樂邦文類 1.201

1.201

The General Praise of the Amitābha [Sūtra] by Ci'en states: 'In the Pure Land, day and night each have three periods. Question: In the Pure Land, beings are entirely without ignorance and the land has no twilight or dawn; why speak of day and night? Answer: When the flowers open in the golden ponds and transformed births occur, it feels like dawn; when birds roost in the jeweled trees, bodhisattvas think of it as dusk.' The New Commentary of Zhachuan states: 'One should know that the six periods ought to be three for day and three for night. Sentient beings of that land have light radiating from their bodies, and there is no Mount Sumeru, so day and night are not divided by the rising and setting of the sun. If, like the Annotations on the Great Calming and Contemplation, it is said that the heavens mark day and night by the opening and closing of flowers, then Ci'en's explanation may be so. This merely borrows the sundial hours of this realm to name the divisions of time in that land. As explained in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the six periods in the Western [Land] certainly cannot be measured in length against the yin and mao hours of this place. Some do not accept Ci'en's explanation because there is no proof. In reading the Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka Sūtra, when it clarifies the world of Padmottara Buddha, it says: "That Buddha always has light; when the flowers close, birds roost, and bodhisattvas enter absorption, they know it is the night portion. When the wind blows and scatters the flowers, the birds sing in harmony, and the bodhisattvas arise from meditative absorption, they know it is the day portion."'