樂邦文類 2.160

2.160

淨土與娑婆，凡聖對治之法也。以苦樂言之，則淨土樂而娑婆苦。以清濁言之，則淨土清而娑婆濁。以壽夭死生言之，則淨土壽而常生。娑婆夭而必死，然眾生多沈滯於娑婆之境，而罕有知往生淨土之路者，亦以其業報所蔽之耳。釋迦法王為此土教化之導師，彌陀世尊為彼方接引之慈父，而眾聖群賢又發明釋迦彌陀之大願，指示眾生使修淨業，為超脫輪迴之計。若乃娑婆煩惱之纏縛、淨土莊嚴之境界，如來經旨開喻甚明，諸上善人闡揚尤著。今李子濟從而為稱讚詩，擬諸詠史，凡若干篇。一披卷帙，則彌陀海眾淨土勝境如在目前，使人心開意悟即願往生。則子濟開導群迷，其功豈淺淺哉？子濟，儒家者流，四世登科，有聲士類，來處清白，兼通佛理。凡留心於西方之教，如飢之必食、渴之必飲，夏之葛、冬之裘，有不能自已者。蓋地可動、金可革，而子濟信心堅固截然不撓，則他世化生必為九品會中之人矣。楶因敬覽，謹隨喜而為之序云。

The Pure Land and the Sahā world are the relative antidotes of the commoner and the sage. In terms of suffering and bliss, the Pure Land is blissful while the Sahā world is painful. In terms of purity and defilement, the Pure Land is pure while the Sahā world is defiled. In terms of longevity, premature death, dying, and living, the Pure Land grants longevity and constant life, whereas in the Sahā world one dies young and is bound to perish. Yet sentient beings mostly wallow and linger in the realm of the Sahā world, and rarely does anyone know the path of rebirth in the Pure Land; this is merely because they are obscured by their karmic retribution. Śākya, the King of the Dharma, is the guiding teacher who instructs and transforms this land; Amitābha, the World-Honoured One, is the compassionate father who receives and leads [beings] to that region. Moreover, the multitude of sages and host of worthies have further clarified the great vows of Śākya and Amitābha, pointing them out to sentient beings so that they cultivate pure karma, taking it as a design to transcend transmigration. As for the entangling fetters of the Sahā world’s afflictions and the adorned realms of the Pure Land, the Tathāgata's scriptural teachings elucidate them with utmost clarity, and the foremost good people have propagated them all the more prominently. Now Li Ziji has followed this by composing poems of praise, modeling them on poems on history, numbering several pieces in all. Opening the scrolls but once, the multitude of Amitābha’s ocean-like assembly and the supreme realms of the Pure Land appear as if right before one's eyes, causing the human mind to open and the thought to awaken, immediately wishing for rebirth. Thus Ziji guides the multitude of the deluded; how could his merit be slight? Ziji belongs to the stream of Ruist scholars; for four generations his family passed the civil service examinations, and he is renowned among the literati. His background is pure, and he is also thoroughly versed in Buddhist principles. In all his attention to the Western teachings, he is like the hungry who must eat, the thirsty who must drink, or as [one wears] kudzu in summer and furs in winter—it is something he cannot stop of himself. Indeed, the earth may move and metal may be transformed, but Ziji's faithful mind is firm and resolute, unbroken; thus in another life, through apparitional birth, he will surely be a person within the assembly of the nine grades. Having respectfully perused it, I, Jie, respectfully rejoice in it and compose this preface.