念佛鏡 2.30

2.30

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."