淨土論 1.7

1.7

The Master said: "Splendid is your question! If not a wise scholar, who could set it forth? Indeed, the Dharma gates are profound and subtle, truly as your words suggest; yet, being ashamed of my lack of talent, I shall try to discuss it. An adept sees advantage everywhere he looks, and whatever meets his eye is truth; an ordinary person's wisdom is shallow, and whatever path he encounters gives rise to obstruction. But the sacred teachings provide a vast model, with eighty-thousand stages; to discuss their essentials, they do not exceed the two gates of principle and phenomena. They are like a cart having two wheels or a bird having two wings; if one is missing, it cannot soar into the void and travel far. As the Qixin lun has the two gates of śamatha and vipaśyanā: śamatha takes principle as its object, while vipaśyanā takes phenomena as its object; if one does not comprehend these two, one fabricates emptiness and gives rise to obstruction. That words are cut off and the mind is extinguished is principle; longing for the West and being mindful of the Buddha is phenomena. Although the three realms are mind-only and the inner realm is not defiled, if one has not yet reached the tenth bhūmi, one must temporarily purify the mind through the objective realm. Although the ten directions are all pure, their objective realms are vastly dispersed; in order to cause one to concentrate one's thoughts on rebirth, one corner is singled out with longing."