淨土或問 1.23

1.23

Question: That reaching it is extremely difficult if one does not cultivate pure karma is true indeed. Why, then, was it mentioned earlier that ordinary persons guilty of the rebellious offenses and evils are also reborn at the end of life? I have not heard the full details of this and still have doubts; please explain in detail to resolve them. Answer: The Contemplation Sūtra says: "Regarding those of the lowest level of the lowest grade: there may be sentient beings who commit unwholesome karma, the five rebellious offenses, and the ten evil acts, being complete in all unwholesome deeds. Because of their evil karma, such foolish persons should fall into evil destinies to undergo unending suffering through many kalpas. When such a foolish person approaches the end of life, he meets a kalyāṇamitra who comforts him in various ways, expounds the wondrous Dharma for him, and teaches him to practice buddhānusmṛti. Pressed by suffering, this person has no time to practice buddhānusmṛti. The good friend tells him: 'If you cannot contemplate, you should invoke the name of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life.' Thus, with an utmost mind and an uninterrupted voice, he fully completes ten recitations invoking 'Namo Amitābha Buddha.' Because he invokes the Buddha's name, in every recitation the sins of birth and death of eighty billion kalpas are eliminated. At the time of his death, he sees a golden lotus flower resembling the disc of the sun appearing before him, and as in the space of a single thought, he attains rebirth in the world of Sukhāvatī. Inside the lotus flower, only after twelve great kalpas have elapsed does the lotus flower open. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, with voices of great compassion, broadly expound for him the true nature of all phenomena and the Dharma for extinguishing sins. Having heard this, he rejoices and immediately gives rise to the bodhicitta." These are the details. Although he dwells within the lotus flower for twelve kalpas, his enjoyment and bliss are like those of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. Therefore, the ancients said: "The bliss within the flower is like that of the Trāyastriṃśa, not to be compared with the parental womb in the human world." Regarding how those guilty of rebellious offenses and evils attain rebirth, the Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra states: "Because buddhānusmṛti eliminates and extinguishes sinful obstacles, buddhānusmṛti itself serves as the supreme condition." When I examine the meaning of the sūtra in detail, it is precisely that sins are eliminated through buddhānusmṛti and one is reborn. However, if we examine and clarify it in light of the commentaries and treatises, there are three meanings. First, someone may ask: How can the mental power of a brief moment overcome a lifetime of committing evil? I reply: Although the mind lasts only a brief moment, its power is fierce and acute. This mind is valiant and resolute, and is called the "great mind." Because the abandonment of the body is an urgent matter, it is like a man entering battle who does not begrudge body or life, and is called a stout fellow. Second, although this person committed evil, he may have cultivated samādhi in the present life; thus at the end of life, when urged to be mindful of the Buddha, a concentrated mind is easily achieved—he is also a person who was "urgent with respect to the vehicle, yet lax with respect to the precepts." Even if he did not cultivate samādhi in the present life, it is past seeds ripening now; because his past wholesome karma was strong, at the end of life he is able to meet a kalyāṇamitra and the efficacy of ten recitations is accomplished. Third, if it is neither past seeds nor present cultivation, then when he invokes the Buddha, he must experience profound repentance. Therefore, Yongming said: "Wholesomeness and unwholesomeness are not fixed; the essence of causes and conditions is empty. Traces show rising and sinking; matters are distinguished as superior and inferior. An ounce of true gold surpasses a hundred ounces of stacked cotton; the faint glow of a torch can burn a mound of grass ten thousand yards high."