淨土或問 1.27

1.27

Question: "My words were indeed mistaken—a team of four horses cannot overtake the tongue. Hearing your instruction, who would not feel a chill down the spine? Yet human minds easily advance and easily retreat: upon hearing an admonition, one is vigorous and diligent, but as soon as an obstacle appears before one's eyes, one changes one's mind and seeks other expedients. Everyone says that pure karma is only an affair after death and of no benefit in the present. From this, body and mind simultaneously let go and retreat; is it any wonder that this should be so?"

Answer: "Your view is not broad. Have you not seen what is stated in the sūtras: those who uphold the Buddha's name will obtain ten kinds of excellent benefits in the present life?
First, day and night they are constantly guarded invisibly by all devas, mighty spirit-generals, and retinue as numerous as the sands of the Ganges;
Second, they are constantly accompanied and protected by the twenty-five great bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara and all other bodhisattvas;
Third, they are constantly protected and remembered by the buddhas day and night, and Amitābha constantly emits light to gather them in;
Fourth, all evil ghosts, whether yakṣas or rākṣasas, cannot harm them, and all poisonous snakes, poisonous dragons, and poisons cannot affect them;
Fifth, disasters of fire and water, enmity, bandits, knives and arrows, imprisonment, cangues and chains, untimely death, and violent ends are not suffered by them;
Sixth, previously created karma is entirely eliminated, and the grievances of those one has killed receive liberation so that there is no further confrontation;
Seventh, dreams at night are upright, or one may dream of the supreme, wondrous physical form of Amitābha;
Eighth, the mind is constantly joyful, the facial complexion lustrous, vigor and strength abundant, and whatever one does turns out auspicious;
Ninth, one is constantly revered, offered to, joyfully bowed down to by all people of the world, just as they revere a buddha;
Tenth, at the end of life, the mind is free of fear, right mindfulness appears before one, and one sees Amitābha and the assemblies of sages holding golden lotus flowers to guide and receive one for rebirth; in the Western Pure Land, throughout all future kalpas, one enjoys supreme and wondrous delight.

The ten benefits mentioned above are fully recorded in the sūtra texts, proclaimed by the mouth of the Buddha himself. Since there are benefits in both this present life and the life to come, among all mundane and supramundane gates of Dharma, none is more essential than buddhānusmṛti. You should simply advance with diligence and have no doubts."