遊心安樂道 1.69

1.69

Examining the import of the forty-eight vows and the Guan jing: ordinary beings are the primary candidates for rebirth; noble ones are secondary candidates for rebirth. That sūtra only says: "For the sake of all ordinary beings of future ages who are harmed by the thieves of affliction, I expound the places of pure karma." It encourages people to attain rebirth without discussing bodhisattvas. Among ordinary beings, those who slander the Mahāyāna cannot attain rebirth, because they have severed the roots of goodness. Among those of the two vehicles, practitioners of bad dharmas cannot attain rebirth, because they do not believe that there are pure lands of the ten directions. Bodhisattvas who do not aspire to be reborn also do not take birth, because their distant vows are sovereign. As for the arhats of the two vehicles, regardless of whether they practice bad dharmas or not, all can attain rebirth, because in the defiled lands of the three realms there is no place for them to receive birth. The categories of persons reborn are roughly of this meaning.