樂邦文類 2.124

2.124

大願聖人從淨土來，來實無來；深心凡夫往淨土去，去實無去。彼不來此、此不往彼，而其聖凡會遇、兩得交際者何也？彌陀光明如大圓月遍照十方，水清而靜則月現全體，月非趣水而遽來；水濁而動則月無定光，月非捨水而遽去。在水則有清濁動靜，在月則無取捨去來。故《華嚴》解脫長者云：「知一切佛猶如影像，自心如水。彼諸如來不來至此，我不往彼。我若欲見安樂世界阿彌陀如來，隨意即見。」是知眾生注念，定見彌陀；彌陀來迎，極樂不遠。乃稱性實言，非權教也。淨土無欲，非欲界也。其國地居，非色界也。生有形相，非無色界也。一切眾生未悟正覺，處大夢中，六道升沈未甞休止。諸天雖樂，報盡相衰；脩羅方瞋，戰爭互勝；旁生飛走，噉食相殘；鬼神幽陰，飢渴困逼；地獄長夜，痛楚號呼；得生人趣，固已為幸，然而生老病死眾苦嬰纏。唯是淨方更無諸苦，蓮苞託質，無生苦也；寒暑不遷，無老苦也；身非分段，無病苦也；壽命無量，無死苦也；無父母妻子，無愛別離也；上善人聚會，無怨憎會也；華裓香食珍寶受用無求不得，無窮困也。觀照空寂，無蘊苦也。悲濟有情，欲生則生，不住寂滅，非二乘也。智照生死，得不退轉，非凡夫也。三界蕩然，譬如四裔，丘陵坑坎，穢腐所積、溪壑阻絕，孰為津梁？乃有狂人迷路於此，惡獸魑魅惱害雜居，刀兵水火，或時傷暴風霜霹靂淩厲摧懾，罔知城域可以庇覆，飲食衣服未或充足，甘受是苦、不求安樂。有佛釋迦是大導師，指清淨土是安樂國，無量壽佛是淨土師，爾諸眾生但發誠心念彼佛號，即得往生。若生彼土則無諸惱。不聞知者，固可哀憐。亦有善士發三種不信心，不求生者，尤可嗟惜。一曰吾當超佛越祖，淨土不足生也；二曰處處皆淨土，西方不必生也；三曰極樂聖域，我輩凡夫不能生也。夫行海無盡，普賢願見彌陀；佛國雖空，維摩常修淨土。十方如來有廣舌之讚，十方菩薩有同往之心。試自忖量，孰與諸聖，謂不足生者，何其自欺哉。至如龍猛，祖師也，《楞伽經》有預記之文。天親，教宗也，《無量論》有求生之偈。慈恩通讚首稱十勝，智者析理明辨十疑。彼皆上哲精進往生，謂不必生者，何其自慢哉？火車可滅、舟石不沈，現華報者莫甚於張馗，十念而超勝處；入地獄者莫速於雄俊，再甦而證妙因。世人愆尤未必若此，謂不能生者，何其自棄？《般舟三昧經》云「跋陀惒菩薩請問釋迦佛：『未來眾生，云何得見十方諸佛？』佛教念阿彌陀佛，即見十方一切諸佛。」又《大寶積經》云「若他方眾生，聞無量壽如來名號，廼至能發一念淨信、歡喜愛樂，所有善根迴向願生無量壽國者，隨願皆生，得不退轉。」此皆佛言也，不信佛言，何言可信，不生淨土，何土可生，自欺自慢、自棄己靈，流入轉迴，是誰之咎？四十八願悉為度生，一十六觀同歸繫念，一念既信，已投種於寶池；眾善相資，定化生於金地。無輒悔墮誤認疑城，即時蓮開得解脫道。唯心淨土自性彌陀，大光明中決無魔事。《直指淨土決疑集》者，吾友王古敏仲之所編也。博采教典、該括古今，開釋疑情，徑超信地。其載聖賢之旨，在淨土諸書最為詳要，蓋安養國之鄉導也。若登彼岸，舟固可忘；來者問津，斯言無忽。元豐七年九月十日序。

