廬山蓮宗寶鑑 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

1.1

Preface to the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School

The two gateways of Chan and Pure Land have set up separate camps and raised their own banners, becoming almost like rival states. Chan Master Cijue Ze made the analogy of farming fields and opening storehouses: when each follows their own inclination, both attain their wish. Yet this is merely an expedient harmonising discourse. Two things can be harmonised, but if fundamentally they are not two, why harmonise them? Now, Chan includes Tathāgata dhyāna and patriarchal dhyāna. Setting aside patriarchal dhyāna for the moment, what the Buddha called dhyāna is translated into Chinese as 'quiet contemplation', the so-called eight dhyānas and eight concentrations. As for the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, it is said: 'with one mind unconfused, gathering in all six sense faculties, with pure thoughts continuing uninterrupted.' Is this not quietude and concentration? Furthermore, practicing buddhānusmṛti is not the same as merely chanting the Buddha['s name]. Chanting is of the mouth, while anusmṛti is recollecting: like a mother recollecting her child and a child recollecting its mother—is this of the mouth or of the mind? And is the Buddha recollected made of sandalwood? Or of Jāmbūnada gold? Was he crafted by Viśvakarman? Is he the nirmāṇakāya? The saṃbhogakāya? The dharmakāya? Is he a Buddha of the past, or a Buddha of the present or future? Is the Pure Land in the West, or is the place of enlightenment right beneath one's feet every time one lifts and plants them? The Guan jing, proclaimed from the golden mouth [of the Buddha], says: 'This mind becomes Buddha; this mind is Buddha.' Therefore, contemplating the mind is precisely contemplating the Buddha, and contemplating the Buddha is precisely buddhānusmṛti. Taken to the ultimate, recollection is fundamentally non-recollection, and the Buddha is also no-Buddha; the agent of recollection is empty, and the object of recollection is also empty. Tathāgata dhyāna is patriarchal dhyāna. Thus Mahāsthāmaprāpta attained non-arising through buddhānusmṛti, while Avalokiteśvara turned hearing back toward his own nature. These two bodhisattvas seem each to have their own complete penetration, yet they abide together in Sukhāvatī, flanking Amitābha to guide sentient beings of the Eastern Lands. If one clearly grasps that Pure Land is Chan and that all the holy ones share a single standard, then the later disciples of the Śākya who split into distinct factions and schools are just like descendants in an ancestral house that originally had only a single hall, who build internal partition walls, erect fences, and plant brambles to cut off contact with one another—their delusion and confusion are extreme indeed! Someone might object: 'If the Three Holy Ones guide beings, then the Pure Land is clearly in the West. Does this not contradict the purport that one's own nature is Mind-only?' I reply: Amitābha is the Amitābha of sentient beings. Sentient beings are the sentient beings of Amitābha. Sukhāvatī is the Mind-only of Amitābha. Mind-only is the Sukhāvatī of sentient beings. Therefore, if one understands the purport of one's own nature and Mind-only, to say that Amitābha is in the West is acceptable, and to say that the entire Eastern Land is Amitābha is also acceptable; to say that the dharmakāya and saṃbhogakāya are the Buddha is acceptable, and to say that the sixteen-foot inferior nirmāṇakāya or the images made by Viśvakarman are the Buddha is also acceptable; to say that one recollected a past Buddha is acceptable, and to say that one recollected all Buddhas of the present and future is also acceptable. Why then make distinctions between Chan and Pure Land? This book, the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School, was compiled by Master Youtan of Mount Lu. It distinguishes the authentic from the spurious, traces the scent back to the root, and is truly a compass for the Pure Land. Entrusted to Dharma Master Bai of the Śūraṅgama [Monastery] to carve onto blocks and circulate, I have presumptuously written this introduction for it.

1.3

Written by Qian Shisheng, disciple of Zibo, in the Gengyu Hall of the Fangxia Hermitage.

1.4

Exhortation to Practise Pure Karma, from the Patriarchal Hall of the Good Dharma of the Lotus School at Donglin Chan Monastery, Mount Lu

1.5

Respectfully compiled by your subject, the monk Pudu.

