釋淨土群疑論 3.9

3.9

釋曰：十六觀與念佛三昧，有淺有深。深即於四靜慮未至中間禪，於修慧中作十六觀及念佛三昧。淺即依欲界聞思慧心，攝念作意，亦得修十六妙觀作念佛三昧。故《觀經》言「如此想者，名為粗見極樂國地。若得三昧，見彼國地了了分明，不可具說。」故知想成粗見，為欲界聞思心也；得三昧明見為色界，修慧心也。初二五百年解脫禪定得堅固者，此據色界修慧定心也。若聞思心想成者，通第二第三等五百年也。不然者，何因《賢護經》第三卷近後說「賢護！我滅度後，此三昧經於閻浮提四十年中廣行於世。而後五百年末一百歲中，正法滅時、持戒損減時、破戒熾盛時、諸國相伐時，如是等時，此三昧典復當流布於閻浮提。所謂佛威神故，故令彼等於我滅度後聞此經已，歡喜書寫讀誦受持思惟其義，為他解釋如說修行。」又第二卷說近後言「賢護！斯諸善男子善女人，往昔已於諸如來前聞是三昧，讀誦受持。以是義故，如來滅後於最末世五百年終法欲滅時法將壞時，還當得聞如是三昧。聞即生信，無有驚疑，不退不沒，生大歡喜遍滿身心，讀誦受持、思惟其義、為他解說，乃至一日一夜行是三昧。」故知此最後言，即是第五五百年終後行此三昧，如何乃言第二五百年後非是學此三昧時也？而信行禪師乃於《三階集錄》之中，浪陳興廢，言千年已後唯合行普不合行別，遂將念佛三昧等為不當根佛法，義當廢教非是學時，何其謬矣。

The explanation is: The sixteen contemplations and the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi have shallow and deep [aspects]. As for the deep: one performs the sixteen contemplations and the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi within the wisdom of cultivation, in the four dhyānas, the unarrived [absorption], and the intermediate dhyāna. As for the shallow: relying on the mind of wisdom from hearing and contemplation in the desire realm, collecting one's thoughts and directing attention, one can also cultivate the sixteen marvelous contemplations and perform the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi. Therefore the Guan jing states: 'One who imagines in this way is said to roughly see the ground of the land of Sukhāvatī. If one attains samādhi, one will see the ground of that land clearly and distinctly, beyond full description.' Thus we know that when the imagination succeeds in roughly seeing, it is the mind of hearing and contemplation of the desire realm; when one attains samādhi and sees clearly, it is the mind of the wisdom of cultivation belonging to the form realm. When it says that liberation and dhyāna meditation are firm in the first two periods of five hundred years, this is said based on the meditative mind of the wisdom of cultivation belonging to the form realm. If it is the success of imagination with the mind of hearing and contemplation, it extends through the second, third, and subsequent periods of five hundred years. Were it not so, why does the third fascicle of the Bhadrapāla Sūtra say toward the end: 'Bhadrapāla! After my nirvāṇa, this samādhi sūtra will circulate widely in the world in Jambudvīpa for forty years. And in the final one hundred years of the last five hundred years, when the true Dharma is being extinguished, when the keeping of the precepts is declining, when the breaking of precepts is rampant, and when countries attack one another—at such times, this samādhi scripture will again be propagated in Jambudvīpa. Namely, through the Buddha's spiritual power, they will be caused, after hearing this sūtra following my nirvāṇa, to rejoice, copy, read, recite, uphold, and ponder its meaning, explaining it to others and practicing as taught'? Furthermore, the second fascicle says near the end: 'Bhadrapāla! These good men and good women have previously heard this samādhi before various Tathāgatas, and have read, recited, and upheld it. For this reason, in the final era after the Tathāgata's nirvāṇa, at the end of the five hundred years when the Dharma is about to be extinguished and the Dharma is going to be destroyed, they will again be able to hear such a samādhi. Upon hearing it, they will produce faith without alarm or doubt, not retrogressing and not sinking down, generating great joy that fills body and mind, reading, reciting, upholding, pondering its meaning, and explaining it to others, down to practicing this samādhi for a day and a night.' Thus we know that this 'final' refers precisely to practicing this samādhi after the end of the fifth period of five hundred years. How then can one say that after the second period of five hundred years it is not the time to study this samādhi? Yet Chan Master Xinxing, within the Compilations of the Three Stages, recklessly declared rising and falling, stating that after a thousand years one should only practice the universal and must not practice the specific, and thereupon took the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi and the like to be Buddha-Dharmas inappropriate to current capacities, in meaning amounting to teachings that should be abolished and not the time for study—how utterly erroneous!