樂邦文類 4.91

4.91

又後序云：復有引《傳燈》大珠和尚云「捨垢取淨，是生死之業。」龐居士云「若捨煩惱入菩提，不知何方有佛地？」以此句偈輕蔑淨土者，固未可也。且不垢不淨之言、即心即佛之義，凡稟釋教者孰不知之。安以真如平等之談，便廢因緣修證之法？六住大士尚存分段之生，四果真人亦有變易之死，云何殂落永謂泥洹？須知菩薩未證妙覺已還，常以空心遍修萬行，終日觀佛，無佛可觀；歷劫度生，無生可度。暫趣於空華淨土、權依於幻化彌陀，破昨夢之塵勞、入乾城之地位，乃至成佛，雖自行冥寂而利他宛然，故喻之以明鑑之身、現之以隨類之像。世人弗詢大義，唯忻頓悟直入無生，而不思永嘉一宿覺云「若實無生無不生，既豁達而取空，恐莽蕩而招禍。」此類乎越中習射，不踰數步之間；隴西學游，翻沒洄波之內。如斯知識，未可參尋。

The postscript further states: There are also those who cite Venerable Dazhu from the Transmission of the Lamp, saying, 'Discarding the defiled and grasping the pure is the karma of birth and death,' or Layman Pang, saying, 'If one discards afflictions to enter bodhi, I know not in what direction there is a buddha-land.' To disparage the Pure Land by means of these lines and verses is indeed impermissible. Moreover, the words 'neither defiled nor pure' and the principle 'this mind is itself the buddha'—among all who receive the teachings of the Śākya, who does not know them? How can one, through discourses on the equality of tathatā, simply abolish the method of cultivation and realization based on causes and conditions? Bodhisattvas of the sixth aboding still retain fragmentary birth, and realized persons of the four fruits still undergo transformational death; how can their demise be called eternal nirvāṇa? One must know that before a bodhisattva realizes wondrous enlightenment, he constantly cultivates the myriad practices with an empty mind: all day long he contemplates the Buddha, yet there is no Buddha to be contemplated; throughout kalpas he delivers sentient beings, yet there are no sentient beings to be delivered. He temporarily repairs to the pure land of space-flowers, expediently relies on the illusory Amitābha, shatters the defilements of yesterday's dream, and enters the stages of the Gandharva city; up to the attainment of buddhahood, although his self-cultivation is merged in quiescence, benefiting others is clearly distinct—therefore he is illustrated by the body of a bright mirror and manifests through forms that accord with the kind. Worldly people do not inquire into the great meaning; they only yearn for sudden awakening to enter directly into non-birth, without considering that Yongjia, the One-Night Enlightened One, said: 'If real non-birth is not without birth, then if one recklessly grasps emptiness, I fear that utter carelessness will bring about calamity.' This is like practicing archery in Yue without exceeding a few paces, or learning to swim in Longxi only to drown within the whirlpools. Such spiritual friends ought not to be visited and sought out."