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This single work, the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School, elucidates the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi of the Buddhas and patriarchs, and has already received colophons and endorsements from various venerable masters and good spiritual friends. Arriving in Dadu, I paid respects to the Kashmir State Duke Paṇḍita, our master and arbiter of the Buddhadharma. Receiving his dharma directive, Elder Prajñāśrī and Director of the Office of Affairs Jñānaśrī Kuoluo were instructed to personally bear the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School on the eleventh day of the tenth month in the first year of the Zhida era, during the hidden dragon period of the present Emperor at the Longfu Palace, on the first day of the Moon Sea Kesig, and present a request for an imperial order directing that blocks be carved and the work printed and circulated. In respectful obedience, the carving of the blocks has now been completed at the Monastery of the Dharma King of Immeasurable Life, funded by Chancellor Minglibuka in Dadu. The vast merit accumulated thereby is dedicated specifically to wishing the Emperor myriad blessings of holy longevity, long life for the Empress Dowager and Empress, a thousand autumns for the Crown Prince and the princes, elevated rank and stipend for the civil and military officials, the eternal stability of the imperial realm, and the shining brilliance of the sun of the Buddha, so that all who see or hear of it may together attain the Buddha path.

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Respectfully recorded by Youtan Pudu on the full moon day of the first month in the renzi year of the Huangqing era [1312 CE].

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According to what the sūtras explain, there is a world in the West named Sukhāvatī, and in that land is a Buddha named Amitābha. Lofty and vast, he surpasses the ancient emperors; without issuing commands or directives, conversion takes place naturally. The beryl pools and golden ground are untouched by a single speck of dust; the groves and waterbirds all expound suffering and emptiness. By the power of the Buddha's vows, he gathers those worldly dispositions; with a single thought of resonance, one ascends the golden terrace, and even those of the lowest grade of the low are born into the lotus blossom. The Venerable of Yanmen formed an association with distinguished persons and achieved merit in pure karma; hence the way of buddhānusmṛti was promoted and practiced in the world. Down to the present day, a thousand years later, it is called the Lotus School. Being far removed from antiquity, the transmission of the Dharma has suffered abuses: perverse paths have brought confusion, and the subtle meaning has grown obscure. For this reason, Master Youtan, riding upon the power of past vows, deeply lamented [the decline of] the authentic lineage, exerted a true mind to search out the essential teachings, arranged them systematically from beginning to end, and separated the false from the true, setting them down in ten sections titled 'Precious Mirror'. Taking it to Dadu, he consulted the Consecration State Preceptor Paṇḍita of Kashmir, who certified that it contained no superfluous clutter and was in accord with the Buddhist sūtras, whereupon it was memorialised to the throne. By imperial favour, it met with His Majesty, the Golden Wheel Emperor, whose sage wisdom penetrates Buddha-wisdom and whose Dao accords with Heaven's mind. His supreme illumination was impartial; he praised it as good and ordered that blocks be carved and printed to circulate the submitted work. An appeal was made to reinstate the teaching, and His Majesty consented, issuing an imperial decree to be carried out throughout the provinces, restoring the sun of the Buddha to shine anew in this sage era, and stirring the ancestral style to revive once more at Tiger Brook, urging diligence without remiss, inspiring icchantikas to certain faith, awakening the flowers of enlightenment to bloom in the mind-ground, and revealing the Buddha-nature present at the fundamental source, so that all may know to return to Sukhāvatī and completely receive the conversion of non-action. In his day, Master Mingjiao presented the Zhengzong lun to Emperor Renzong to quell the arguments of those who attacked Buddhism; in our day, Master Youtan offered the Precious Mirror Compendium to the Emperor to restore the White Lotus teaching. Though the eras are separated by time, their deeds correspond; their fame is equally fragrant without withering, and their merits are equally handed down without perishing.

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Prostrating with hands together, the transmission bhikṣu Xiling, Abbot of Great Mount Yang and Chan Master Dayuan Fojian, in the jiayin year of the Yanyou era.

