淨土十疑論 1.21

1.21

答：「一切諸佛土，實皆平等。但眾生根鈍，濁亂者多，若不專繫一心一境，三昧難成。專念阿彌陀佛，即是一相三昧，以心專至，得生彼國。如《隨願往生經》云：『普廣菩薩問佛：「十方悉有淨土，世尊何故偏讚西方彌陀淨土，專遣往生？」佛告普廣：「閻浮提眾生，心多濁亂，為此偏讚西方一佛淨土，使諸眾生，專心一境，即易得往生。」』若總念一切佛者，念佛境寬，則心散漫，三昧難成，故不得往生。又求一佛功德，與一切佛功德無異，以同一佛法性故。為此念阿彌陀佛，即念一切佛；生一淨土，即生一切淨土。故《華嚴經》云：『一切諸佛身，即是一佛身，一心一智慧，力、無畏亦然。』又云：『譬如淨滿月，普應一切水，影像雖無量，本月未曾二。如是無礙智，成就等正覺，應現一切剎，佛身無有二。』智者以譬喻得解，智者若能達一切月影即一月影，一月影即一切月影，月影無二；故一佛即一切佛，一切佛即一佛，法身無二。故熾然念一佛時，即是念一切佛也。」

Answer: "All buddha-lands are in truth equal. Yet because sentient beings have dull faculties and are for the most part defiled and disordered, if they do not focus their attention exclusively on one mind and one object, samādhi is difficult to achieve. Exclusive mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha is indeed the samādhi of one mark; by focusing the mind with utmost devotion, one attains rebirth in that land. As the Suiyuan wangsheng jing says: 'Bodhisattva Puguang asked the Buddha: "Pure lands exist throughout the ten directions; why does the World-Honoured One specifically praise Amitābha's pure land in the west and exclusively send beings to be reborn there?" The Buddha told Puguang: "The minds of sentient beings in Jambudvīpa are mostly defiled and disordered. For this reason I specifically praise the pure land of this one Buddha in the west, causing sentient beings to focus their minds on a single object, so that they may easily attain rebirth."' If one were generally mindful of all buddhas, the object of buddhānusmṛti would be broad, and the mind would become scattered and diffuse, making samādhi difficult to achieve; therefore rebirth would not be attained. Furthermore, seeking the merit of one buddha is no different from seeking the merit of all buddhas, because they share the same buddha-dharmatā. For this reason, mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha is itself mindfulness of all buddhas; rebirth in one pure land is itself rebirth in all pure lands. Thus the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: 'The bodies of all buddhas / are indeed the body of one buddha: / one mind and one wisdom, / and their powers and fearlessnesses are likewise so.' It also says: 'Just as the pure, full moon / universally manifests in all waters— / though the reflections are limitless, / the original moon was never two— / so it is with unimpeded wisdom: / having accomplished samyaksaṃbodhi, / it manifests in all lands, / yet the Buddha's body is without duality.' The wise attain understanding through analogies. If the wise can realize that all moon reflections are just one moon reflection, that one moon reflection is just all moon reflections, and that the reflections of the moon are not two, then likewise one buddha is all buddhas, all buddhas are one buddha, and the dharmakāya is without duality. Therefore, when one mindfully focuses fervently on one buddha, this is itself mindfulness of all buddhas."