龍舒增廣淨土文 6.46

6.46

Cultivating various kinds of merit is certainly good, yet the retribution of worldly merit has an end, because it does not transcend saṃsāra. If one dedicates it toward the West, one goes directly beyond saṃsāra; how could its retribution ever come to an end? The reason I specially offer this exhortation is that half of the people are illiterate and rely entirely on those who cultivate merit to make the bodhisattva mind their own mind and explain it to them, like a lamp to those in darkness or a path to those who are lost. If by means of this Dharma door one widely practices giving, causing everyone to know it and everyone to be liberated from saṃsāra, the retribution of that merit will be endless for myriad myriads of kalpas, and in Sukhāvatī one will surely be born in the highest grade; how could worldly meritorious retribution compare to this?