淨土論 1.37

1.37

Answer: 'Correct concentration' and 'avaivartika' both mean non-retrogression. The expression 'non-retrogression' is general and not limited to the ten understandings. Now, relying on the sūtras and treatises, it is explained as having four kinds: first, non-retrogression of thought, which refers to being on the eighth ground and above; second, non-retrogression of practice, which refers to being on the first ground and above; third, non-retrogression of stage, which refers to being at the ten understandings and above; fourth, non-retrogression of place, which refers to the Western Pure Land. Therefore, the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra says: 'In that land there are no names for the assembly of wrong determination or the undetermined assembly.' Furthermore, in the forty-eight great vows, it says: 'If, when I attain buddhahood, the humans and gods in my land do not abide in the assembly of correct concentration and definitely reach extinction (nirvāṇa), may I not attain correct awakening.' Since the phrase 'non-retrogression' encompasses four kinds of stages, how can one cite a single [kind of] non-retrogression to definitively eliminate the other three?