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The nature of the mind is employed amidst worldly dust and afflictions without being submerged or drawn down by them, just as a lotus grows in mud without having its substance defiled by the mud; thus it is directly designated as the 'Lotus'. The nature of the mind penetrates the various dharmas of the three vehicles without being overwhelmed or encroached upon by them; though branches diverge from the lineage, it does not forget its origin because of the branches; thus buddhānusmṛti is taken as the 'School'. The nature of the mind is like empty space, harbouring and nourishing all existence, like the four pearls in the ocean that produce an inexhaustible treasury; thus it is titled 'Precious'. The nature of the mind is bright and pure, illuminating and discerning physical forms, like a single mirror set upon a stand capable of distinguishing the beautiful from the ugly; thus it is named 'Mirror'. Master Youtan was of the Jiang family of Danyang in Zhejiang. For generations his family had served the Buddha and accumulated goodness. Endowed with keen intelligence from birth, when he reached the age of twenty he grew weary of worldly ties, renounced secular life, and had his head shaved. He first studied under Chan Master Bao Shan Hui of Longhua, who recognised his capacity at first sight and instructed him to knock at the doors of various senior masters, polishing and refining himself until he penetrated the Mind-Pure Land and saw the Amitābha of his own nature. Deeply lamenting that the ancestral path was fading into obscurity, he compiled warnings and essentials on buddhānusmṛti, entitling it 'Precious Mirror of the Lotus School', in which every word dispels delusion and everything is orderly and well-arranged. Chan Master Dongyan Yuanying Ri of Tiantong saw it and certified it, saying: 'Excellent, excellent! Thus it is, thus it is.' Following this, he went to the capital and opened the Dharma at the Dharma King Chan Monastery. Finding agreement in Dao with the Consecration State Preceptor, he presented the Precious Mirror in a memorial to the throne, and the Golden Wheel Emperor elevated the authentic lineage, issuing an imperial jade decree. Forgetting himself for the sake of the Dharma, he serves as an exemplary mirror for future generations, guiding humans and devas, and continuing the Buddha's wisdom-life. Truly a treasure among monks, he rectified the root and harmonised the branches, gathered the multitudes and returned them to the lineage, never abandoning his compassionate vows, harmonising the absolute with the mundane, manifesting a lotus within fire, and reviving the fallen traditions of Patriarch Master Yuan of Donglin after a thousand years. How could the so-called Precious Mirror of the Lotus School of Mount Lu be merely empty words? The prefaces, colophons, praises, and reviews of senior masters, prominent figures, and grand officials are all provided at the end of the fascicles. When later practitioners of pure karma read through this compendium, they will thoroughly illuminate the purports of the Buddhas and patriarchs, propagate this path, and pass it down endlessly. How could its merit ever be measured? Preface written with repeated bows by the monk Dazhong Dehe of Mingzhi Chongsheng Chan Monastery in formerly Wu, in the first summer of the jiayin year, the first year of the Yanyou era [1314 CE].

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Preface to the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School of Mount Lu

