[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [樂邦文類](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a) › 3.61 # 樂邦文類 3.61 樂邦文類 3.61 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [3.61](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3.61) 明州延慶寺住持比丘，世有講席，以天台觀行為宗。自法智大師知禮，行學俱高，聽徒心嚮。繼其後者，又皆得人，今百有餘年矣。間有苦行精修之士，來依道場。元豐中比丘介然，修西方淨土之法，坐而不臥，以三年為期。期滿謂其同行比丘惠觀、仲章、宗悅曰：「我等各據一室成此勝緣。後之來者加眾，而室不增多。今延慶西隅尚有隙地，若得錢二千餘萬，構屋六十餘間，中建寶閣，立丈六彌陀之身，夾以觀音勢至，環為十有六室。室各兩間，外列三聖之像，內為禪觀之所。殿臨池水，水生蓮華，不離塵染之中、豁開世外之境。念處俱寂，了無異緣，以堅決定之心、以顯安樂之土。所以順佛慈而報國恩者，豈獨我四人而已哉？所欲如是，其可成乎？」惠觀等答曰：「以無作任運之心，作有為利益之事。四明多檀信，何患乎不成？」自是日營月積，更七寒暑。凡介然之所欲為，無一不如其志者。初介然然手二指，誓必成此。元符二年三月落成之日，設千佛之供，復然三指以增淨誓。既成所難成，又捨所難捨，而原其用心，無私己之意。於是見者聞者莫不隨喜，淨習之士踊躍欣慶，而十有六室常無虛位，期滿者去、發心者來，依勝境而獲善利者，不知其幾何人也。夫淨土之教古佛所說，誠心之士諦受不疑。如來之敘九品，以至誠為上上；智者之造十論，破疑心之具縛。縛解情忘、識散智現，則彌陀淨境何假他求？若臨明鏡自見面像，得者不由於識受，昧者安可以情曉？超識習而不惑，度情塵而獨造者，其唯誠乎。故曰誠者成也，成自成他，唯此而已。譬猶清淨滿月普現諸水，影像非一、月體無二，攝流散而等所歸，會十方而總于一。亦如十鏡環繞，中然一燈，光體交參，東西莫辨。然而方有定位，非無西鏡；名隨相立，西不自西。智與理融，境將誰執？安可以在纏執方之見，而測度如來無礙之境乎？慈恩有言曰「凡夫業重，處處生貪。若不定指一方，何以繫心專注？」此善智識隨方扶教，專護相宗。然論安養知足之勝劣，則以偏勸往生為最勝。乃知通人無吝，吝則多私。境強習重，蓋由觀淺心浮。易往無人，良以疑深障重。若欲盡除障垢，當以決定為心。濕薪如山，豆火能爇；千年闇室，日照頓明。釋迦文方便至深，無量壽說法無間，觀世音如母念子，大勢至如子憶母。古聖樣轍安可不遵？幻境虛無有何可捨？解脫長者不往安樂土，普賢大士親覩無量光。親覩者初無動移，不往者如是而往。普融無礙，然後空假俱中；分別未忘，寧免權實互諍。若此則心安無日，得忍何期？乃知念念現前，然後決不退轉。故曰：若不決定成等正覺者，我誓不取菩提。於菩提心有退轉者，我誓不取正覺。此乃法藏比丘之本願，而諸上善人之所隨學也。發如是心、行如是行、起如是願、趣如是果，而不違法藏之大誓，則寓跡于茲剎、棲心于此室者，皆阿鞞跋致之士也。其為勝利，豈有窮哉？比丘介然唱一善念，四明信士應答如響。而所以利益一方者，其廣若是。可以不記其事乎？今住持延慶明智大師（中立），法智之曾孫也。行業完實，人所信服。能以誠心修淨土觀，於介然之事有助為多，故併書之。大觀元年八月初一日，延平陳瓘記。 > The abbot monks of Yanqing Monastery in Mingzhou have had lecture seats for generations, taking the Tiantai contemplative practice as their school. Ever since Grand Master Fazhi Zhili, whose practice and learning were both lofty, the assembly of listeners turned their hearts toward him. Those who succeeded him were likewise all worthy men, now for more than a hundred years. Occasionally there were men of ascetic practice and rigorous cultivation who came to rely upon this bodhimaṇḍa. During the Yuanfeng era, the monk Jieran cultivated the method of the Western Pure Land, sitting without lying down for a period of three years. When his period was fulfilled, he said to his fellow practitioners, the monks Huiguan, Zhongzhang, and Zongyue: “Each of us occupies a single room to accomplish this supreme causal condition. But as later arrivals grow more numerous, the rooms do not increase. Now in the western corner of Yanqing there is still vacant land. If we could obtain more than twenty million cash, construct more than sixty bays of buildings, erect a precious pavilion in the center, set up a sixteen-foot body of Amitābha flanked by Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and encircle it with sixteen chambers—each chamber having two bays, with the images of the three sages arrayed outside and serving inside as a place for dhyāna contemplation; with the hall overlooking a pool of water, the water producing lotus flowers—then without leaving the midst of defilement, an unworldly realm would be thrown wide open. The stations of mindfulness would all be quiescent, completely devoid of disparate conditions, so as to solidify an unwavering mind and reveal the land of peace and bliss. Thus to comply with the Buddha’s compassion and requite the country's benevolence—how could it be for just the four of us alone? Such is my wish; can it be accomplished?” Huiguan and the others replied: “With a mind that operates naturally without artificial effort, we shall perform conditioned deeds of benefit. Siming has many generous and faithful donors; why worry that it will not be accomplished?” From then on, daily managing and monthly accumulating, seven winters and summers passed. Of all that Jieran wished to do, not one failed to accord with his intention. At the outset, Jieran burned two fingers of his hand, vowing that he would surely accomplish this. On the day of its completion in the third month of the second year of the Yuanfu era, he set out an offering to a thousand buddhas and further burned three fingers to augment his pure vow. Having accomplished what was difficult to accomplish, and having renounced what was difficult to renounce, yet when one traces the motive of his mind, there was no selfish intention. Thereupon, among those who saw or heard of it, none failed to rejoice in accord; men devoted to pure practice leapt with joyful celebration, and the sixteen chambers were never left vacant. Those whose terms were completed departed, and those who generated the aspiration arrived. As for those who relied upon this supreme realm and attained wholesome benefits, who knows how many people there were? Now, the teaching of the Pure Land was spoken by ancient buddhas; men of sincere mind accept it truly without doubt. In the Tathāgata’s account of the nine grades, utmost sincerity is taken as the very highest; in the Wise One’s composition of the Ten Treatises, the complete bonds of a doubting mind are shattered. When bonds are untied and emotional attachments forgotten, when consciousness disperses and wisdom