樂邦遺稿 1.73

1.73

此方儒典盛說西方，如《周書異記》「蘇由奏周昭王曰：『有大聖人，生在西方。』」又《列子》「商太宰問孔子，孔子答曰：『西方有聖者焉。』」《文中子》曰「佛法乃西方之教。」此等儒書皆以佛教為西方，乃是西土五天竺國，非所謂西方淨土也。且一三千大千世界，即釋迦佛一化之境，五天竺國當閻浮之中，神州在彼東南，以此望彼故號西方。若是阿彌陀佛西方淨土，出在大千世界之外，復過十萬億佛剎（一佛剎約以一三千大千世界），即知與此南閻浮提西方五天竺國遠近霄壤誠不可雷同也。

Confucian classics in this land speak abundantly of the West, such as the *Zhoushu yiji*: "Su You memorialized King Zhao of Zhou, saying, 'A great sage is born in the West.'" Also, the *Liezi* states: "The Grand Minister of Shang asked Confucius, and Confucius answered, saying, 'In the West there is a sage.'" *Wenzhongzi* states: "The Buddha's teaching is the teaching of the West." These Confucian books all take the Buddha's teaching to be of the West, referring to the Western lands of the Five Indias, not what is called the Western Pure Land. Furthermore, a single great trichiliocosm is the realm transformed by Śākyamuni Buddha alone; the five lands of India lie in the middle of Jambudvīpa, while China lies to their southeast, and looking toward them from here they are therefore termed the West. If it is Amitābha Buddha's Western Pure Land, it lies outside this great trichiliocosm, beyond a hundred thousand koṭis of Buddha-lands (a single Buddha-land is roughly equivalent to one great trichiliocosm). Thus one knows that between this and the five Indian lands in the west of this Southern Jambudvīpa, the distance is like heaven and earth; truly they must not be conflated.