淨土十疑論 1.37

1.37

釋曰：「眾生無始已來，善惡業種多少強弱，並不得知。但能臨終遇善知識，十念成就者，皆是宿善業強，始得遇善知識，十念成就。若惡業多者，善知識尚不可逢，何可論十念成就？又汝以無始已來，惡業為重，臨終十念為輕者。今以道理，三種校量，輕、重、不定，不在時節久近、多少。云何為三？一者、在心；二者、在緣；三者、在決定。在心者，造罪之時，從自虛妄、顛倒生；念佛者，從善知識，聞說阿彌陀佛，真實功德名號生，一虛、一實豈得相比？譬如萬年闇室，日光暫至而闇頓滅，豈以久來之闇，不肯滅耶？在緣者，造罪之時，從虛妄、癡闇心，緣虛妄境界，顛倒生；念佛之心，從聞佛清淨真實功德名號，緣無上菩提心生，一真、一偽豈得相比？譬如有人被毒箭中，箭深毒磣，傷肌破骨，一聞滅除藥鼓，即箭出毒除。豈以箭深毒磣，而不肯出也？在決定者，造罪之時以有間心、有後心也；念佛之時，以無間心、無後心，遂即捨命，善心猛利，是以即生。譬如十圍之索，千夫不制；童子揮劍，須臾兩分。又如千年積柴，以一豆火焚，少時即盡。又如有人，一生已來，修十善業，應得生天，臨終之時，起一念決定邪見，即墮阿鼻地獄。惡業虛妄，以猛利故，尚能排一生之善業，令墮惡道。豈況臨終猛心念佛，真實無間善業，不能排無始惡業，得生淨土？無有是處。又云：『一念念佛，滅八十億劫生死之罪。』為念佛時，心猛利故，伏滅惡業，決定得生，不須疑也。上古相傳，判十念成就，作別時意者，此定不可。何以得知？《攝論》云：『由唯發願故。』全無有行。《雜集論》云：『若願生安樂國土，即得往生；若聞無垢佛名，即得阿耨菩提者，並是別時之因。』全無有行。若將臨終，無間十念猛利善行，是別時意者，幾許誤哉！願諸行者，深思此理，自牢其心，莫信異見，自墜陷也。」

Explanation: "Sentient beings' seeds of good and evil karma from beginningless time—whether many or few, strong or weak—cannot be known. Only those who at the time of death meet a spiritual friend and accomplish ten recitations do so because their past good karma is strong, which allows them to meet a spiritual friend and accomplish the ten recitations. If their evil karma were predominant, they could not even encounter a spiritual friend, so how could one speak of accomplishing ten recitations? Moreover, you regard evil karma from beginningless time as heavy and the ten recitations at the time of death as light. Now, according to reason, there are three criteria for weighing them; heaviness and lightness are unfixed and do not depend on the duration of time or whether [deeds are] few or many. What are the three? First, it depends on the mind; second, it depends on conditions; third, it depends on determination. As for depending on the mind: when committing sins, they arise from one's own delusion and perversion; when reciting the Buddha's name, it arises from hearing from a spiritual friend the name of Amitābha Buddha's true merit. How can the false and the true be compared? For instance, in a room dark for ten thousand years, if sunlight briefly enters, the darkness is instantly dispelled; how could the darkness, because of its long duration, refuse to vanish? As for depending on conditions: when committing sins, they arise perversely from a deluded and ignorant mind conditioned upon unreal objects; the mind that recites the Buddha's name arises from hearing the Buddha's pure, true name of merit and is conditioned upon supreme bodhicitta. How can the real and the counterfeit be compared? For instance, if someone is struck by a poisoned arrow, the arrow penetrating deeply and the poison biting harshly, wounding the flesh and piercing the bone, upon hearing the drum of poison-dispelling medicine, the arrow immediately comes out and the poison is eliminated. How could the arrow, because it is deep and the poison harsh, refuse to come out? As for depending on determination: when committing sins, one acts with an interrupted mind and with subsequent thoughts; when reciting the Buddha's name, one acts with an uninterrupted mind and with no subsequent thoughts, immediately relinquishing one's life, the wholesome mind being fierce and sharp; hence, rebirth is immediately attained. For instance, a rope ten spans thick cannot be held by a thousand men, yet a boy wielding a sword cleaves it in two in an instant. Again, it is like a pile of firewood accumulated over a thousand years: ignited by a spark no bigger than a bean, it is consumed in a short time. Again, it is like a person who throughout his life has cultivated the ten wholesome actions and ought to be reborn in heaven, but at the time of death gives rise to a single thought of determined wrong view, and thereby falls into Avīci Hell. Because it is fierce and sharp, evil karma, though false, can nevertheless overturn a lifetime of wholesome karma and cause one to fall into the evil destinies. How much more so could a fierce mind reciting the Buddha's name at the time of death, being true and uninterrupted wholesome karma, fail to overturn beginningless evil karma and attain rebirth in the Pure Land? That is impossible. Furthermore, it is said: 'In a single thought of reciting the Buddha's name, the sins of birth and death spanning eighty billion kalpas are eradicated.' Because the mind is fierce and sharp when reciting the Buddha's name, it subdues and eradicates evil karma, and rebirth is definitively attained; there is no need to doubt. The ancient tradition's judgment that accomplishing ten recitations is a matter of an intention for another time is definitively untenable. How is this known? The Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: 'It is solely because of making an aspiration,' with no practice at all. The Abhidharmasamuccaya-vyākhyā says: 'If one aspires to be reborn in the Land of Peace and Bliss, one immediately attains rebirth; if one hears the name of the Vimala Buddha, one immediately attains anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi—both are causes for another time,' with no practice at all. If one takes the uninterrupted, fiercely sharp wholesome practice of the ten recitations at the time of death to be an intention for another time, how great an error that is! May all practitioners contemplate this principle deeply, fortify their own minds, and not believe divergent views so as to bring about their own downfall."