龍舒增廣淨土文 11

English (machine translation) 11

Language: English

11.1

Great Master Zhizhe of Tiantai Exhorts Practitioners to Exclusively Cultivate the Pure Land

A hypothetical question is posed: "All buddhas and bodhisattvas take great compassion as their endeavor. If one wishes to rescue sentient beings, one should simply vow to be born in the three realms and save suffering sentient beings amid the five turbidities and three wretched destinies. Why seek rebirth in the Pure Land merely to secure one's own comfort? Abandoning sentient beings is devoid of great loving-kindness and compassion; focusing solely on self-benefit creates an obstruction to the path to bodhi." Zhiyi answered: "There are two kinds of bodhisattvas. The first are those who have practiced the bodhisattva path for a long time and attained the endurance of non-arising. They truly deserve such a charge. The second are those who have not yet reached it and below, as well as ordinary bodhisattvas who have just generated the intention. They must never leave the presence of the Buddha; only when their power of patience is perfected will they be capable of remaining within the three realms and saving suffering sentient beings in an evil world. Therefore, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* says: 'If an ordinary person bound by fetters has great compassion and vows to be born in an evil world to save suffering sentient beings, this is impossible.' Why? In an evil world, defilements are fierce, and one has no endurance power of one's own. As one's mind turns along with objects and is bound by sounds and sights, one will fall into the three wretched destinies oneself—how could one save sentient beings? Even if one manages to obtain a human rebirth, the noble path is difficult to attain. Or, due to upholding precepts and cultivating merit, one may obtain a human rebirth and become a king or minister, wealthy and noble, at ease. Yet even if such a person encounters a good spiritual friend, he will refuse to believe and trust; covetous, deluded, and dissipated, he will broadly commit various offenses. Riding upon this evil karma, once he enters the three wretched destinies he will pass through countless kalpas. When emerging from the hells, he will receive an impoverished and base body, and if he fails to meet a good spiritual friend, he will fall back into hell. Transmigrating like this up to the present day, everyone has been thus: this is called the 'path of difficult practice.' Therefore the *Vimalakīrtinirdeśa* says: 'How can one who cannot cure his own illness cure the illnesses of others?' Furthermore, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* says: 'For example, two people each have relatives drowning in water. One person, in a panic, jumps straight into the water to save them, but lacking skillful means, both drown. The other person has skillful means: he goes to fetch a boat or raft, boards it, and rescues them; all escape the disaster of drowning.' Bodhisattvas of new resolve are also like this: not having attained the power of endurance, they cannot save sentient beings. For this reason, they must always stay close to the Buddha. Only after attaining the endurance of non-arising can they save sentient beings, like one who has obtained a boat. Furthermore, the treatise says: 'For example, an infant cannot leave its parents; [if it does,] it may fall into a pit or well, or die parched for milk. It is also like a fledgling whose wings are not yet formed: it can only cling to the tree and stay close to the branch, unable to go far; only when its wings are fully developed can it fly through the sky freely and unhindered.' Ordinary persons lack power; they can only focus on recollecting Amitābha Buddha so that it develops into samādhi. Because the karma is accomplished, at the end of life with gathered mindfulness, they are certain to attain rebirth without doubt. Having seen Amitābha Buddha and realized the endurance of non-arising, they return to the three realms, riding the boat of the endurance of non-arising to save suffering sentient beings, widely performing Buddha-activities according to their will and at ease. Therefore the treatise says: 'Practitioners who sport in the hells, having been born in that land and attained the endurance of non-arising, return to the realms of birth and death to educate and transform the hells and rescue suffering sentient beings.' For this reason one seeks rebirth in the Pure Land, wishing to realize its teachings. Therefore the *Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā* names it the 'path of easy practice.'"

