安樂集 2.29

2.29

第一、汎明修道延、促者。就中有二：一、明修道延、促；二、問答解釋。一、明延、促者。但一切眾生，莫不厭苦求樂，畏縛求解，皆欲早證無上菩提者，先須發菩提心為首。此心難識、難起，縱令發得此心，依經終須修十種行：謂信、進、念、戒、定、慧、捨、護法、發願、迴向，進詣菩提。然修道之身，相續不絕，逕一萬劫始證不退位，當今凡夫現名信想輕毛，亦曰假名，亦名不定聚，亦名外凡夫，未出火宅。何以得知？據《菩薩瓔珞經》，具辨入道行位法爾，故名難行道。又但以一劫之中受身生、死，尚不可數知，況一萬劫中徒受痛燒？若能明信佛經，願生淨土，隨壽長、短，一形即至，位階不退，與此修道一萬劫齊功。諸佛子等！何不思量？不捨難求易也？如《俱舍論》中，亦明難行、易行二種之道。難行者，如論說云：「於三大阿僧祇劫，一一劫中皆具福智資糧，六波羅蜜一切諸行，一一行業皆有百萬難行之道，始充一位，是難行道也。」易行道者，即彼論云：「若由別有方便，有解脫者，名易行道也。」今既勸歸極樂，一切行業悉迴向彼，但能專至，壽盡必生。得生彼國，即究竟清涼，豈可不名易行之道？須知此意也。

First, broadly explaining the length and brevity of cultivating the Path. Within this there are two parts: 1. explaining the length and brevity of cultivating the Path; 2. explaining through questions and answers. 1. Explaining length and brevity: all sentient beings without exception weary of suffering and seek happiness, fear bondage and seek liberation. Those who all wish to swiftly realize unsurpassed bodhi must first take the arousal of bodhicitta as foremost. This mind is difficult to recognize and difficult to arouse; even if one manages to arouse this mind, according to the sūtras, one must ultimately cultivate ten kinds of practice: faith, diligence, mindfulness, precepts, samādhi, wisdom, equanimity, protecting the Dharma, making vows, and pariṇāmanā, to advance toward bodhi. However, cultivating the Path with a physical body continuously and uninterruptedly, it takes passing through ten thousand kalpas to first realize the stage of non-retrogression. Current ordinary beings are currently called 'light feathers of thought and faith,' also called 'nominal,' also called 'ananiyata-rāśi,' also called 'external ordinary beings,' and have not yet escaped the burning house. How is this known? According to the Bodhisattva Yingluo jing, it fully distinguishes the natural order of stages of practice for entering the Path, hence it is called the difficult path. Furthermore, even taking rebirth in life and death within a single kalpa cannot be counted, how much more vainly enduring torment and burning throughout ten thousand kalpas? If one can clearly believe the Buddha's sūtras and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land, then according to whether one's lifespan is long or short, within a single lifetime one will arrive there and reach the stage of non-retrogression, rivaling the achievement of cultivating the Path for ten thousand kalpas here. Sons of the Buddha! Why not consider this? Why not abandon the difficult and seek the easy? As in the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, it also explains two kinds of paths, the difficult path and the easy path. The difficult path is as the treatise says: 'In three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, in each kalpa one fully possesses the provisions of merit and wisdom, and all the practices of the six pāramitās; each and every practice has a million difficult paths before fulfilling a single stage; this is the difficult path.' As for the easy path, that treatise says: 'If, by means of an alternative upāya, there is liberation, it is called the easy path.' Now, since we are encouraged to take refuge in Sukhāvatī, dedicating all karmic practices toward it, as long as one is exclusive and earnest, when one's life ends one is sure to be reborn. Having attained rebirth in that land, one attains ultimate coolness; how could it not be called the easy path? One should understand this point."