appears, then why should one falsely seek Amitābha's pure realm elsewhere? It is like facing a bright mirror and seeing one’s own face: those who attain it do not do so through sensory consciousness, and how could the benighted understand it through emotion? Transcending the conditioning of consciousness without delusion, crossing beyond emotional dust to reach it alone—is this not solely through sincerity? Therefore it is said: “Sincerity is accomplishment”; accomplishing oneself and accomplishing others is simply this. It is like the pure full moon appearing everywhere in all waters: the reflections are not one, yet the moon's substance is not two; gathering the scattered streams, it equalizes their return, convening the ten directions to unify them into one. It is also like ten mirrors encircling \[a center\] with a single lamp burning within: their light and forms intermingle, so that east and west cannot be distinguished. Yet directions have their assigned positions, and it is not that the western mirror is absent; names are established following appearances, but the west is not inherently west. When wisdom and principle are fused, what realm could one cling to? How could one use the views of clinging to directions while still in bondage to measure the Tathāgata’s unobstructed realm? Cien said: “Commoners have heavy karma and produce greed everywhere. If one does not definitely point to one direction, how could one tether the mind in single-minded focus?” This good spiritual friend supported the teaching according to people's inclinations, specifically protecting the Dharma-character school. Yet when discussing the relative superiority of Peaceful Nurture and the Tuṣita \[Heaven of\] Contentment, to promote rebirth \[in the Pure Land\] is deemed the most supreme. Thus we know that penetrating men are without stinginess, for stinginess breeds much selfishness. That the object is strong and habits are heavy is because contemplation is shallow and the mind is superficial. That it is easy to go yet no one does is truly because doubt is deep and hindrances are heavy. If one wishes to eliminate all defilements and hindrances completely, one must make determination one’s mind. Though wet firewood be like a mountain, a tiny spark can ignite it; a dark room of a thousand years is suddenly brightened by the sunlight. Śākyamuni’s skillful means were exceedingly deep; the Immeasurable Life \[Buddha\] expounds the Dharma without interruption; Avalokiteśvara is like a mother mindful of her child; Mahāsthāmaprāpta is like a child remembering its mother. How could one not follow the tracks and models of the ancient sages? What is there to renounce in an illusory, empty realm? Elder Vimukta did not go to the Land of Peace and Bliss, while the Great Being Samantabhadra personally beheld the Immeasurable Light. The one who personally beheld did not move in the first place; the one who did not go went in just this way. Only when there is universal fusion without obstruction are the empty and the provisional both the middle; if distinctions are not forgotten, how can one avoid mutual disputes between the provisional and the real? If it is like this, there will be no day when the mind is at peace; when could forbearance ever be attained? Thus one knows that only when every thought is present right before one will there definitively be no retrogression. Therefore it is said: “If I do not definitively achieve equal and right awakening, I vow not to take bodhi. If there is retrogression from the bodhicitta, I vow not to take right awakening.” These were Bhikṣu Dharmākara's fundamental vows, and what all superior wholesome persons follow and learn. If one generates such a mind, practices such practice, gives rise to such vows, and aims for such fruit, without contravening Dharmākara's great vows, then those who lodge their tracks in this monastery and dwell their minds in these chambers are all persons of avaivartika. How could there be an end to its supreme benefit? When the monk Jieran voiced a single wholesome thought, the faithful of Siming responded like an echo. And as for how he benefited an entire region, its breadth was like this. Could one fail to record this affair? The current abbot of Yanqing, Great Master Mingzhi (Zhongli), is the great-grandson of Fazhi. His religious practice is complete and substantial, trusted and admired by others. Capable of cultivating the Pure Land contemplation with a sincere mind, he greatly assisted in Jieran's enterprise; hence I record it together. On the first day of the eighth month of the first year of the Daguan era, recorded by Chen Guan of Yanping. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 3.60](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3.60) - [Next: 3.62](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3.62) - [Up: 3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a~en-mt.3.61) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3.61](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1969a.3.61) · Pramāṇa