11.3

Chan Master Changlu Ze of Zhenzhou admonishes Chan practitioners to simultaneously cultivate the Pure Land:

11.4

Now, taking thought as thought and taking birth as birth is the error of eternalism. Taking non-thought as non-thought and taking non-arising as non-arising is the delusion of wrong views. Thought that is free of thought, birth that is free of arising—this is the supreme truth of the first principle. Therefore, on the ground of the reality-limit not a single speck of dust is admitted; thus above there are no buddhas to be recollected, and below there is no Pure Land to be born into. Within the gates of Buddha-activities not a single dharma is abandoned; thus all faculties are completely gathered. Indeed, there is the essential method of returning to the source through the samādhi of recollection of the Buddha, which demonstrates and opens the single gate of rebirth. Hence, one may recollect the Buddha all day long without departing from non-thought, and fervently attain rebirth without departing from non-arising. Thus ordinary beings and sages each abide in their own positions while stimulus and response intimately correspond; East and West do not travel back and forth, yet the spirit transfers to the pure realm. This cannot be cross-examined or disputed. Therefore the sūtra says: 'If a person hears tell of Amitābha Buddha and upholds his name... until when this person's life ends, their mind is not inverted, then they will attain rebirth in Amitābha Buddha's Land of Sukhāvatī.' Although the Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One, differentiated the two approaches of subduing and gathering in, and manifested dwelling in the two lands, pure and defiled, yet the great sage's intention was not that the Sahā realm—with its hills, mounds, pits, and hollows, the mingling of the five destinies, dirt, stones, and mountains, filled with defilement and evil—is merely to be abhorred, nor was it that the world of Sukhāvatī—with its ground of yellow gold, rows of trees piercing the sky, towers soaring with the seven treasures, and flowers blooming in four colors—is merely to be rejoiced in. It is because those who newly enter the path have not yet refined their endurance power, and must rely on pure conditions to serve as an augmenting factor. Why is this? In the Sahā realm, Śākyamuni has already passed into extinction and Maitreya has not yet been born; in the world of Sukhāvatī, Amitābha Buddha is presently expounding the Dharma. In the Sahā realm, people merely revere the fine names of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta from afar; in the world of Sukhāvatī, those two superior persons personally serve as excellent friends. In the Sahā realm, various māras compete to torment and confuse practitioners; in the world of Sukhāvatī, amid great brilliance, there are decidedly no demonic activities. In the Sahā realm, corrupt sounds are clamorous and chaotic, and female forms are seductive and alluring; in the world of Sukhāvatī, the water, birds, and groves of trees all proclaim the wondrous Dharma, and the primary fruition is pure, truly without women. Such being the case, for the completeness of conditions for cultivation, none compares to the Western direction, yet people of shallow faith groundlessly give rise to doubts and slander. Let us carefully examine this. Among the people of this land, there are none who do not loathe the noisy clamor of secular dwellings and yearn for the quiet solitude of an araṇya. Therefore, when someone leaves home and goes forth, they earnestly praise them. Yet do the many sufferings of Sahā stop merely at the noisy clamor of secular dwellings? Does the ease of Sukhāvatī stop merely at the quiet solitude of an araṇya? Knowing that leaving home is fine yet unwilling to seek rebirth—this is their first confusion. Those who labor over ten thousand miles to seek spiritual friends from afar do so in order to clarify the great matter and resolve life and death. Yet the form, mind, and deeds of Amitābha, the World-Honoured One, are supreme, and his vow power is vast and profound; once he expounds the perfect sound, there are none who do not clearly accord with it. Wishing to visit spiritual friends yet unwilling to see the Buddha—this is their second confusion. In the great assemblies of monastic groves, all are glad to lodge, while they do not wish to rely upon sanctuaries with few people. Yet in the world of Sukhāvatī, those bound to one last birth are exceedingly numerous, and all superior good persons gather