樂邦文類 4.144

4.144

Question: For those who study the Buddha Way, the mind is distracted and difficult to control. Now, wishing to unify it with a single thread, exclusively being mindful of one Buddha in the West, treading the ground of non-retrogression, casting away the defiled mind, riding a skiff on the golden pond, paying homage to Amitābha in the white jade hall, so as to penetrate the three periods of time and hope to obtain the nine grades—is this not acceptable? Answer: Nāgārjuna's Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā states: 'The bodhisattva path has the practice of difficult practice, like riding a boat on land. It has the practice of easy practice, like riding a boat on water.' Through the power of Amitābha Buddha's original vow, if a person hears the name, recites it, and takes refuge in that land, it is like a boat finding water and meeting a favorable wind, traveling a thousand miles in a single bound—is it not easy indeed? Thus Śākyamuni Tathāgata, his royal father, his family, and sixty thousand members of the Śākya clan were all reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Because the Buddha has deep affinities with the sentient beings of this realm, exclusively focusing on a single realm—is it not excellent indeed?