1.12

Now, the nature of the true dharmadhātu is equal between sentient beings and buddhas, without difference and without sameness; the wondrously awakening, luminous mind blends defilement and purity, being neither one nor two. Thus, in every dust-mote is a pure land—other regions and this world are alike realms of Sukhāvatī; in every thought is Amitābha—all wriggling and fluttering sentient beings are buddhas of the dharmakāya. Yet because feelings arise, wisdom is obstructed; because thoughts alter, physical forms differ. The mind fluctuates along with arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing; environments vary in height with pits, gullies, mounds, and hills. Therefore pure lands and defiled realms differ in suffering and joy; sentient beings and all buddhas are distinguished as ordinary beings and sages. This causes the six destinies to be vast and boundless, crawling within the nine abodes, and the four modes of birth to surge forth, rising and sinking in the three realms: entering delusion from delusion, passing from suffering to suffering, stirred across dust-mote kalpas with no time of liberation. Therefore our Buddha opened the gate of expedients, teaching the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi and pointing to the existence of the Pure Land as a destination of return. As for what is called the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi: in Sanskrit, *buddha*, which is translated here as 'awakened one'—one who has awakened himself, awakens others, and whose awakened practices are fully complete; hence he is called Buddha. Like awakening from a dream, like a lotus flower blossoming, it is meant to cause sentient beings to reflect back their own light, maintaining pure thoughts in unbroken succession. When this has matured after a long time, delusions are exhausted and obstacles eliminated, not a single thought arises, past and future are cut off, and one awakens to this awakening nature: internally there is no mind capable of mindfulness, and externally there is no realm that is the object of mindfulness. Both subject and object are forgotten, sentient beings and Buddha are not two; hence it is called buddhānusmṛti. In Sanskrit, *samādhi*, which is translated here as 'correct concentration'—meaning that thought is focused, mentation is stilled, and spiritual wisdom is luminous and wondrous. A sūtra says: 'If there is someone who practices buddhānusmṛti, you should know that this person is a puṇḍarīka flower among men.' In the Eastern Jin, the ancestral master Yuan, upon hearing Master Mitian lecture on the *Prajñā-sūtra*, had a great and sudden awakening and entered into immeasurable, profound samādhi. Traveling to and residing at Mount Lu, he formed ties of practice with eminent monks and court literati, and so said: 'The samādhis of the various teachings have many names; for high efficacy and ease of advancement, buddhānusmṛti is foremost.' Thereupon he named his society 'White Lotus'. The master then composed the 'Preface to the Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi', which brought forth this principle. When Tiantai Zhizhe classified the teachings, he stated that the *Guan Wuliangshou jing* is the ultimate and real teaching of the Mahāyāna, using the three contemplations to clarify the mind, which reveals the essential import of buddhānusmṛti. When the Venerable Fazhao bowed to Mañjuśrī to seek guidance, it was this Dharma that was pointed out. When Chan Master Xingchang formed ties for pure conduct, and prime ministers and renowned officials took refuge and practiced together, it was this path [they pursued]. When Chan Master Ze of Changlu organized the wondrous Lotus Assembly, inspiring the two bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Puhui to join the assembly, it was to bear witness to this path. The School Patriarch Cizhao manifested in the world by the power of his fundamental vow, gave rise to a mind of broad salvation, guided the expedient to approach the real, and transformed and led according to faculties, wishing to cause both the sharp and dull faculties to awaken together to this path. He compiled the *White Lotus Repentance*, laid out the diagram of the four lands, took faith, practice, and vows as provisions, and took precepts, concentration, and wisdom as the pivot, thereby establishing this orthodox school of buddhānusmṛti. When Song Gaozong wrote with his imperial brush the two characters 'Lotus Society' (Lianshe), it was to venerate this Dharma gate. Respectfully we contemplate that our Great Yuan has unified all under heaven; the various nations come to court, and the people's minds take joy in goodness. Chan Master Dongyan Yuanying Ri of Donglin Chan Monastery on Mount Lu respectfully received the imperial decree to serve as abbot of the bodhimaṇḍa, restoring the Buddhist monastery and compiling the biographies of the sages. He thus looked back to antiquity to rectify the school's guidelines and erect the great bridge of Dharma. Renowned as Zongyuan, he opened the ancestral path for eighteen years; beyond promoting the teachings of the Chan school, he constantly guided humans and devas with the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi. In the autumn of the *renchen* year of Zhiyuan [1292], he accepted an invitation from the Guangli Chan Monastery on Mount Ayuwang in Qingyuan Circuit, yielding his seat