in one place. Wishing to draw near to monastic groves yet not yearning for the assembly of the pure ocean—this is their third confusion. People of this land have a maximum lifespan not exceeding a hundred years, and childhood ignorance, senility, and illness follow one after another, while stupor and sleep usually occupy more than half of it. Bodhisattvas are still confused by the barrier of the womb, and śrāvakas are still blinded upon leaving the womb; thus out of the great jade and the short moments, nine out of ten are lost, and without having attained non-retrogression, it may truly chill the heart. The people of the Western direction have immeasurable lifespans; once they rely on the lotus calyx, there is no further suffering of death, continuing without interruption straight to bodhi. Hence they immediately obtain avaivartika, and the stage of buddhahood can be definitively anticipated. Transmigrating through Sahā's fleeting span yet being ignorant of the longevity of the Pure Land—this is their fourth confusion. Now, only when one's position is established in non-retrogression and one's fruit verifies non-arising, being without desire in desire and undefiled while dwelling in defilement, can one arouse compassion without conditions, exercise compassion of identical substance, re-enter the toil of worldly defilements, and harmonize one's light with the five turbidities. There are those of shallow learning and meager wisdom, or who resonate with a little bit of goodness, who immediately claim to have forever escaped the four currents and soared high above the ten stages. Slandering the Pure Land and clinging to Sahā, they close their eyes and return empty-handed, drifting aimlessly as before, shoulder-to-shoulder with oxen and horses, following close on the heels of the denizens of Niraya. Not knowing what kind of persons they are themselves, they imitate these bodhisattvas of great skillful adaptation—this is their fifth confusion. Therefore the sūtra says: 'You should make vows to be born in that land.' To disbelieve the sincere words of all the buddhas and be unwilling to be born in the Pure Land—is this not utter delusion? If, on the other hand, one believes the Buddha's words and is born in the Pure Land, then the fetters of worldly entanglements cannot bind one, and kalpa-destructions cannot harm one; one leaves behind the eight sufferings of the human world, and is free of the five signs of decay of the heavens. Even the names of the evil destinies do not exist, much less their reality! Only the Dharma of the One Vehicle is revealed, definitively without three. Taking refuge in the three jewels of identical essence, serving the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, the Buddha's light illuminates one's body and the myriad delusions secretly vanish; the flavor of the Dharma nourishes the spirit, and the six supernormal powers are fully endowed. The thirty-seven factors of awakening are completely perfected at a thought; the thirty-two response bodies accord with each kind and pervade the dust-mote lands. Revolving through the five destinies to shelter all capacities universally, without moving the single mind one universally practices all samādhis, sprinkling the water of meditative concentration over the trichiliocosm and leading sentient beings out of the burning house: both benefiting oneself and benefiting others are fully perfected. Thus the mind-only Pure Land and the Amitābha of original nature are indeed the essential gateway to liberation and the shortcut of practice. Therefore, the Mahāyāna of definitive meaning without exception points to the Pure Land as its culmination, and former worthies and later sages, for themselves and for others, all vow to be born there. This is all because in wishing to save others, one must first save oneself. Alas! If a person does not have distant foresight, they will surely have immediate worries. Once one loses this body, there will be deep regret for ten thousand kalpas. Therefore, I lead the great ocean-like assembly, each to recite Amitābha Buddha a hundred times, a thousand times, or even ten thousand times, dedicating the merits together in common fellowship, vowing to be born in that land. We earnestly hope that in the superior assembly of the lotus pond and the brilliant Dharma of the golden ground, supporting each other, this vow will certainly be fulfilled. Steering a boat downstream with the added effort of oars and sculls, one will effortlessly arrive at the journey of a hundred thousand [li]."

