淨土或問 1.7

1.7

天如老人方宴默於臥雲之室，有客排闥而入者，禪上人也。因命之坐。坐久，夕陽在窓，篆煙將滅。客乃整衣起立，從容而問曰：竊聞永明壽和尚稟單傳之學於天台韶國師，是為法眼的孫，匡徒於杭之淨慈，座下常數千指，其機辯才智雷厲風飛，海內禪林推之為大宗匠。柰何說禪之外，自修淨土之業，而且以教人，復撰《揀示西方》等文廣傳于世，及作四料揀偈，其略曰「有禪無淨土，十人九蹉路。無禪有淨土，萬修萬人去。」看他此等語言主張淨土，壁立萬仞無少寬容，無乃自屈其禪而過讚淨土耶？此疑非小，師其為我辯之。答曰：大哉問也。當知永明非過讚也，深有功於宗教者也。惜永明但舉其綱，而發明未盡，故未能盡遣禪者之疑也。余忝學禪，未諳淨土，然亦甞涉獵淨土諸書，稍知其概。本是易行易入之方，亦是難說難信之法，所以釋迦慈父現在世時，為諸弟子說《彌陀經》，預知末法眾生少能信向，故引六方諸佛出廣長舌說誠實言，以起其信、以破其疑。及於經末，因諸佛所讚，乃復自言：「當知我於五濁惡世行此難事，為一切世間說此難信之法，是為甚難。」此皆苦口丁寧勸人信向矣。且大悲世尊垂救末劫，凡金口所宣一偈一句，而人非人等莫不信受奉行。獨於淨土之說，則間有疑者，何哉？良由淨土教門至廣至大，淨土修法至簡至易，以其廣大而簡易故，聞者不能不疑焉。所謂廣大者，一切機根攝收都盡，上而至於等覺位中一生補處菩薩亦生淨土，下而至於愚夫愚婦與夫五逆十惡無知之徒，臨終但能念佛悔過、歸心淨土者，悉得往生也。所謂簡易者，初無艱難勞苦之行，又無迷誤差別之緣，但持阿彌陀佛四字名號，由此得離娑婆、得生極樂，得不退轉直至成佛而後已也。其廣大既如彼、其簡易又如此、故雖智者亦不能無疑焉。汝如知此、則知永明之讚深有意焉、而非過也。

When Elder Tianru was meditating in quiet repose in his Chamber of Resting Clouds, a guest pushed open the door and entered—it was a Chan elder. The Master therefore bade him sit. After they had sat for a long while, the setting sun was at the window and the incense smoke was nearly exhausted. The guest then adjusted his robes, stood up, and leisurely asked: "I have heard that the venerable Yongming Yanshou received the teaching of the single transmission from National Teacher Tiantai Deshao, being the Dharma-grandson of Fayan. He guided disciples at Jingci Monastery in Hangzhou, where several thousand were always seated beneath his seat; his responsive eloquence and talent were swift as thunder and flying as wind, and the Chan forests across the land praised him as a great master. Why is it that, apart from expounding Chan, he cultivated the practice of the Pure Land himself and moreover taught it to others, additionally writing such texts as Pointing to the West to circulate widely in the world, and composing the verses of the Fourfold Selection, which say in brief: 'With Chan but no Pure Land, nine out of ten will go astray. Without Chan but with the Pure Land, ten thousand who cultivate it, ten thousand go'? Seeing how he advocates the Pure Land with such words, standing steep as a myriad-fathom cliff without the slightest indulgence, did he not bend his own Chan and excessively praise the Pure Land? This doubt is no small matter; would the Master please resolve it for me?" The Master replied: "A great question indeed! You should know that Yongming did not praise it excessively, but rendered profound service to both the Chan lineage and the doctrinal teachings. It is only regrettable that Yongming merely raised the main outline without fully elucidating it, and therefore was unable to completely dispel the doubts of Chan practitioners. I am unworthy in studying Chan and not well-versed in the Pure Land, yet I have dipped into the various Pure Land scriptures and know a little of their general purport. It is originally a method easy to practice and easy to enter, yet it is also a Dharma difficult to explain and difficult to believe. Therefore, when our benevolent father Śākyamuni was present in the world, expounding the Amitābha-sūtra for his disciples, knowing beforehand that few sentient beings in the latter days of the Law would be able to believe and turn toward it, he cited the Buddhas of the six directions extending their broad and long tongues to utter words of truth, in order to arouse their faith and shatter their doubts. Reaching the end of the sūtra, following the praises of the Buddhas, he then personally said: 'You should know that for me to perform this difficult task in the evil age of the five defilements, and to expound this Dharma difficult to believe for the sake of the entire world, is extremely difficult.' These are all his earnest and painstaking admonitions urging people to believe and turn toward it. Furthermore, when the World-Honoured One of Great Compassion bent down to rescue those of the final kalpa, whenever his golden mouth proclaimed a single verse or a single line, there were none among humans, non-humans, and the rest who did not believe, receive, and uphold it. Only regarding the teaching of the Pure Land are there occasional doubters. Why is this? It is truly because the doctrinal gate of the Pure Land is most vast and most grand, and the method of Pure Land practice is most simple and most easy. Because it is vast and grand yet simple and easy, those who hear it cannot help but doubt. What is called 'vast and grand' is that it gathers and embraces all capacities completely: above, reaching even to bodhisattvas in the position of equal enlightenment who are bound to one last birth, they too are reborn in the Pure Land; below, reaching to foolish men and foolish women, and even to those ignorant fellows who commit the five heinous sins and ten evil deeds, if at the time of death they can only practice buddhānusmṛti, repent their faults, and turn their minds toward the Pure Land, they will all attain rebirth. What is called 'simple and easy' is that from the outset there are no difficult or laborious practices, nor are there conditions for confusion or differentiation: merely upholding the four-character name of Amitābha Buddha, through this one is able to leave Sahā and attain rebirth in Sukhāvatī, attaining the stage of avaivartika until attaining buddhahood and only then stopping. Since its vastness is like that and its simplicity is like this, even the wise cannot be without doubt. If you understand this, you will know that Yongming's praise had profound intent and was not excessive."