廬山蓮宗寶鑑 1.77

1.77

夫學佛初門，大悲是菩薩正轍；利他要行，勸進乃淨業勝曰。晉社群賢願祈生於安養、十方海眾忻出離於娑婆，痛嗟生死之難逃、堪嘆無常之期速，可不景行前哲、導彼後昆哉？勸一人二人以至多人，是佛門之法施；念一佛二佛以至萬佛，趣樂土之玄猷。日課千聲佛名，積月至年則有三十六萬聲佛。積而不迨，亦幾於佛地乎。日行小善一事，積月至年則有三百六十善事，積而不迨，亦幾於君子乎。為愚為小人而不通懺悔同禽獸者，良由不學，亦無勸進之人也。經言：若人以四天下七寶供養佛，及菩薩緣覺聲聞得福甚多，不如勸人念佛一聲其福勝彼。此世尊之勸進也。語云「己欲立而立人，己欲達而達人。」此仲尼之勸進也。勉爾同盟熏陶淨行。或正月五月九月為一集，或半年一年三年為一期，深植善根普皆迴向，常為道侶更互相資。一人退惰則協力提携，一人捨凡則遞相照顧，雖不能弘教利物，亦可以溫故知新。豈不見施人一錢人稱受惠，益人一語彼豈無知？財施則濟一世之貧，食施則濟一日之命，法施則令人出世，其功德詎可比倫？財施如燈，止明一室；法施如日，遍照大千。悋法而不勸修，累劫沈於黑獄；推己而行化導，現生則是阿彌。敢冀運慈遞相勸發，以斯悲願結此淨緣，拔滯溺之沈流，出輪迴之捷徑，齊登樂土圖報佛恩，可謂未度者令度矣。

Now, as the initial gate for studying Buddhism, great compassion is the proper track of the bodhisattva; as the essential practice for benefiting others, encouraging and inspiring is the supreme day of pure karma. The worthy assembly of the Jin-dynasty society prayed for birth in Sukhāvatī; the ocean-like multitudes of the ten directions joyfully seek transcendence from the Sahā world. Painfully lamenting the difficulty of escaping birth and death, and truly sighing at the swift arrival of impermanence, how could one not emulate the noble conduct of former sages and guide those who follow after? To encourage one person, two persons, or even many persons is the Dharma-giving of the Buddhist gate; to be mindful of one buddha, two buddhas, or even ten thousand buddhas is the profound design for proceeding to the Land of Joy. If one undertakes a daily quota of a thousand recitations of the buddha's name, accumulating them from months to a year, there will be 360,000 recitations of the buddha. If one accumulates them without slacking, does this not approach the buddha-stage? If one performs one small good deed a day, accumulating them from months to a year, there will be 360 good deeds; if one accumulates them without slacking, does this not approach the exemplary person? Those who are foolish and petty, who lack repentance and are no different from beasts, are truly so because they do not study and have no one to encourage and inspire them. A sūtra says: 'If someone were to offer the seven treasures of the four continents to the buddhas, bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, and śrāvakas, they would obtain great merit; yet this is not equal to encouraging someone to utter a single recitation of the buddha's name, whose merit surpasses that.' This is the World-Honoured One's encouragement and inspiration. An adage says: 'Desiring to establish oneself, one establishes others; desiring to advance oneself, one advances others.' This is Confucius's encouragement and inspiration. Exert yourselves, companions of the covenant, to perfume and cultivate pure practices. Gather either in the first, fifth, and ninth months as one assembly, or in half a year, one year, or three years as one period; plant deep good roots and dedicate them universally, constantly acting as companions on the Path to support each other mutually. When one person falls back into indolence, join forces to guide and uphold them; when one person casts off the ordinary, look after one another in turn. Even if you cannot broadly propagate the teaching to benefit sentient beings, you can still review the old to understand the new. Do you not see that when one gives a person a single coin, they acknowledge receiving kindness; if one benefits a person with a single word, how could they be unaware of it? The gift of material goods relieves the poverty of a single lifetime; the gift of food preserves life for a single day; but the gift of the Dharma enables one to transcend the world—how could its merit be compared? The gift of material goods is like a lamp that illuminates only a single room; the gift of the Dharma is like the sun that shines everywhere throughout the trichiliocosm. If one is stingy with the Dharma and does not encourage cultivation, one will sink into the dark hells for cumulative kalpas; if one extends oneself to guide and convert, in this very life one is an Amitābha. We dare to hope that you will exercise compassion to encourage and inspire one another in turn, and through these compassionate vows bind this pure affinity, pulling out those stuck and submerged in the sinking current, treading the shortcut out of saṃsāra, and ascending together to the Land of Joy to repay the Buddha's kindness. This may indeed be called 'causing those not yet liberated to attain liberation.'