāṇa, no different from the two vehicles. If a bodhisattva is reborn in \[the Land of\] Peace and Bliss and sees Amitābha Buddha, he is free from this calamity; therefore, it must be said that they are ultimately equal. Furthermore, in the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, Amitābha Tathāgata's fundamental vow says: 'If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in the buddha-lands of the other directions who come to be born in my land should not definitively reach \[the rank of being\] bound to one last rebirth—excepting those who, according to their original vows, freely transform themselves, and for the sake of living beings don the armor of the great vows, accumulate the roots of virtue, deliver all beings, travel to all buddha-lands to cultivate the bodhisattva practices, offer worship to the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, guide and transform living beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, causing them to stand in the unsurpassed, true, and correct path, transcending the practices of the ordinary stages, and manifestly cultivating the virtues of Samantabhadra—may I not attain the correct awakening.' According to this sūtra, when deducing \[the state of\] the bodhisattvas of that land, they may perhaps not pass from one stage to the next. The mention of the ranks of the ten stages was merely Śākyamuni Tathāgata's singular path of response and transformation in Jambudvīpa; why must it necessarily be so in the pure lands of the other directions? Among the five kinds of inconceivable things, the Buddha-dharma is the most inconceivable. If one claims that a bodhisattva must pass from one stage to the next without any principle of leapfrogging, I would not dare say that for certain. For example, there is a tree named 'Fine and Firm.' This tree grows in the ground for a hundred years, and only then \[sprouts, whereupon\] in a single day it grows a hundred fathoms tall. Continuing thus day after day, in calculating its hundred-year height, how could it be compared to an ordinary pine? Seeing that the pine's daily growth does not exceed an inch, upon hearing of that 'Fine and Firm' tree, how could one not doubt it? That is: when someone hears that Śākyamuni Tathāgata realized arhatship upon a single hearing, or mastered non-arising in the course of a single morning, he considers these to be words of expedient guidance rather than statements that accord with reality. Hearing the matter discussed in this treatise, he likewise will not believe it. Indeed, extraordinary words do not enter ordinary ears; that he should consider them untrue is only natural. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 2.100](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2.100) - [Next: 2.102](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2.102) - [Up: 2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819~en-mt.2.101) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [略論安樂淨土義](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1957.1.30) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2.101](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1819.2.101) · Pramāṇa