樂邦文類 1.170

1.170

The Buddha said: "Those persons of the middle class, although unable to leave home and abandon desires, should uphold the sūtras and precepts, practice dāna and charity, constantly have faith in the Buddha's words, and desire to be born in the Buddha's land. At the end of his life, such a person will see Amitābha Buddha of himself. When he proceeds to the Buddha's land, he can attain courageous wisdom. If someone regrets midway, harbors doubts in his mind, does not believe that giving charity and performing various wholesome deeds yield blessings, and does not believe in rebirth in Amitābha Buddha's land—yet he continues mindfulness unbroken, sometimes believing and sometimes not believing, having nothing fixed to rely upon—because he maintains his wholesome vows as the foundation, he still attains rebirth. When this person's life ends, he is unable to reach the place of Amitābha Buddha, but on the way he sees a city of seven jewels on the border of Amitābha Buddha's realm. Greatly rejoicing in his mind, he settles inside it, being born by transformation within a lotus flower in a pond of seven jewels. That city is two thousand li in breadth, and its joy is like that of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. He does not see that Buddha, but sees only light, and his mind reproaches itself. After five hundred years in that city, this person is only then able to go to Amitābha Buddha to hear the sūtras and understand them."