釋淨土群疑論 2.31

2.31

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.