念佛鏡 1.60

1.60

"Furthermore, the merit of ten utterances of the Buddha's name is already boundless, how much more so when someone can recite Amitābha Buddha a hundred thousand times in a day, or someone who can recite Amitābha Buddha two hundred thousand times in a day? The merit of reciting the Buddha's name for one day is already boundless, how much more so the merit of reciting the Buddha's name for two days, up to seven days? According to the Amitābha-sūtra, at the time of death, as quickly as one day or as late as seven days, by reciting the Buddha's name one is immediately reborn in the pure land. It also says: 'All sentient beings born there are avaivartika.' That is, they are bodhisattvas of the eighth ground. This is the method of the highest level of the highest grade. How is this known? By analogy, it is like the households of the world: those with much wealth and treasure make up the highest of the high households, while those with little wealth and treasure make up the lowest of the low households. Those with the most merit from buddhānusmṛti are born into the pure land in the highest of the high grade; those with the least buddhānusmṛti are in the lowest of the low grade. Although the Tathāgata spoke of the wholesome merits of the eighty-four thousand dharma-gates, only the single gate of buddhānusmṛti is the supreme teaching. Although the Tathāgata spoke of various wholesome merits, only the single practice of buddhānusmṛti constitutes abundant good roots and abundant blessings and virtues. Other miscellaneous wholesome deeds, compared to buddhānusmṛti, are all few good roots and few blessings and virtues; the dharma-gate of buddhānusmṛti truly cannot be matched by any other gate. Thus one knows that the single gate of buddhānusmṛti is [an abundance of] good roots and [an abundance of] blessings and virtues."