to Chan Master Yuetang Yin of Kaixian, who successively served as abbot. In the first month of the first year of Yuanzhen [1295], the Shuming Layman Yan Juedao, the ragged-robed monk, respectfully received the imperial decree granting the White Lotus School's Shanfa Hall to protect and uphold the teaching of the Dharma. In the first month of the second year of Yuanzhen [1296], an imperial decree was again respectfully received, granting the Master Tonghui the title of Patriarch of the White Lotus School along with a gold-embroidered kāṣāya. In the tenth month of the fifth year of Dade [1301], the imperial court respectfully bestowed imperial incense, and golden banners arrived at the temple. From the Jin to the present it has been nearly a thousand years; moved by this gracious glory, distant lands and foreign domains, the wise and the foolish alike, have all followed the transformation. All with one mind practice buddhānusmṛti, respectfully wishing the Emperor ten thousand pacities of sacred longevity, peace throughout the realm, and the perpetual turning of the Dharma wheel, joyous in the sun of Shun and the winds of Yao, this very world being the world of Sukhāvatī. I, Pudu, have improperly partaken of the lineage of Śākya without having benefited the gate of the teachings. I have often seen that those who profess the Lotus School do not understand the purport of buddhānusmṛti; abandoning the root to pursue the branches, they practice while clinging to marks, and the correct cause of pure karma has nearly sunk away. All of them are harboring treasures while wandering lost in foreign lands, turning their backs on the real and facing the false. Those who engage in its practices are as numerous as ox hairs, but those endowed with right view are as rare as a unicorn's horn, causing arrogant people to slight the path of our Buddha. Alas! The ancient times are far removed, and the Dharma has long fallen into decay; the correct path is obscured and weakened, while heterodox teachings blaze with increasing fervor, and many people misunderstand and stray onto aberrant paths. They do not consider that the single gate of the Pure Land is the shortcut out of saṃsāra, as straight as a bowstring and as bright as the sun, whose profound purport lies within the sūtras and repentance rituals. Without meeting an enlightened teacher to instruct them, they are just like a herd of blind men groping an elephant, each proclaiming divergent views, passing from darkness into darkness, forever entangled in heterodox views—how lamentable! How much more so now, when we respectfully meet the Son of Heaven of Buddha-mind who governs the world with the true Dharma: it is a time of celebration between sovereign and ministers, and an era when the Buddha Dharma circulates. How could we not use the ancestral master's buddhānusmṛti-samādhi to instruct humans and devas, making it an eye for the future, so that they may awaken and enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision together? I have thus set my mind on the Pure Land, probed deeply into the earlier school, and compiled essential words into a work titled *Precious Mirror*, illuminating the real and the false in ten treatises. The first is titled 'Correct Causes of Buddhānusmṛti', meaning that to enter a room one must go through the door. The second is titled 'Correct Teachings', which shows that the buddhānusmṛti Dharma gate encompasses the gradual, partial, sudden, and perfect, so that practitioners may return to the supreme path according to their capacities. The next is titled 'Orthodox School', which shows the principle of righting the mind through the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, so that practitioners may understand its school and reach its origin. The next is titled 'Orthodox Lineage', which clarifies the origin and development of how the buddhas, ancestors, and school masters attained the path, wishing to let later students know that it has its source. The next are titled 'Correct Faith, Correct Practice, and Correct Vows', so that they may have faith in the true Dharma, cultivate correct practice, and make correct vows to seek birth in the West. The next is titled 'Correct Formulas for Rebirth', which shows the road to birth in the Pure Land at the end of life. The next is titled 'Correct Retribution', which clarifies the meritorious ornaments of the primary and dependent retributions of the Pure Land obtained through practice. The next is titled 'Correct Discourses', which cites the sincere words of the buddhas to crush various heterodoxies and divergent views, wishing to make people change from the unwholesome and follow the wholesome. It is not that I dare say this will aid the ancestral style; it is to benefit those who have not heard it, wishing to straighten what is crooked, rectify what is heterodox, resolve what is doubted, and awaken what is deluded, so that all people across the whole earth may in a single thought together attain the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi and collectively realize bodhi—would that not be magnificent! May cultivators of pure karma not begrudge their compassion: try opening this volume, rejoice in accord upon seeing and hearing it, and praise and assist its circulation. As for that single sentence from before the buddhas and ancestors appeared in the world, please cast your eye on it from high.

