釋淨土群疑論 7.7

7.7

The explanation says: Both are great. The dharmakāya is free from signs, the true essence of ten thousand virtues; if one can contemplate the principle of the Buddha with a mind that has no attainment and embodies reality, then the merit is inconceivable. For beginners who are not yet able to practice that signless contemplation, if they merely observe the Tathāgata's pure form-body, extraordinary marks, and virtues as numerous as the sands of the Ganges with a mind that has attainment, and invoke him with utmost sincerity, they also obtain boundless, extraordinary merit. As in the case of the three kinds of persons of the lower grade who commit evil throughout their lives: when invoking that buddha's name at the threshold of death, how could they practice that signless contemplation? One should know with conviction that contemplating with a mind that has signs also obtains boundless superior merit. Moreover, if one wishes to sever the two hindrances, one must cultivate signless contemplation; if one now plants that cause, one also cultivates buddhānusmṛti with signs. Furthermore, the true buddha and provisional buddha, principle and phenomena, are different; the causal cultivation with signs or without signs is also distinct; the principles do not conflict.