四明尊者教行錄 2.28

2.28

答曰：人之根性皆由宿熏，成熟不時。對至能發，己尚難測，他安可評？須信能修，不專佛世仍知昧旨，豈獨今人？韋提請宣，本為來世。佛知有益，故使流通爾。自放逸不修，勿罔能修之者。然今論妙觀，是經本宗，須就上根克論正行，故如上說也。若論此經力用，則何機不攝、何行不收？儻有一機未能圓照，且隨事相歷境而觀，以此繫心，豈不生彼？故小乘行法五八律儀，孝養所親世間慈善，臨終迴向皆得往生。以至破戒毀經十惡五逆，臨終十念亦得往生。故知但於此經盡力修行，一念隨喜，皆趣念佛之海，盡歸靈覺之源。如此攝物不遺，除惡至極者，皆由經詮圓觀理極淵源，故使力用難思、與拔無際，安以滯想局此深經？當遵智者之言，以會如來之意。而今而後，念茲在茲，於一念心顯四淨土。

I reply: The faculties of people are all determined by their past perfuming, and their maturation does not occur at a fixed time. When meeting the conditions they are able to manifest; oneself can hardly fathom this, so how could others judge? One must believe that there are those capable of cultivating it, not exclusively in the Buddha's lifetime. Moreover, one should realize that those who are blind to its purport are not found only today. Vaidehī's request for its exposition was fundamentally for future generations. The Buddha knew it would be beneficial, and therefore caused it to circulate. Do not, because of your own indolence in not cultivating it, belie those who are capable of cultivation. However, our present discussion of the wondrous contemplation concerns the fundamental purport of this sūtra, and we must define the proper practice strictly in terms of superior faculties, hence what was stated above. If we speak of the power and function of this sūtra, what faculty does it not encompass, and what practice does it not include? If there is a person of a faculty that cannot yet achieve perfect illumination, and they simply follow phenomenal marks, contemplating each object sequentially and fastening their mind thereby, how could they fail to be born there? Therefore, through the practices of the Hīnayāna, the five and eight precepts, or worldly filial support of parents and benevolent acts, by dedicating [the merit] at the end of life, all achieve rebirth. Even those who break the precepts, slander the sūtras, and commit the ten evils and five heinous sins can also achieve rebirth through ten recitations at the end of life. Thus we know that as long as one exerts effort in cultivating according to this sūtra, even a single thought-moment of rejoicing in accord [with it] will flow into the ocean of buddha-mindfulness and return entirely to the source of spiritual awakening. That it gathers beings without leaving any out and eradicates evil to the utmost extremity is entirely because the sūtra expounds the perfect contemplation, whose principle reaches the ultimate source; this makes its power and function inconceivable, and its bestowal [of joy] and pulling [out of suffering] boundless. How could one use stagnant conceptions to confine this profound sūtra? One should follow Zhizhe's words to accord with the Tathāgata's intent. From now on, keep your mindfulness steadily focused on this, and within a single thought-moment, the four pure lands will be revealed.