龍舒增廣淨土文 1.5

1.5

阿彌陀如來以大願力攝受群品，繫念甚簡、證果甚速，或者疑之。余嘗為之言：阿彌陀佛即汝性是，極樂國土即汝心是。眾生背覺合塵，淪於七趣，立我與佛天地懸隔。佛為是故，慈悲方便開示悟入，現諸無量如幻三昧，莊嚴其國備極華好，復以辯智而為演說，令諸眾生歡喜愛樂。於日用中能發一念念彼如來，欲生其國，即此一念清淨堅固，還性所有與佛無異。當是念時，不起于坐，阿彌陀佛極樂國土悉皆現前。如是修習乃至純熟，幻身壞時此性不壞，金蓮華臺由性種生，往生其中如歸吾廬，諸佛菩薩即我眷屬，性無異故，自相親愛。友人龍舒王虛中，端靜簡潔博通群書，訓傳六經諸子數十萬言。一旦指之曰：「是皆業習，非究竟法。吾其西方之歸。」自是精進，惟佛惟念。年且六十，布衣蔬茹，重趼千里以是教人，風雨寒暑弗皇恤。閒居日課千拜，夜分乃寢。面目奕奕有光，望之者信其為有道之士也。紹興辛巳秋，過家君於宣城，留兩月，始見其淨土文。凡修習法門與感驗章著具有顛末，將求信道鋟木傳焉，諉余序其書。故為之題其端云虛中名日休。十月旦狀元歷陽張孝祥序。

Amitābha Tathāgata gathers and embraces all categories of beings through the power of his great vows; fixing one's thoughts [on him] is extremely simple, and the realization of fruition is extremely swift, which some might doubt. I once said of this: Amitābha Buddha is precisely your nature; the land of Sukhāvatī is precisely your mind. Sentient beings turn their backs on enlightenment and conform to dust, sinking into the seven destinies, establishing 'self' and 'Buddha' as wide apart as heaven and earth. For this reason, the Buddha with compassion and skillful means reveals and instructs so that they may awaken and enter, manifesting various immeasurable illusion-like samādhis, adorning his land with the utmost splendor and beauty, and further expounding it with eloquence and wisdom, causing all sentient beings to rejoice and delight in it. If in daily activities one can produce a single thought of recollecting that Tathāgata and wishing to be born in his land, this very single thought—pure and firm—returns to what is inherent in nature and is no different from the Buddha. At the time of this thought, without rising from one's seat, Amitābha Buddha and the land of Sukhāvatī all manifest before one. Practicing in this way until completely mature, when the illusory body disintegrates this nature does not disintegrate; the golden lotus dais is born from the seed of nature, and rebirth within it is like returning to one's own cottage; all Buddhas and bodhisattvas are one's own family, for because nature is without difference, they naturally cherish one another. My friend Wang Xuzhong of Longshu was upright, quiet, concise, and widely versed in various books; he commented upon and transmitted hundreds of thousands of words on the Six Classics and the various masters. One day, he pointed to them and said: 'These are all karmic habits, not the ultimate Dharma. I shall return to the West!' From then on he progressed vigorously, focusing only on the Buddha and only on recollection. Approaching sixty years of age, clad in plain cotton and eating greens, he traveled a thousand li with calloused feet to teach people this, having no leisure to care for wind, rain, cold, or heat. In solitary dwelling his daily regimen was a thousand prostrations, sleeping only at midnight. His face glowed with radiant light; those who gazed upon him believed that he was a man of the Way. In the autumn of the xinji year of the Shaoxing reign era, he visited my father in Xuancheng and stayed for two months, and only then did I see his Pure Land Writings. All methods of practice and obvious records of efficacious responses were recorded from beginning to end; preparing to seek believers of the Way to carve the woodblocks to transmit it, he entrusted me to write a preface for his book. Therefore, I wrote this at its beginning, noting that Xuzhong's given name is Rixiu. On the first day of the tenth month, preface by Zhang Xiaoxiang of Liyang, principal graduate.