11.5

In the winter of the fourth year of Yuanyou, Zongze dreamed at night of a man with a black kerchief and white robes, about thirty years old, of clear and handsome countenance and leisurely, elegant deportment. Bowing, he said to Zongze: "I wish to enter your Amitābha Society; please record my name." Zongze then took the Register of the Superior Assembly of the Lotus, held the brush, and asked: "What is your name, sir?" He replied: "Puhui." When Zongze had finished writing, the white-robed one said further: "My elder brother also requests to have his name inscribed." Zongze asked: "What is your elder brother's name?" He replied: "Puxian." Having spoken, he disappeared. Zongze awoke and asked the senior elders, who all said: "In the 'Chapter on Transcending the World' of the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra*, these are the names of two great bodhisattvas." Zongze considered that when a son of the Buddha performs Buddha-activities to assist the Buddha in propagating the transformation, there must be hidden assistance from the worthy and holy. Such being the case, can those participating in this society be of trifling karmic affinity? Now he thereby made the two great bodhisattvas the heads of this society.

11.6

Chan Master Yongming Shou of Hangzhou cautions those without realization not to slight the Pure Land:

11.7

A hypothetical question is asked: "Merely by seeing the nature and awakening to the Way, one transcends birth and death. What need is there to bind one's mindfulness to that Buddha and seek rebirth in another realm?" The answer says: "True practitioners should examine themselves; like a person drinking water, they know for themselves whether it is cold or warm. A clear mirror is set forth here to shatter many delusions. Worthy ones, you should look at your own practice and understanding: in seeing the nature and awakening to the Way, receiving the Tathāgata's prediction, and inheriting the position of the patriarchs, can you match Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna? In obtaining unimpeded eloquence and realizing the Lotus Samādhi, can you match Tiantai Zhiyi? In mastering both doctrine and realization, cultivating both practice and understanding, can you match National Teacher Zhong? All these great masters clearly handed down verbal teachings deeply urging rebirth; this was surely benefiting oneself and benefiting others—how could they be willing to mislead others and mislead themselves? Furthermore, the Great Hero praised it, and his golden mouth repeatedly enjoined it. We hope you will respectfully receive the Buddha's command following the ancient worthies, and you will certainly not be in error. Moreover, the deeds of ancient and modern eminent gentlemen recorded in the *Biographies of Rebirth* are conspicuously evident in more than one case; you should diligently read and examine them to illuminate and understand yourself. Furthermore, you should assess yourself: at the end of life, in birth and death, departing or staying, will you certainly attain freedom? Are you certain that the heavy obstructions of evil karma from beginningless time will not manifest before you? Are you certain that this one retribution body will escape transmigration? In journeying among the three wretched destinies and different species, will you come and go freely and certainly be free of suffering and distress? Will you lodge at will in the heavens, the human realm, or the worlds of the ten directions, certainly without hindrance? If you have clear, full confidence in this, what could be better! But if not, do not let momentary pride result instead in sinking into delusion for eternal kalpas. Losing this beneficial advantage by your own fault, whom else will you blame? Alas, how lamentable! What good will lamentation do then?"

11.8

The words of Chan Master [Cijue] Ze above are found in the Chan master's *Collection of Exhortations*. The words of Great Master Zhizhe and Chan Master [Yongming Yan]shou are found in Vice Minister Wang Minzhong's *Collection Resolving Doubts and Pointing Directly to the Pure Land*, from the Song dynasty. The Vice Minister's given name was Gu. Among the gentry, he was recognized as a transcendent. The Realized Person Zhongli [Quan] once gave him a poem, saying: / 'The wind-blown lamp, the water's foam—each to each we grieve; / Unwilling to abandon worldly glory, how can one preserve oneself? / Seize boldly the pearl hidden beneath the jaw; / Since the Way is within your own body, whom else would you seek? / With your lofty talent you are truly suited to the bones of a transcendent; / Your luminous wisdom shines like the great precious tortoise. / For half of these blue mountains there is nowhere to buy; / I make a pact with you to walk hand in hand and discourse upon the Inaudible and Invisible.' / Viewed from this, one can see that the Vice Minister was no ordinary man; moreover, one knows all the more that the Western Pure Land is truly where one should turn one's heart.

11.9

Essay Exhorting the Cultivation of the Pure Land, by Grand Councillor Zheng Qingzhi

