樂邦文類 2.125

2.125

Cigong's preface is exhaustive and detailed, and his discussion of the three kinds of not seeking rebirth is the most stirring admonition in the piece. However, his statements that the Pure Land is not the three realms and that the body is not fragmentary contradict the sūtras and treatises. I respectfully cite two passages to correct these errors. The Commentary on the Profound Meaning says: 'When the Great Treatise explains that the Land of Peaceful Nurture is not the three realms, it merely means it is not these three realms of the Sahā world. If speaking of that land itself, it fully possesses the three realms.' Thus, in the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, Ānanda said to the Buddha: 'Since that realm of Peaceful Nurture has no Mount Sumeru, on what do the devas of Trāyastriṃśa rely to dwell?' The Buddha questioned him in return: 'On what do Yāma up to the form realm rely to dwell in this land?' Ānanda silently understood the meaning of the counter-question: since these Yāma and higher devas are acknowledged to rely on space, what is to prevent the Four Heavenly Kings and above in that land from relying on space to dwell? Fully clarifying the marks of the lands, there are further many kinds of shared and distinct differences. For example, although the Realm of Akṣobhya is a pure land, it still has men, women, Mount Sumeru, and so forth. Since this Pure Land where Commoners and Sages Cohabit is already distinct, the defiled lands where commoners and sages cohabit should likewise not be uniform. The Great Treatise says: 'Beyond the three realms there is a pure land; śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are born within it, receiving bodies of dharmatā, not fragmentary births.'