樂邦文類 2.97

2.97

Now, as for the jeweled land of Peaceful Nurture, it is praised by the Great Awakened One, where the three grades ascend high. At evening the golden blossom conceives [the reborn], compared to which the aligned constellations are but a fleeting drop in the ocean; at dawn they disport in the jade pond, where the lamps of the world [i.e., buddhas] are hard pressed to serve as an analogy for the sands of the Ganges. Truly, because those from the ten directions come here and those of the four modes of birth find benefit in going there, although it radiates light to show itself everywhere, in the end people bow their heads and exclusively seek it. Therefore, from India to the Imperial Realm, viewing the past from the present, there the great worthies and supreme sages all gave voice to elegant writings to form a pact, while here awakened virtues and grand scholars all wielded their brushes to make their vows. From this, dedications of merit have continued unbroken, chanting and responding following one another; it is truly the grand thoroughfare of virtue and the direct ferry to eternal bliss. Yet in the world, many have only recently taken up the monastic robes and do not recognize the directions and boundaries; suddenly encountering those seeking the ford, they cannot refrain from making empty claims: some bare their arms and push it aside as a lesser teaching, while others laugh loudly and dismiss it as an expedient vehicle. Because their words run counter to the scriptures, people are confused about the constant canons. Does not the *Changes* say: 'When one resides in his chamber, if his words are unwholesome, then those beyond a thousand li will oppose them'? How much more so for those near at hand! Thereupon I have presumed to compose *The Two Gateways of Resolving Doubts and Cultivating Practice and Vows for Rebirth in the Pure Land*. The phrasing falls short of refinement, but the principles may contain correctness—just as one clearly distinguishes beans from wheat and draws from the Jing and Wei rivers to permanently separate them, felling the foul-smelling forest of eraṇḍa trees and planting the fragrant trunks of candana. Faith, understanding, practice, and vow, tracing from the beginning to the end, fully presented in no more than a few thousand words: it is truly these two gateways.