1.13

On the day of Amitābha's manifestation of marks, the *yisi* year, the ninth year of Dade [1305], respectfully inscribed after fasting and bathing by the host monk of the Shanfa Hall of the White Lotus School, Donglin Chan Monastery, Mount Lu, Jiangzhou: Youtan Pudu.

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Table of Contents of the *Precious Mirror of the Lotus School of Mount Lu*

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Preface to the *Precious Mirror of Buddhānusmṛti*

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Fascicle 1: Correct Causes of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 2: Correct Teachings of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 3: Orthodox School of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 4: Orthodox Lineage of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 5: Correct Faith in Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 6: Correct Practice of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 7: Correct Vows of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 8: Correct Formulas for Rebirth through Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 9: Correct Retribution of Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 10: Correct Discourses on Buddhānusmṛti

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Detailed Table of Contents

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Fascicle 1 (14 sections)

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Exposition on the Correct Causes of Buddhānusmṛti / The Causal Stage of Amitābha Buddha / The Causal Stage of the Fundamental Vows of Amitābha and Śākyamuni / The Buddha Explains to Queen Vaidehī the Correct Causes of Pure Karma / Filially Nurturing Parents and Serving Teachers and Elders / Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels / Giving Rise to the Bodhimind / Receiving and Upholding Precepts / Compassionate Mind without Killing and Cultivating the Ten Wholesome Karmas / Deep Faith in Cause and Effect / Reading and Reciting the Mahāyāna / Practitioners of Contemplation and Action

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Fascicle 2 (19 sections)

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Exposition on the Correct Teachings of Buddhānusmṛti / The Buddha Explains Buddhānusmṛti for His Father the King / Sudhana Visits the Bhikṣu Meghaśrī, Who Explains the Buddhānusmṛti Gate / Bodhisattva Jñānaśiras Explains Buddhānusmṛti / The Great Being Nāgārjuna Explains Buddhānusmṛti / Seven Superior Virtues of the Merit of Buddhānusmṛti / Cultivating Dharma Gates / The Dharma Gate of Non-Abiding in the Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi Free from Marks / The Tiantai Dharma Gate of the Three Contemplations in Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Dharma Gate of Non-Thought in the Emptiness-Contemplation Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Dharma Gate of Focused Reflection in the Sun-Contemplation Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Ultimate Dharma Gate of Chan-Investigation Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Dharma Gate of Regulating Breath in the Mind-Gathering Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Dharma Gate of Single-Minded Recitation in the Single-Mark Buddhānusmṛti-samādhi / The Dharma Gate of Dedication of Merit in Buddhānusmṛti of the Six Times / The Dharma Gate of Fastening Mindfulness in the Merit of Repenting Sins through Buddhānusmṛti / The Dharma Gate of Faith and Vows in the Merit of Morning and Evening Buddhānusmṛti / The Dharma Gate of Ten Recitations in the Merit of Simple and Direct Buddhānusmṛti / School Patriarch Cizhao's Harmonious Integration of the Four Lands

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Fascicle 3 (8 sections)

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Exposition on the Orthodox School of Buddhānusmṛti / Determining and Clarifying the Substance of the School / Exposition on Investigating Chan through Buddhānusmṛti to Seek the Essential Purport / The Pure Land Is Not an Expedient Teaching for Dull Faculties / Chan Master Zhenxie Liao's Essentials of the Pure Land School / Master Jishi Shows Real Insight into the Pure Land / Vinaya Master Dazhi Shows that Phenomenon and Principle in Buddhānusmṛti Are Non-Dual / Master Wen's Essentials of the Pure Conduct Buddhānusmṛti

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Fascicle 4 (22 sections)

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Exposition on the Orthodox Lineage of Buddhānusmṛti / True Facts of Ancestral Master Yuan / Posthumous Titles of Ancestral Master Yuan Across Successive Dynasties / Record by Master Mingjiao Inscribed in the Portrait Hall of Ancestral Master Yuan / Names of the Eighteen Great Sages of Mount Lu / Record by Chan Master Guanxiu Inscribed in the Portrait Hall of the Eighteen Sages / Clarifying the Attainment of the Path by Ancestral Master Yuan / Master Tanluan of Bigu / Master Tiantai Zhizhe / Preceptor Shandao of the Capital / Master Fazhao of Jintai / Dharma Master Shaokang of Muzhou / Master Xingchang / Chan Master Cijue of Changlu / Chan Master Yanshou of Yongming / Repentance Master Ciyun of Tianzhu / Biography of Duke Wen of Lu / Subcommentary Master Zongtan of Lufu / School Patriarch Cizhao / Yang Tixing (Master Wuwei) / Layman Longshu Wang Xuzhong and Vice Minister Wang of Yizhen

