釋淨土群疑論 2.31

2.31

釋曰：按《稱讚淨土經．下》文，佛自陳說，十方恒沙諸佛見釋迦牟尼佛說稱讚淨土經了，各在本土異口同音俱時歎言：「釋迦牟尼佛能於娑婆世界五濁惡世，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，為諸眾生說是一切世界極難信法。」釋迦牟尼佛既得諸佛同聲讚歎，告舍利弗：「我於五濁惡世，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，為諸眾生說是一切世間難信之法，是為甚難。」如來雖說百千等經，不言難說。唯《稱讚淨土經》有九張紙，恒沙諸佛及釋迦牟尼世尊咸說此經難信難說。蓋以佛說十二部經，一切外道皆生誹謗、是佛弟子咸發信心；今說《阿彌陀經》，言五逆十惡罪根眾生，唯能念佛皆生淨土。雖佛弟子信向之者亦生疑惑，不信此言。現見今時四部眾咸有正信，尚疑念佛不即得生，故知此經甚難生信。一切種智預知，未來有此眾生懷疑者眾，故同舒舌相表法至真，勸物修學。又往生淨土，解行已上三賢菩薩或龍樹等得生西方，極惡凡夫亦生正信。彼諸勝人福多罪少，得生淨土有何可怪？五逆十惡罪惡凡夫，一念十念至誠徹到，乘佛本願得生西方。十地三賢諸菩薩眾亦信此事，不起疑心。唯說下品下生五逆十惡，如此愚人無惡不造，逢善知識教稱佛名，具足十念即生淨土。還是斯輩十惡眾生，不信念佛得生淨域。我等既是罪惡凡夫，無始已來是愆皆犯，念佛十聲有何功德，令我重罪則得除滅、往生西方極樂世界？此但是佛接引之言，或是遠聲作近聲說，是第二階法；或言別時之意，種種異解不信即生。欺謗極多、信順甚少，故此言教為信者希，諸佛同舒舌相遍覆三千之界，證法不謬決定得生，護念行人令生淨土。

I explain: According to the text of the latter part of the Chengzan jingtu jing, the Buddha himself declared that the sands-of-the-Ganges Buddhas of the ten directions, seeing Śākyamuni Buddha conclude his preaching of the Chengzan jingtu jing, each in their own land simultaneously praised him with different mouths but the same voice, saying: 'Śākyamuni Buddha has been able, in the Sahā world, during the evil age of the five turbidities, to attain anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi and preach for all sentient beings this Dharma, which is extremely difficult to believe in all worlds.' Śākyamuni Buddha, having received the praise of the Buddhas with one voice, told Śāriputra: 'That I have attained anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi in the evil age of the five turbidities and preached for all sentient beings this Dharma, which is difficult to believe in all worlds, is an extremely difficult feat.' Although the Tathāgata preached hundreds of thousands of sūtras, he did not call them difficult to preach. Only the Chengzan jingtu jing, which has nine sheets of paper, did the sands-of-the-Ganges Buddhas and Śākyamuni, the World-Honoured One, all declare to be difficult to believe and difficult to preach. This is because when the Buddha preached the twelve divisions of the canon, all non-Buddhists gave rise to slander, while the disciples of the Buddha all aroused faith; but now when the Amitābha Sūtra is preached, stating that sentient beings with the roots of offenses of the five heinous deeds and ten evil actions can all be reborn in the pure land merely by being able to practice buddhānusmṛti, even those disciples of the Buddha who had faith and orientation give rise to doubt and perplexity, and do not believe these words. We see that nowadays the fourfold assembly, though they all possess correct faith, still doubt that one can immediately attain rebirth through buddhānusmṛti; thus we know that this sūtra is extremely difficult to generate faith in. The omniscient [Buddha] knew in advance that in the future there would be many such sentient beings harbouring doubts; therefore, they together extended their tongues to show that the Dharma is supremely true, exhorting people to practice and study it. Furthermore, regarding rebirth in the pure land: that bodhisattvas of the three stages of worthies from the stage of understanding and practice upward, or Nāgārjuna and others, attain rebirth in the West, even the most evil ordinary beings have correct faith. Those superior persons have much merit and few offenses; what is so strange about their attaining rebirth in the pure land? But when ordinary beings burdened by offenses, who committed the five heinous deeds and ten evil actions, achieve utter sincerity in a single recitation or ten recitations, and by boarding the power of the Buddha's original vow attain rebirth in the West—the bodhisattvas of the ten bhūmis and the three stages of worthies also believe this matter without giving rise to doubt. Yet when it is stated that those of the lowest birth of the lowest grade, having committed the five heinous deeds and ten evil actions—fools like this who have left no evil undone—meet a spiritual friend who teaches them to recite the Buddha's name, and upon completing ten recitations immediately attain rebirth in the pure land, it is precisely this class of sentient beings who commit the ten evils who do not believe that one can attain rebirth in the pure realm through buddhānusmṛti. [They think:] 'We are ordinary beings burdened by evil offenses, who have committed every transgression since beginningless time; what merit could reciting the Buddha's name ten times have, that it could extinguish my grave offenses and enable me to be reborn in the Western Sukhāvatī? These are merely words spoken by the Buddha to draw people in, or speaking of the distant as if it were near; it is a teaching of the second grade; or it implies an intention of another time.' Entertaining various divergent interpretations, they do not believe that rebirth is attained immediately. Those who deceive and slander are extremely numerous, while those who faithfully comply are very few; therefore, believers in this teaching are rare. The Buddhas all extended their tongues to cover the trichiliocosm completely, to testify that the Dharma is not erroneous and rebirth is definitely attained, mindfully protecting practitioners and enabling them to be reborn in the pure land.