四明尊者教行錄 2.28

2.28

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.