11.10

People all say that cultivating the Pure Land is not equal to Chan, the Teachings, or the Vinaya. I alone say that among the teachings of Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya, none compares to cultivating the Pure Land. Now, true purity, wondrous brightness, empty penetration, and spiritual responsiveness—whether wise or foolish, all possess this nature. Yet the sense faculties, sense objects, and illusory realms drown one another, and cyclic existence in birth and death continues without interruption for endless kalpas. Therefore, the Shakya clan provisionally established expedient means through Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya, enabling practitioners to enter through these gateways and all attain transcendent awakening. Only Amitāyus Buddha singled out a unique gateway, called cultivating the Pure Land. Like a single prescription curing an illness, it is simple, essential, and direct: with concentration in a single thought, one immediately reaches the other shore. Monastics and laypeople alike may practice it without distinction. People merely take it as a shallow and accessible teaching meant to convert the ignorant and vulgar, whereas in fact it is the direct shortcut to accomplishing the Buddha Path. Students today do not go beyond Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya. When it comes to ultimate perfect immediacy, nothing compares to Chan; yet unless one is of sharp faculties and superior capacity who grasps it spiritually and comprehends it intuitively, one cannot avoid falling into the fault of inert emptiness. When it comes to investigating the three vehicles, nothing compares to the Teachings; yet unless one catches the fish and forgets the trap, seeing the moon by way of the pointing finger, one cannot avoid the malady of boring into ancient papers. When it comes to protecting the good and blocking evil, nothing compares to the Vinaya; yet unless body and mind are pure and outer and inner are as one, one cannot avoid the suffering of binding oneself. Looking at them comprehensively, when we consider their points of entry, they are Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya; when we summarize their ultimate destination, they are morality, concentration, and wisdom. For those who attain morality, concentration, and wisdom without going through Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya, is it not solely through the one gateway of the Pure Land? When one is reciting the Buddha's name, chanting with the mouth and contemplating with the mind, not committing any evils—is this not morality? Fixing the mind on the pure realm so that illusory dusts are all extinguished—is this not concentration? When reciting is truly non-reciting and the mind's flower is clear and serene—is this not wisdom? If a person can set aside the myriad worries and single-mindedly focus on the West, then without administering the stick and shout, they awaken to the mechanism of perfect immediacy; without reading through the Buddhist canon, they attain the eye of the correct Dharma; and without maintaining the four deportments, they attain great mastery. Neither defiled nor pure, neither bound nor liberated—at such a time, what is morality, concentration, and wisdom? What is Chan, the Teachings, and the Vinaya? My mind and the Buddha's mind are not different in the slightest; this is the ultimate point of cultivating the Pure Land. Why should one ever doubt the waters of eight virtues and the dais of the golden lotus flower? The effort of compiling this essential pivot of the Pure Land is truly diligent.

11.11

Record of a Dream, by Mr. Li of Luling

11.12

In the guisi year of Qiandao, my family was infected with an epidemic illness. On the fifth day of the fourth month, I, Yanbi, also fell ill and could not take congee or medicine. By the morning of the nineteenth day, I dreamed of a person in coarse brown clothing with a serene and emaciated appearance, who stroked my limbs with his hand and called out to me, ordering me to rise quickly. Startled, I asked, 'Who are you, sir?' He replied, 'I am Longshu.' I then told him of my illness: though I wished to support myself, I could not; how could my illness be cured? The gentleman said, 'Do you remember the shortcut I elegantly taught you in the provincial administration office?' I said, 'Yes, I constantly recite Amitābha Buddha every day without ceasing.' The gentleman said, 'If you get up and eat plain congee, you will be fine.' Upon awakening, I asked for congee and ate it, and my illness was indeed cured accordingly. Later, I saw a portrait of Longshu; he looked exactly like the one seen in my dream. I had long heard that the layman was thoroughly versed in the Six Arts and especially refined in the *Book of Changes*, tireless in instructing others, so that students gathered like spokes at a hub wherever he went. Gentleman Xie hosted him at the Hall of Quiet Ease, and the shoes outside the door were constantly packed. On the eleventh day of the first month, I sent my sons and nephews to receive his teachings. Before long they returned, saying: 'Last night, after the layman finished lecturing on the scriptures, he recited and bowed to the Buddha as usual until the third watch. Suddenly, he called out the name of Amitābha Buddha several times in a loud voice, saying, "The Buddha has come to receive me." Having spoken these words, he passed away standing.' That night, people of the commandery dreamed of two youths in blue garments leading the gentleman westward. This was reported as a wondrous marvel; both acquaintances and strangers all came to gaze in reverence, lamenting that they had not been able to converse with him intimately and mourning his passing deeply. Three days before the layman manifested extinction, he universally exhorted everyone to strive forward in the work of the Way, uttering words to the effect that they would not see him again. On the tenth day, he visited Secretariat Official Zhao to borrow a pure room, saying: 'When the work of the Way is settled, the time of departure will be fine.' He then wrote down his daily recitations, amounting to a cumulative total of 9,200,500, and posted it on the wall. Ah! Were it not for one whose root nature is completely luminous and who has thoroughly penetrated the principle of birth and death, it would not be easy to attain this! I was once close to death from illness; the coffin, grave clothes, and coverlet had already been laid out before me. Benefiting from the layman's unseen supreme assistance and reception, I thereupon recovered and was healed; he can truly be called one who gave life to my bones and flesh. Someone said, 'Dreams are formed from thoughts.' Yet how could the effect of eating plain congee be false? One must know that the layman's compassionate vows are exceedingly deep and earnestly seek to reach others; even while residing in the Ever Silent Light, he does not abandon his power of mindfulness. For these causes and conditions of exhorting the cultivation of the Pure Land to become a Buddha, how could one not strive and advance? I have reverently carved the gentleman's portrait and recorded the traces of this resonant response to broaden its dissemination, not daring to use decorative words to delude the ears and eyes [of others]. Therefore, I record it directly and set it down in full, humbly hoping that those who see and hear it will revere and believe it, and share in the benefit. The brilliant illumination of the Prince-Spirits truly bears witness to these words. The gentleman's surname was Wang, his given name was Rixiu, his courtesy name was Xuzhong, and his style was Layman Longshu. Reverently recorded on the Lower Primordial Festival of this year by Li Yanbi of Luling.

