念佛鏡 1.56

1.56

Answer: "A kalpa cannot be counted to define it. According to the teachings, take a stone forty li thick and forty li in length and breadth. In the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven there are celestial garments whose weight is one part of three zhu; taking such a celestial garment of three zhu, wipe it once every three years until the stone is completely worn away into fine dust—this constitutes one great kalpa. Suppose a person has widely committed transgressive deeds—either killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, covetousness, anger, wrong views, the five heinous sins, unfilial conduct, and slandering the Mahāyāna—all such evil deeds that cause him to fall into hell for eighty kotis of kalpas. If he recites the Buddha's name, the transgressions of birth and death are all extinguished, and in return he obtains the wondrous merits of eighty kotis of kalpas. Thus one knows that the single practice of buddhānusmṛti is [an abundance of] good roots and [an abundance of] blessings and virtues. Furthermore, calculating the number of kalpas: ten thousand kalpas make one myriads of kalpas, a hundred thousand kalpas make one koti of kalpas, and from ten kotis of kalpas up to eighty kotis of kalpas of merit. There are people who recite Amitābha Buddha a hundred thousand times in a day, or someone who recites two hundred thousand times in a day. According to the Amitābha-sūtra, reciting the Buddha's name for one day or seven days yields merit that is immeasurable and limitless; owing to abundant merit, one attains rebirth in the pure land. Attaining rebirth in the pure land, one is already a bodhisattva of the eighth ground or above. Therefore, in the Amitābha-sūtra, all the Buddhas of the ten directions together praise it as inconceivable. Other miscellaneous wholesome deeds have boundaries that can be conceived and numbers that can be calculated, hence they are called few good roots and are conceivable; the merits of buddhānusmṛti are vast and limitless, beyond what the mind can conceive and beyond what the mouth can discuss, and therefore the sūtra calls them inconceivable. Thus one knows that the single practice of buddhānusmṛti constitutes abundant good roots, which cannot be matched by any other good roots.