釋淨土群疑論 5.7

5.7

Explanation: One master explains: Taking birth in an impure land has no holy beings to welcome one, so one ends life solely while dwelling in a mind of upekṣā-vedanā. Taking birth in a pure land has the holy assembly coming to welcome one, so when the practitioner ends their life, by receiving the compassionate empowerment of the Great Sage's power, they can also end life in the state of prīti-vedanā. The treatises mostly speak on the basis of taking birth in an impure land, so they make this statement; it cannot serve as a precedent. Another says: Attaining rebirth in the pure land also occurs with life ending while dwelling in a mind of upekṣā-vedanā, because the nature of the mind of upekṣā-vedanā is weak and pliant, thus according with that end of life, whereas the mind of prīti-vedanā is strong and cannot give up life. When the sūtra speaks of 'dancing with great joy' and so forth, this refers to the mind on the verge of death, not the mind at the exact moment of death. The sūtra and the treatises each rely on one meaning, and they do not contradict each other.