念佛鏡 1.5

1.5

釋迦如來，指導淨土之師也。觀音、勢至，助佛揚化者也。是以如來一代教典，處處丁寧勸往生也。阿彌陀佛與觀音、勢至，乘大願船泛生死海，不著此岸、不留彼岸、不止中流，唯以濟度為佛事。是故《阿彌陀經》云：「若有善男子、善女人，聞說阿彌陀佛，執持名號，若一日乃至七日，一心不亂。其人臨命終時，阿彌陀佛與諸聖眾現在其前，是人終時心不顛倒，即得往生極樂國土。」又經云：「十方眾生聞我名號，憶念我國，植諸德本，至心迴向，欲生我國，不果遂者，不取正覺。」所以祇洹精舍無常院，令病者面西作往生淨土想。蓋彌陀光明遍照法界，念佛眾生攝取不捨，聖、凡一體機、感相應，諸佛心內眾生，塵塵極樂，眾生心中淨土，念念彌陀。吾以是觀之，智慧者易生，能斷疑故；禪定者易生，不散亂故；持戒者易生，遠諸染故；布施者易生，不我有故；忍辱者易生，不瞋恚故；精進者易生，不退轉故；不造善、不作惡者易生，念純一故；諸惡已作、業報已現者易生，實慚懼故。雖有眾善，若無誠信心、無深心、無迴向發願心者，則不得上上品生矣。

Śākyamuni Tathāgata is the Master who guides [them] to the pure land. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta are those who assist the Buddha in propagating the transformation. For this reason, in the doctrinal scriptures of the Tathāgata's entire lifetime, he repeatedly and earnestly exhorts rebirth [there]. Amitābha, together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, board the great ship of vows to sail across the sea of birth and death, not attaching to this shore, not remaining on that shore, and not staying midstream, taking only crossing over and deliverance as their Buddha-work. Therefore the *Amitābha-sūtra* states: "If a good man or good woman hears of Amitābha and firmly upholds his name, whether for one day or up to seven days, single-mindedly and without distraction, then when that person approaches the end of life, Amitābha and the assembly of holy ones will appear before them. When this person dies, their mind will not be disordered, and they will immediately attain rebirth in the land of Sukhāvatī." Moreover, a sūtra says: "If sentient beings in the ten directions hear my name, remember my land, plant all roots of virtue, and with sincere mind dedicate them, desiring to be born in my land, should they not succeed, may I not attain sambodhi." For this reason, the Impermanence Hall of the Jetavana Vihāra caused sick persons to face west and cultivate the thought of rebirth in the pure land. For Amitābha's light shines universally throughout the dharmadhātu, taking in and never abandoning sentient beings who practice buddhānusmṛti. The holy and the ordinary are of one substance, their capacity and response corresponding: the sentient beings within the minds of all Buddhas are, dust by dust, in Sukhāvatī; the pure land within the minds of sentient beings is, thought by thought, Amitābha. As I observe it from this: those with wisdom easily attain rebirth, because they can sever doubt; those with meditative concentration easily attain rebirth, because they are not scattered; those who uphold the precepts easily attain rebirth, because they stay far from defilements; those who practice giving easily attain rebirth, because they do not have possessiveness; those who practice patience easily attain rebirth, because they harbor no anger; those who practice vigor easily attain rebirth, because they are avaivartika; those who do neither good nor evil easily attain rebirth, because their mindfulness is pure and unified; those who have already committed all evils and whose karmic retribution has already manifested easily attain rebirth, because they feel genuine shame and fear. Even if one has many goods, if one lacks a sincere and faithful mind, lacks a deep mind, and lacks a mind of pariṇāmanā and making vows, one cannot attain the highest level of the highest grade of rebirth.