安樂集 1.23

1.23

答曰：「如斯難者，自古將今，義亦難通。雖然今敢引經為證，義亦可知。譬如佛身常住，眾生見有涅槃；淨土亦爾，體非成壞，隨眾生所見有成、有壞。如《華嚴經》云：『由如見導師，種種無量色，隨眾生心行，見佛剎亦然。』是故《淨土論》云：『一質不成故，淨穢有虧盈；異質不成故，搜原則冥一；無質不成故，緣起則萬形。』故知若據法性淨土，則不論清濁；若據報化大悲，則非無淨穢也。

The answer is: With a difficult question like this, from ancient times to the present, the meaning has also been difficult to resolve. Even so, I now venture to cite sūtras as proof, and the meaning can also be known. For example, the Buddha's body is permanent, yet sentient beings see him enter nirvāṇa; the pure land is also like this: its essence has neither creation nor destruction, but according to what sentient beings see, there is creation and destruction. As the Huayan jing says: 'Just like seeing the Teacher / in various immeasurable forms, / according to the mental activities of sentient beings, / they see buddha-kṣetras in the same way.' Therefore the Pure Land Treatise says: 'Because a single substance cannot be established, purity and defilement wax and wane; because different substances cannot be established, when tracing to the origin they are darkly unified; because substancelessness cannot be established, conditioned arising takes myriad forms.' Therefore we know that if we base ourselves on the pure land of dharmatā, then there is no talk of clear or turbid; but if we base ourselves on the great compassion of the reward and transformation [bodies], then there is no absence of purity and defilement.