念佛鏡 1.15

1.15

Now, the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi is like a bright mirror reflecting the myriad phenomena; the eighty-four thousand [teachings] are like its shadows. The triyāna and five vehicles gain entrance from this. It is indeed the supreme essential of the ocean-treasury, the wonderful gate for proceeding toward the Way! It is like keeping the mother to recognize the child, gaining the root to understand the branches; lifting the head-rope of a net, every mesh moves; pulling the garment, every thread follows along! Therefore, the *Avataṃsaka* uses the metaphor of strings made of lion's sinews on a lute: once a single sound is played, all the remaining strings snap and break! In the world there are a sort of teachers who disparage Amitābha and exclusively encourage [practices for] bodhisattvas, having them uphold dhāraṇīs and cultivate meditative concentration—how great is their error! Outside the West there is no other land of Avalokiteśvara; those coming to respond to the nine grades all lift up lotus pedestals, and the wonderful contemplation of forms and images explains that "this mind is the Buddha." For this reason, Baizhang, Zhijue, and others all opened up the Pure Land and equally exhorted buddhānusmṛti; their words accumulated in ten thousand scrolls, and their writings filled the realm within the seas. But what can especially serve as a golden lancet [to remove the cataracts of] those who disparage it is solely the *Nianfo jing* in eleven sections by the two masters! Divided into eleven sections, it guides the myriad capacities; establishing two or three doubts, it sweeps away all delusions. It may truly be called a precious mirror of buddhānusmṛti for a decadent age, and a splendid mansion for settling the minds of the four classes of disciples!