The sage of great vows comes from the Pure Land, yet in coming there is truly no coming; the ordinary person of deep mind goes to the Pure Land, yet in going there is truly no going. That does not come here, and this does not go there, yet sage and ordinary person meet, both attaining communion—why is this? Amitābha's light is like a great round moon shining universally throughout the ten directions. When the water is clear and still, the full form of the moon appears; the moon did not rush toward the water to suddenly arrive. When the water is turbid and agitated, the moon has no fixed light; the moon did not abandon the water to suddenly depart. In the water there is clearness and turbidity, agitation and stillness; in the moon there is no taking or relinquishing, departing or coming. Therefore, the elder Muktaka in the Avataṃsaka says: 'I know that all buddhas are like reflections, and one's own mind is like water. Those Tathāgatas do not come here, and I do not go there. If I wish to see Amitābha Tathāgata of the World of Peace and Bliss, I see him at will.' Hence we know that when sentient beings focus their mindfulness, they are certain to see Amitābha; when Amitābha comes to welcome them, the Ultimate Bliss is not far away. These are true words that accord with nature, not provisional teachings. The Pure Land has no desire, so it is not the desire realm. Its land rests on the ground, so it is not the form realm. Those born there have physical forms and marks, so it is not the formless realm. All sentient beings who have not awakened to correct enlightenment abide within a great dream, their rising and sinking in the six destinies never pausing. The devas, though happy, suffer the waning of marks when their reward is exhausted; the asuras, constantly angry, wage warfare with alternating victories; flying and walking beasts devour and butcher one another; ghosts and spirits are in gloomy darkness, oppressed by hunger and thirst; the hells are a long night of agonizing cries of pain. To attain birth in the human destiny is already fortunate, yet the manifold sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death entangle them. Only this pure realm has no such sufferings at all: with the lotus bud as the physical base, there is no suffering of birth; with the seasons never changing, there is no suffering of aging; with the body not being fragmentary, there is no suffering of sickness; with lifespan immeasurable, there is no suffering of death; with neither parents, wives, nor children, there is no suffering of parting from the loved; with superior good persons gathered together, there is no suffering of meeting the hated; with flower-cloths, fragrant food, and precious jewels at one's disposal, nothing sought is unobtainable, so there is no poverty; contemplating emptiness and quiescence, there is no suffering of the aggregates. Compassionately rescuing sentient beings, wishing to be born whenever one wishes, not abiding in quiescence—this is not the two vehicles. Wisdom illuminating birth and death, attaining non-retrogression—this is not an ordinary person. The three realms are desolate, like the four outer borders, with hills, pits, mounds, and hollows, accumulated with putrid filth, blocked by streams and ravines—who will serve as a bridge or ferry? There are madmen who lose their way here, with evil beasts, mountain demons, and spirits intermingling to torment them, with weapons, fire, and water, sometimes harmed by violent wind, frost, and thunderclaps that overpower and terrify them, knowing no city or territory that could shelter them, their food, drink, and clothing never sufficient, willingly enduring such suffering and seeking no peace or bliss. There is a Buddha, Śākyamuni, the Great Guide, who pointed to the pure land as the country of peace and bliss, and Amitābha Buddha as the teacher of the Pure Land. If you sentient beings merely arouse a sincere mind to recite that Buddha's name, you will immediately attain rebirth. If born in that land, you will have no afflictions. Those who do not hear or know of it are indeed pitiable. But there are also good gentlemen who arouse three kinds of unfaithful minds and do not seek rebirth, who are even more to be lamented. The first says: 'I shall transcend the buddhas and surpass the patriarchs; the Pure Land is not worth being born in.' The second says: 'Everywhere is the Pure Land; it is unnecessary to be born in the west.' The third says: 'The Ultimate Bliss is a noble realm; ordinary persons like us cannot be born there.' Now, the ocean of practices is endless, yet Samantabhadra vows to see Amitābha; though buddha-lands are empty, Vimalakīrti constantly cultivates the pure land. The Tathāgatas of the ten directions have praises with their broad tongues; the bodhisattvas of the ten directions share the intention to go together. Let them examine themselves: how do they compare with the sages? To say it is not worth being born in—how self-deceiving! As for Nāgārjuna, he was a patriarch, yet the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra contains a prophecy concerning him. Vasubandhu was an authority of the doctrine, yet the Treatise on the Immeasurable Life contains verses seeking rebirth. The Universal Praise of Ci'en first praises the ten excellences, and Zhiyi dissected the principle to clearly differentiate the ten doubts. Those were all superior sages who vigorously advanced toward rebirth; to say it is unnecessary to be born there—how arrogant! The fire-cart can be extinguished, and the boat carrying stones does not sink. In manifesting the flowering reward, none was more extreme than Zhang Kui, who with ten recitations ascended to the superior place; in entering hell, none was swifter than Xiongjun, who revived again to verify the wondrous cause. The transgressions of worldly people are not necessarily like these; to say one cannot be born there—how self-abandoning! The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra says: 'Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla asked the Buddha Śākyamuni: "How can future sentient beings see the buddhas of the ten directions?" The Buddha taught buddha-mindfulness of Amitābha, and they will immediately see all buddhas of the ten directions.' Furthermore, the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra says: 'If sentient beings in other directions hear the name of the Tathāgata of Immeasurable Life, and can even arouse a single thought of pure faith, rejoicing with love and delight, and dedicate all their roots of goodness, vowing to be born in the land of Immeasurable Life, they will all be born according to their vows, attaining non-retrogression.' These are all the Buddha's words. If one does not believe the Buddha's words, what words can be believed? If one is not born in the Pure Land, what land can one be born in? To deceive oneself, be arrogant toward oneself, and abandon one's own spiritual nature, drifting into saṃsāra—whose fault is this? The forty-eight vows all serve to deliver sentient beings; the sixteen contemplations all converge on focused mindfulness. Once a single thought has faith, the seed has already been planted in the jeweled pond; with manifold goods assisting one another, one is certain to transform into birth on the golden ground. Do not casually regret and fall back, mistakenly recognizing the City of Doubt; the lotus will open immediately, and one will attain the path of liberation. Mind-only Pure Land, self-nature Amitābha—in the great radiance, there are definitely no demonic affairs. The Direct Pointer to the Pure Land: Resolving Doubts was compiled by my friend Wang Gu, styled Minzhong. Broadly gathering doctrinal scriptures and encompassing past and present, it unties doubts and immediately surpasses into the stage of faith. Its recording of the sages' purport is the most detailed and essential among all Pure Land books, truly serving as a guide to the Land of Peaceful Nurture. If one reaches the other shore, the boat may indeed be forgotten; but for those who come asking for the ford, these words must not be disregarded. Preface written on the tenth day of the ninth month of the seventh year of the Yuanfeng era [1084].