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Fascicle 5 (6 sections)

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Exposition on Correct Faith in Buddhānusmṛti / Severing Doubts and Generating Faith / Exhorting the Arousing of Faith / Gāthā on Correct Faith in Rebirth by Repentance Master Ciyun Zunshi / Preface to Master Zhizhe's *Treatise on Ten Doubts about the Pure Land* / Preface to Yang Tixing's *Direct Pointing to the Pure Land to Resolve Doubts*

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Fascicle 6 (14 sections)

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Exposition on Correct Practice of Buddhānusmṛti / Cultivating and Advancing Effort / Providing for Livelihood to Aid the Path / Creating Merit to Aid Conditions / Dispelling Evil and Choosing Good / Rescuing Those in the Dark Paths / Liberating Living Beings / Cultivating Simultaneously the Six Perfections and the Ten Thousand Practices / The Great Being Vimalakīrti Reveals the Eight Dharmas of the Pure Land / Comparing the Ease and Difficulty of Practice / Tiantai Reveals the Two Gates of Practice: Joy and Aversion / Bodhimaṇḍa for Pure Karma / Practicing Oneself and Transforming Others / Examining the Mind by Means of Phenomenal Affairs

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Fascicle 7 (7 sections)

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Exposition on Correct Vows of Buddhānusmṛti / Exhortation to Arouse Great Vows / Verses and Preface by School Patriarch Cizhao Instructing Buddhānusmṛti Practitioners on Making Vows / Seeking Rebirth in the Pure Land Hinges upon Making Vows / Ritual for Making Vows in Practice by Preceptor Shandao / Text on Making Vows to Seek Birth in the Pure Land by Vice Minister Bai / Text on Making Pure Land Vows upon Distributing Sūtras by Feng Jichuan

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Fascicle 8 (12 sections)

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Exposition on Correct Formulas for Rebirth through Buddhānusmṛti / Parents Attaining Rebirth in the Pure Land at the End of Life / Three Doubts at the End of Life / Four Barriers at the End of Life / Summary of Resolving Doubts at the End of Life / Sengji Directing His Thoughts to the West at the End of Life / Preceptor Shandao's Text on Right Mindfulness for Rebirth at the End of Life / Transformation Buddhas Coming to Welcome / Bodhisattva Xianshou's Verse in Praise of Buddhānusmṛti at the End of Life / Discussion of the Height of Retribution according to the Extent of Feelings and Thoughts / Quality of Retribution Induced by Good and Evil at Life's End / Ten Circumstances at the End of Life that Obstruct Buddhānusmṛti and an Exhortation to Practice in Advance

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Fascicle 9 (5 sections)

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Treatise on the Principal Retribution of Buddhānusmṛti; Adornment with Merits; Gradual Cultivation of Noble Fruits in the Pure Land; Thirty Benefits of the Pure Land; Attaining Buddhahood in the Pure Land.

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Fascicle Ten (Twenty-five chapters)

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Treatise on the Proper Doctrine of Buddhānusmṛti; Treatise on Amitābha of the West; Treatise on the Original Nature of True Suchness; Distinguishing the True and False Body and Mind; Clarifying the Three Jewels; Distinguishing Seeing, Hearing, Sensation, and Cognition; Refuting False Claims of Calamity and Good Fortune; Clarifying the View of Emptiness; Clarifying the Composite Characteristic; Clarifying Dual Cultivation; Clarifying the Three Carts; Clarifying the Three Barriers; Clarifying the Great and Lesser Two Vehicles; Clarifying Non-arising and Non-perishing; Clarifying the Road of Caoxi; Distinguishing the Concealment and Storage of the Buddha-Dharma; Clarifying the Light Surpassing Sun and Moon; Clarifying the Pearl in the Topknot; Clarifying the Inflow-free Fruit; Clarifying Zhaozhou's Tea; Clarifying the Separate Transmission Outside the Teachings; Distinguishing the Closing of the Gates to the Evil Destinies and the Revealing of the Correct Path to Nirvāṇa; Clarifying the Four Modes of Birth; Refuting the False and Establishing the Ten Epithets; Vow to Circulate [the Teaching].

