龍舒增廣淨土文 4.38

4.38

The Buddha asked Ānanda: "Do you wish to see a person bound for hell?" Ānanda said: "I wish to see him." The Buddha said: "One whose body commits evil, whose mouth speaks evil, and whose mind thinks evil—this is a person bound for hell." This means that the good and evil of human life are nothing more than the three karmas of body, speech, and mind. Now, if all three karmas are evil, this is purely black karma, which is why one enters hell. If all three karmas are good, then it is purely white karma, and one is born in the heavens. If among the three karmas one karma is good, then it is mixed karma, and one also does not enter hell. Therefore, even if body and mind are evil, if the mouth recites the Buddha's name, this is still one good karma, far superior to all three karmas being evil. How much more so if, while the mouth recites the Buddha's name, the mind can also visualize the Buddha's image—then the mental karma is good; and if one uprights the body and holds the counting beads in hand, then the physical karma is good. If one is constantly able to make these three karmas good so as to cultivate the Pure Land, one is certain to be born in the highest grade. I once heard a shrimp vendor in Zhenjiang cry out 'Shrimp!' once, and I knew that all three of his karmas were evil. Why? Carrying the shrimp baskets on his body made his physical karma evil; desiring to sell shrimp in his mind made his mental karma evil; calling out to sell shrimp with his mouth made his verbal karma evil. From this it is known that with a single cry of 'Shrimp!', all three karmas were evil; this is what the Buddha called a person bound for hell. Looking at it this way, there are many so-called persons bound for hell right before our eyes; can this not be feared? Sentient beings, through ignorance, do not understand cause and effect and fall into transgressive evil, which is deeply pitiable. Guiding and transforming them by explaining this teaching is called the gift of Dharma. The gift of Dharma is the greatest of givings; how could its blessed retribution be easily measured? Someone may ask: 'When a person unremittingly recites the Buddha's name, it is just like calling out to a person; if one calls out to him unremittingly, that person is bound to become angry. Therefore, unremittingly reciting the Buddha's name is not yet sufficient to be good.' This is not so! From beginningless time, the verbal karma and verbal transgressions of sentient beings have accumulated like mountains and oceans; even with frequent recitation of the Buddha's name to wash them away, one still fears it is not enough. How could this be compared to calling an ordinary person's name? Furthermore, the Buddhas themselves opened this Dharma gate of recitation in order to encourage and guide sentient beings to make their verbal karma good, so as to gradually refine their body and mind. Therefore, the claim that unremitting recitation of the Buddha's name is not yet sufficient to be good is the talk of worldly folk, not the words by which the Buddhas guide sentient beings, and is not worth adopting.