樂邦文類 2.76

2.76

Considering that the Principle transcends all verbal expressions, how could it be subsumed by the three vehicles? Wisdom perfects the myriad virtues, not something that the ten stages can fathom. He spread the cloud of compassion to shelter the four types of birth, and sprinkled the rain of Dharma to ferry across the nine realms of existence. Because of this, he descended his spirit into Tuṣita and left his traces of birth in Kapilavastu; he grew weary of sensual pleasures in the royal palace and attained the true and constant under the Bodhi tree. Truly, because the karma and delusions of sentient beings and the partisan hordes of Māra grow ever stronger, churning the sea of suffering to open the three evil paths, sinking the boat of compassion, and swallowing the myriad virtues, he therefore raised high the net of teaching and pointed directly to the Pure Realm. This is the mysterious gateway to entering sagehood, the wondrous track for transcending the ordinary. The tenfold pure lands are graded according to ranks and stages; the nine-graded lotus terraces correspond to the capacities and aptitudes in succession. How vast! It leaves far behind the gates of emptiness and existence, standing out uniquely beyond annihilation and permanence. 'Buddha' means the path of awakening is already perfected. 'Speaks' means expounding the Dharma with a compassionate mind. 'Amitābha' means immeasurable life. 'Sutra' means constancy, standard, subsuming, and stringing together: 'constancy' means unchanged through a hundred kings; 'standard' means an identical rule across a thousand generations; 'subsuming' means embracing all explanations; 'stringing together' means interconnecting wondrous principles. Therefore it is called 'The Buddha Speaks of the Amitābha Sutra.'