念佛鏡 2.54

2.54

Question: "Why not be mindful of our Fundamental Teacher Śākyamuni, but be mindful only of Amitābha Buddha?" Answer: "Being mindful of Amitābha is taught by our Fundamental Teacher; only then does one understand how to practice. It is just like a father and mother who, after bearing a child, entrust him to a teacher for instruction, so that his learning is accomplished; it all stems from the teacher. Amitābha is also like this: our Fundamental Teacher spoke the sūtras, earnestly urging mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha so that beings may be born in the pure land and quickly realize bodhi. Treating the invocation of the Buddha's name as a difficult matter, our Fundamental Teacher himself said: 'I practiced this difficult matter of mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha, and attained unexcelled bodhi.' Our Fundamental Teacher Śākyamuni himself was also mindful of the Buddha. He urged all of you sentient beings: if you can recite the name of Amitābha Buddha, you will definitely be born in the pure land and quickly realize bodhi; this is an extremely difficult and rare matter. Our Fundamental Teacher dispatched us to be mindful of Amitābha Buddha. Furthermore, buddhānusmṛti is like parents with many children who reside in a place of famine; leading them to a place of plenty, only then can they be nourished and not starve to death. Our Fundamental Teacher is also like this: because the Sahā world is defiled and evil, unfit to dwell in for long, and fearing that beings will sink and fall into hell, he leads all sentient beings together to return to the pure land, to receive various pleasures and not sink down. For this reason he specifically had them be mindful of Amitābha Buddha, and not be mindful of our Fundamental Teacher. Not only did Śākyamuni attain buddhahood due to buddhānusmṛti, but all the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times will also attain buddhahood due to buddhānusmṛti-samādhi. Therefore the Candrapradīpa-samādhi-sūtra says: 'All the past, future, and present buddhas of the ten directions and the three times learn buddhānusmṛti and quickly realize unexcelled bodhi.' Hence we know that all buddhas of the three times will attain buddhahood due to buddhānusmṛti."