釋門歸敬儀 1.49

1.49

The preface states: Rites (li) means stepping (lü); it is reverence and nothing more. The sūtra says: "It is to show reverence to stūpas and shrines and to humble oneself before monks." However, natures range from dim to bright, and their capacity runs from broad to narrow; many follow mere names and marks, and few cherish far-reaching aspirations. Therefore, they study by merely tracking the text, picking up street talk and passing it along, never examining it thoroughly, recklessly reciting words and phrases. Even the secular world says: "Learning without thinking leads to perplexity; thinking without learning is perilous." How much more so with the profound and abstruse Buddhadharma, which encompasses both principle and phenomena! If one acts upon hearing without understanding, many will fall into degradation. For instance, when a sūtra illuminates a pure land and the Buddha's boundless virtues, following the sound [of the words], they dare not alter their focus, cherishing it and holding it dear without forgetting it in mind or speech. Yet upon suddenly hearing of the Buddhas of the defiled lands, their minds feel not a single bit of joy, and they forthwith say that there is no virtue to which to take refuge and no sins that can be eliminated. How can their aversion and love be like this? Truly it is not worth speaking of in detail. Again, hearing a treatise speak of Prabhūtaratna as guiding minds for a different time, they consider themselves energetic and resolute, and thereupon abandon taking refuge and mindfulness altogether. When dense, lowly, foolish ordinary people act with such obstinate attachment, although their habitual nature has lasted long, it must ultimately be changed gradually. If they do not renew themselves, the ordinary can never become noble, and clinging to their former delusions, their burden of shame will grow ever heavier. Passing down the lineage in this manner truly fails the legacy entrusted [by the Buddha]. From this we know that the pedagogical methods are skillful, adapting to capacities deep and shallow. For the deep, practicing the ten defilements entails no flaw; for the shallow, showing the five burnings brings purification. The pure realms are not single: one takes birth in accord with one's inclinations and desires. The Buddha's wisdom is inexhaustible: it accords with the conditions of the times and secretly accords [with beings]. It is like the bright moon in the sky, shedding light into vessels small and large; like crashing thunder within the clouds, sending sound between the manifest and the concealed. What is heard depends on prior conditions; their dispositions and paths cannot be made uniform. Vessels are formed only by accumulated habits; truly it is difficult to equalize the sharp and the dull. Viewed from this perspective, we only then realize that Sikhin and Śāriputra each confined their minds to the defiled or the pure; the Sahā World and the Land of Bliss each set forth their outlines of defilement and purity. Therefore the text says: "My pure land is not destroyed, yet the multitude sees it burned up." This is the very proof of it. How could one not know that Amitābha's mingled defilements are also shown to guide [beings] broadly? How could one not know that the six kinds of earth tremors awaken the daylight dimness of ignorant minds, and the manifestations of the three wheels govern the night illumination of the multitudes' dispositions? These are not set forth in vain. The sūtra says: "Ever since I attained Buddhahood, through various causes and conditions and various parables, I have extensively expounded the verbal teachings. By countless skillful means I have guided sentient beings to make them leave all attachments behind." Attachment is the root of the illness; following words, one immediately fixates. Hearing of the pure, one attaches to the pure; hearing of the defiled, one attaches to the defiled. A treatise says: "Just as a fly attaches to every place except a flame, sentient beings are also like this: they attach to both wholesome and unwholesome phenomena, but only fail to attach to the emptiness of nature." Therefore the Buddha taught the four reliances: rely on wisdom, not on consciousness. If one merely sees and hears with the physical eye, one is no different from cattle and sheep. With the correct teaching being such, how could one fall into confusion? One must surely prevent the five faults before they arise, taking the four reliances as an ancestral rule. These words are ultimate. What more could one desire?