念佛三昧寶王論 2.8

2.8

The question asks: “The discourse on the easy path and the difficult path, and the contemplation of the body itself as bodhi—their purport is clear as a mirror. But human life in the world is like the spark of a flint or a flash of lightning; if one loses mindfulness and falters, regret will be of no avail. A practitioner of the Way does not even hold his own mind dear, let alone his body; and not even holding his body dear, how much less what is external to the body? One constantly fears that an outgoing breath will not return, and one will belong to the next life: blown like tumbleweed in a violent wind, vast and boundless, where will one go? I pray you will show me the gate of one thought-moment and ten thought-moments, the plan for this life and the other life.”