遊心安樂道 1.5

1.5

Now, examining the intention behind the Tathāgata's praise and exhortation, it was to gather and protect those of middling and inferior faculties. The Sahā world is a place of mixed evils, where conditions lead mostly to retrogression; the jewel realm of peaceful nurture is a land of pure good, where there is only progress and no retrogression. Hence the Awakening of Faith says: "Furthermore, when sentient beings first learn this teaching and seek right faith, their minds are timid and weak. Dwelling in this Sahā world, they fear that they cannot constantly meet the Buddhas and personally attend and make offerings to them, dreading that faith will be difficult to accomplish, and their intention is to retrogress. One should know that the Tathāgata has an excellent expedient to gather and protect their faith: namely, through the cause and condition of exclusive buddhānusmṛti, according to their vows they attain rebirth in another Buddha land, constantly see the Buddha, and are forever freed from the evil destinies." As the sūtras say: "If someone exclusively practices buddhānusmṛti on Amitābha Buddha of the Western world of Sukhāvatī, dedicating the wholesome roots cultivated and making vows seeking rebirth in that world, they will immediately attain rebirth. Because they constantly see the Buddha, they will never retrogress. If they contemplate that Buddha's tathatā-dharmakāya and constantly and diligently practice it, they will ultimately attain rebirth, because they belong to the samyaktva-niyata-rāśi."