念佛鏡 2.39

2.39

答：「念佛功德，多於聞經功德百千萬倍。何以得知？《觀經》下品上生人無惡不作，由造惡故，命欲終時，地獄眾火一時俱至。遇善知識，為說十二部經。彼人聞已，滅除千劫等罪。聞經力小，地獄猶未滅，得智者教，念阿彌陀佛十口，滅除八十億劫生死之罪。」

Answer: "The merit of buddhānusmṛti is hundreds of thousands of myriads of times greater than the merit of hearing sūtras. How is this known? In the Contemplation Sūtra, a person of the lowest grade's highest level does not leave any evil undone; because of committing evil, when his life is about to end, the fires of the hells all arrive at once. Meeting a good spiritual friend who explains the twelve divisions of sūtras for him, upon hearing them that person eradicates the sins of a thousand kalpas and so forth. Because the power of hearing sūtras is small, the hells are not yet extinguished; receiving a wise person's instruction, he recites Amitābha Buddha ten times, eradicating the sins of birth and death of eighty hundred million kalpas."