念佛鏡 2.46

2.46

Answer: "The merit of buddhānusmṛti is hundreds of thousands of myriads of times greater than the merit of keeping the precepts. How is this known? According to what the sūtras say, keeping precepts realizes the lesser fruits and reaches only up to the first bhūmi; according to the Amitābha-sūtra, if one is mindful of Amitābha Buddha for one day or seven days and attains rebirth in the pure land, one is already a bodhisattva of the eighth bhūmi or above. Therefore the sūtra says: 'Those sentient beings who are born there are all avaivartika.' Hence we know that its merit is hundreds of thousands of myriads of times greater than the merit of keeping the precepts. Furthermore, according to what is said in the sūtras: 'Now is not the time for keeping precepts; it is the time for buddhānusmṛti.' How is this known? According to what the Xiangfa jueyi jing says: 'After our Fundamental Teacher enters cessation, during the five hundred years of the True Dharma, keeping precepts achieves firmness; during the one thousand years of the Semblance Dharma, seated meditation achieves firmness; during the ten thousand years of the Final Dharma, buddhānusmṛti achieves firmness.' Since the Buddha entered nirvāṇa, according to the Śākyamuni stele inscription, more than one thousand seven hundred years have already passed, and more than two hundred years have elapsed since entering the Final Dharma. Hence we know that this is the time for buddhānusmṛti, not the time for keeping precepts. Even if there are those who keep the precepts, according to the text of the Vinaya sūtras, they obtain only reputation and material gain, and upon death obtain rebirth in the heavens, without realizing the fruit of an arhat; even if they obtain rebirth in heaven, they do not escape the three realms. Among people who keep the precepts, not one in ten thousand possesses them completely. Why is this? Because the precepts are subtle while humans are coarse, and their numbers are so manifold that they are difficult to maintain; whereas compared with buddhānusmṛti, its practice is singular, easy to perform, and obtains great merit."