樂邦文類 2.201

2.201

Thus have I heard: in the west there is a Buddha named Amitābha, also named Measureless Light, also named Measureless Life. There are also two bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, who assist the Buddha in propagating the transformation; both, through the power of their great vows, ferry across all sentient beings. That land is adorned with the seven treasures, pure and natural, free of all mixed defilements, and therefore it is called the Pure Land. Its people are all transformed through birth from lotus flowers, their lifespans are measureless, their clothing, food, and use [of things] arrive according to their thoughts, and furthermore there are no sufferings whatsoever nor any transmigration; therefore it is also called the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Reflecting from this upon the bodies that we now experience and the world in which we dwell, compared to that land—in terms of purity and defilement, length of lifespan, suffering and joy, birth and death—how could the difference be only as far apart as heaven and earth? Yet those who are unenlightened do not know it, or knowing it they do not believe it, creating obstructions for themselves, inverted and obstinately deluded, not thinking of vimokṣa, of renouncing this [world] and being born in that [land]. Is this not lamentable! Therefore, I now urge all who have karmic affinity to form this Lotus Society. Even if it were difficult to understand and difficult to discern, one should still exert effort and be diligent. How much more so since the Buddha's name is extremely easy to uphold and the Pure Land is extremely easy to go to—among the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates, there is no shortcut like this. If one can merely set aside the leisure of a brief moment in the clear morning, it can thereupon become the provision for indestructible [fruition across] eternal kalpas. This is using very little effort yet reaping endless merit; why should sentient beings suffer by abandoning themselves and not doing it? Alas, dreams and illusions are not real, long life and early death cannot be guaranteed; the space of a single breath is already the next life, and once human birth is lost it cannot be regained in ten thousand kalpas. If one is not awakened at this moment, what can the Buddha do for sentient beings? May you deeply contemplate impermanence and not merely leave behind later regrets. Encouraged by the Layman of Pure Bliss (Zhang Lun).