念佛鏡 2.30

2.30

答：「念阿彌陀佛往生淨土，速成佛果，勝於無生觀門百千萬倍。何以得知？准《維摩經》言：『譬如虛空造立宮室，終不能成；地上造作隨意無礙。』無生看心亦如是。何以故？無生即是無相，無相即是虛空，所以難成；念佛之法，事、理雙修，猶如地上造立宮室，所以易成。如貧人少乏財寶，學他王家造立舍宅，雖辦得少分材木，從生至死終不能成。後時材木爛壞，虛費功程無有成就。無生亦爾，為功德法財不得成就，枉用功夫無有成益。念佛法門則不如是，由念佛一口，滅除八十億劫生死之罪，還得八十億劫微妙功德。如富兒造宅立便成就。所以《觀經》云：『然彼如來宿願力故，有憶想者必得成就。』不同無生。何以故？又《法華經》云：『大通智勝佛，十劫坐道場，佛法不現前，不得成佛道。』不現前者即是無生，既是十劫不得成佛，故知成佛遲；如念佛，遲則七日，疾則一日，速生淨土，即是八地已上菩薩。何以故？乘佛願力故。」

Answer: "Being mindful of Amitābha Buddha to attain rebirth in the pure land and swiftly achieve the fruit of buddhahood is hundreds of thousands of myriads of times superior to the gate of contemplating non-arising. How is this known? According to the Vimalakīrti-sūtra: 'For example, building palaces in empty space can never be accomplished; building on the ground is free and unobstructed as one wishes.' Examining the mind in non-arising is also like this. Why is that? Non-arising is marklessness, and marklessness is empty space, so it is difficult to accomplish; the method of buddhānusmṛti cultivates both phenomenon and principle, just like building palaces on the ground, so it is easy to accomplish. It is like a poor man lacking wealth and treasure who imitates the royal family in building a residence; though he manages to obtain a small amount of timber, from birth to death he can never accomplish it. Later the timber rots away, and his labor is wasted in vain without any accomplishment. Non-arising is also like this: because the Dharma-wealth of merit cannot be accomplished, one expends effort fruitlessly without any beneficial result. The Dharma-door of buddhānusmṛti is not like this: by a single utterance of buddhānusmṛti, the sins of birth and death of eighty hundred million kalpas are eradicated, and one moreover obtains the exquisite merit of eighty hundred million kalpas. It is like a rich man building a house, which is immediately completed. Therefore the Contemplation Sūtra says: 'Because of the power of that Tathāgata's past vows, those who concentrate their thoughts on him will certainly achieve accomplishment.' It is not like non-arising. Why is that? Furthermore, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra says: 'Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū Buddha sat at the place of awakening for ten kalpas, yet the Buddhadharma did not manifest before him and he could not achieve the Buddha Way.' What did not manifest was non-arising; since he could not achieve buddhahood for ten kalpas, we know that achieving buddhahood [by this way] is slow. In buddhānusmṛti, slowly it takes seven days, swiftly only one day, to quickly be born in the pure land, being a bodhisattva of the eighth ground or above. Why is that? Because one rides upon the Buddha's vow-power."