11.13

Colophon by Nie Yundi of Xujiang

11.14

The layman throughout his life earnestly exhorted people with the teachings of the Pure Land, and once resided for a time in my home region. At that time, I, Yundi, was just in my twenties; I happened to be traveling east for the civil examinations and did not yet know of the Buddha Dharma, so I was not able to meet him in person. When I reached the age of thirty, disasters and misfortunes befell me in succession, and I profoundly felt that human life sinks into the great ocean of the suffering of afflictions without any shore in sight. Thereupon, I single-mindedly adopted the layman's teachings as a scheme for transcendence and liberation. After only two or three years of this, the layman passed away standing in Luling Commandery, and the people of the commandery all painted portraits to serve him. This was in the first month of the guisi year of Qiandao. Five years later, in the dingyou year, my late elder brother, the prefectural governor and Ministry of War official, was commissioned to conduct examinations in Luling and obtained the carved edition, which he brought back. I, Yundi, feared that this extraordinary matter would be lost over time with no way to transmit it far and wide; so I carved it on stone and placed it in the Amitābha Hall of Bao'en Temple north of the city. Now, having vowed to donate ten thousand copies of the *Pure Land Writings* authored by the layman, I have furthermore appended the layman's compassionate likeness and the panegyrics from Grand Councillor Duke Zhou Yiguo on down to the beginning of the fascicles, all following the Luling carved edition. May those who see and hear it increase their faithful mind, exert themselves, and make energetic progress, so that the Western Pure Land will truly not be difficult to reach. Reverently appended with palms joined and head bowed by Nie Yundi of Xujiang, Court Gentleman for Culture, newly appointed Superintendent of the Military Granary of the Ministry of Revenue in Xiangyang Prefecture under the Huguang General Directorate, in the guihai year of Jiatai.

11.15

In the past, I, Yundi, often saw initial-stage practitioners of Chan who only knew to revere the Chan lineage; when it came to speaking of the Western Pure Land, they labeled it as clinging to forms and forcefully rejected it. Little did they know that Śākyamuni Tathāgata appeared in the world for the sake of the one great cause—which is simply to cause sentient beings to awaken to birth and death and break free from the painful destinies of cyclic existence. The single method of practicing Chan was indeed established for awakening to birth and death, but the single method of cultivating the Pure Land is also to cause sentient beings to awaken to birth and death. If one has an awakening in practicing Chan, then one awakens to birth and death in this present life; if one attains rebirth in the Pure Land, then one awakens to birth and death after seeing Amitābha Buddha. Moreover, one immediately realizes the forbearance of non-arising and abides in the stage of non-retrogression, continuing straight until becoming a Buddha and only then concluding. Why must initial-stage practitioners of learning choose only the single method of the Chan school while forcefully rejecting the teachings of the Pure Land? Great spiritual friends have never failed to exhort people with this. Now I have briefly gathered two or three discourses and appended them to the end of *Longshu's Pure Land Writings* to clarify this.

11.16

Colophon by the Person of Siming Who Has Severed the Buddha-Seed

11.17

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.

11.18

Colophon by the Person of Siming Who Has Severed the Buddha-Seed, on an auspicious day in midsummer of the guiyou year of Hongwu.

11.19

Longshu's Expanded Pure Land Writings, Fascicle Eleven (End)

Linked texts (1)

龍舒增廣淨土文 — Classical Chinese