龍舒增廣淨土文 11.17

11.17

龍舒居士作淨土文一十卷，其間始從淨土起信、終至我說，可謂條布有序，或事或理坦然歷歷明白者矣。而又更何言哉？此十卷文乃是居士存日親自刻梓，欲其流布天下，使人人皆同念佛生于樂國。其用心亦豈易及？惟於第十一續添一卷，有人疑非居士本志，此必是第四卷文初，剏屬[葶-丁+呆]所棄者耳。想後人尊居士故，不忍棄之，乃為十一卷名而續添之。況其修持法門意趣，悉與第四卷同，但其文意嚴紋有異耳。予乃執卷而熟翫之，亦謂此言頗當正。議擬間，忽有人得居士親筆墨本者，若合符契，如失還得。今雖刻板已畢，亦乃銳意去之，復將法門中諸師原先附本勸發之語如次整正足之，以完部帙，諒無差失。如後人見此，慎毋以此編為不足云。

Layman Longshu composed the *Pure Land Writings* in ten fascicles, ranging from the initial generation of faith in the Pure Land to his own discourses at the end. It can be said to be arranged in an orderly fashion, with both phenomena and principle clearly and lucidly explained. What more is there to say? These ten fascicles of text were personally carved onto printing blocks by the layman during his lifetime, intending for them to circulate throughout the realm so that everyone alike would recite the Buddha's name and be born in the Land of Joy. How could such an intention be easily matched? However, regarding the addition of an eleventh fascicle, someone doubted that it was the layman's original intention, suspecting it must have been an initial draft belonging to the beginning of the fourth fascicle that was discarded. Presumably, later people revered the layman so much that they could not bear to discard it, and thus designated it as the eleventh fascicle and added it. Moreover, the purport of its cultivation practices is entirely the same as that of the fourth fascicle, differing only in the literary phrasing. Holding the fascicle and perusing it thoroughly, I also considered this assertion to be quite correct. While deliberating, someone suddenly obtained an ink manuscript in the layman's own handwriting, which matched perfectly like two halves of a tally, like finding what had been lost. Although the carving of the printing blocks was already complete, I resolutely removed it and once again arranged in proper order the words of exhortation from the various masters in the Dharma tradition that were originally appended, thereby completing the set of fascicles, leaving surely no error. If later generations see this, let them by no means consider this compilation deficient.