淨土或問 1.22

1.22

Question: The doctrine of rebirth is clear in its purport. Yet practitioners today cannot understand it, and thousands upon tens of thousands doubt, saying: "Sukhāvatī is far away, separated by a hundred billion lands; at the end of life, I fear it will be difficult to reach." What method can be used to make them understand? Answer: This is laughable. After explaining so much that there is no land outside the mind and no mind outside the land, they come to this point and still say they do not understand! This is due to nothing else than sentient beings mistakenly believing their own minds to be within the square-inch space of their physical bodies, unaware that their own mind-measure is originally vast. Have you not heard the verse praising the Buddha: "The mind encompasses the great void; its measure pervades worlds [as numerous as] sands"? Furthermore, the empty space of the ten directions is boundless and infinite, yet it is entirely encompassed by my mind-measure. The worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are immeasurable and countless, yet my mind-measure pervades each and every one. Viewed in this way, the hundred billion lands are within my mind; they are actually very close—what distance is there? When one is reborn at the end of life, one is reborn within one's own mind; it is actually very easy—what difficulty is there? Have you not seen the Treatises on Ten Doubts, which says: "A hundred billion kṣetras is spoken merely with respect to the fleshly eyes of ordinary persons and the mental measure of birth and death. If only a sentient being's pure karma is fulfilled, the mind in absorption at the end of life is itself the mind that receives birth in the Pure Land; the stirring of a thought is itself the time of rebirth in the Pure Land." For this reason, the Contemplation Sūtra says: "The realm of Amitābha Buddha is not far from here." Moreover, the power of karma is inconceivable; in a single thought one is reborn, so there is no need to worry about distance. Again, it is like a dreaming person whose body is on the bed, while his mental consciousness goes everywhere to other places. Rebirth in the Pure Land is also like this; there is no need to doubt. A sūtra says: "In the snap of a finger, one attains rebirth." It also says: "In the time it takes to bend or extend an arm." It also says: "In an instant." Therefore, the Record of Cultivating Faith says: "Reaching a hundred billion kṣetras in an instant is simply because one's own mind is inherently wondrous." These layers of metaphors merely state that being reborn within one's own vast mind is extremely close and extremely easy. Now let me put aside the vast mind-measure for a moment, and give an analogy based solely on the square-inch space within your physical body. Suppose that from here to Western India is a journey of more than a hundred thousand li, passing through many lands along the way. There is a man who has never been there in person, but once heard another person describe it, and kept it in mind. Later, whether sitting or lying down, a single thought suddenly stirs in him of that land: thinking of a thousand li, he is immediately at a thousand li; thinking of ten thousand li, he is immediately at ten thousand li; thinking of India, he is immediately in India. By this comparison, rebirth in the Pure Land is the very same principle. Is it not reached in the snap of a finger, in a single thought? What difficulty could there be in reaching it? If you do not cultivate pure karma, reaching it will be extremely difficult; but if your pure karma is accomplished, reaching it will be extremely easy. Only resolve to be truly willing, and you will never be led astray.