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Colophons by Renowned and Virtuous Worthies (Eleven chapters)

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Colophon by Elder Reverend Dongyan of Tiantong in Mingzhou; Colophon by Reverend Yuetang, Master of the White Lotus School of Mount Lu; Colophon by Elder Reverend Xigong of Xifeng and Jiyan; Colophon by Reverend Xiyun, Director-in-Chief of Great Qingshou Monastery; Colophon by Elder Reverend Yuejian of Jianfu in Raozhou; Colophon by Reverend Zhongfeng of the Huanzhu Meditation Hermitage in Gusu; Colophon by Chan Master Buhui of the Samantabhadra Reception Cloister on Jingcen; Colophon by Chan Master You of Tianfeng; Colophon by Zhang Chouzhai, Academician Recipient of Edicts in the Hanlin Academy; Colophon by Zhuyuan, Daoist of Non-abiding on Mount Lu; Inscribed by Youtan Pudu of Mount Lu.

1.49

End of the Table of Contents of the Precious Mirror of the Lotus School of Mount Lu.

1.50

Treatise on the Proper Cause for Buddhānusmṛti

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Now, it is heard that: "Among the assemblies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, the Tathāgata Amitābha is the foremost; among all the buddha-lands as many as the dust motes of the ten directions, Sukhāvatī is the refuge."
The ultimate principle is fundamentally mind-only, yet the initial gate must proceed from the causal ground. Thus we know that a tree embracing an armful sprouts from a tiny tip, and a journey of a thousand leagues begins with the first step.
To transcend birth and death, take the Pure Land as the realm of return;
about to realize nirvāṇa, therefore buddhānusmṛti is the essential means to rectify the mind.
Believing deeply that Sukhāvatī is truly the wondrous gate of liberation,
contemplating attentively that Amitābha is truly the compassionate father of sentient beings—
first clarify the point of destination, and thus look to the fruit to cultivate the cause;
gradually tread the profound path, and thereby proceed from cause to fruit.
Hence we know that gathering the assembly of worthies to form a society has its purposeful significance, and that single-mindedly practicing buddhānusmṛti to encourage people promotes this teaching.
The cause encompasses the ocean of fruit; the fruit penetrates the source of the cause.
Where the form is upright, the shadow is inevitably straight;
where the sound is harmonious, the echo naturally conforms.
Mahāsthāmaprāpta showed the essential path to realizing complete penetration;
the World-Honoured One expounded the cause for cultivating pure karma.
Ascending to samādhi from hearing, contemplating, and cultivating;
entering the gate of the dharmadhātu by relying on faith, practice, and vow.
Therefore, as soon as a single thought arises, myriad spirits are aware;
when faithful mind is born, the buddhas manifest.
Barely has the precious name been uttered, and the seed is already cast into the lotus womb;
as soon as one generates the aspiration for bodhi, one's name is inscribed upon the golden ground.
Those who have karmic affinity encounter this, awakening and cultivating on their own;
those of shallow faith who do not uphold it commit a great folly and a great error.
Hence it is said that the ultimate proclamation of the ekayāna culminates in reaching the Land of Bliss;
among the complete cultivation of myriad practices, the supreme is uniquely praising the precious name.
The grave offenses of eighty billion kalpas vanish completely like smoke;
the distant realm of a hundred thousand billion lands is reached as swiftly as ascending on wings.
With thought and remembrance concentrated, one contemplates the mind and perceives the Buddha's body;
with mind and object interpenetrating, one realizes the superior fruit right at the causal gate.
The purity and defilement of the ten directions expand and contract together at the tip of a hair;
the one nature embraces and integrates all, vastly encompassing the entire dharmadhātu.
In this way, the buddhas and sentient beings interpenetrate;
the pure land and the defiled land covertly communicate.
Cultivating both mutually, principle and phenomena are unhindered,
like a divine jewel immediately containing myriad treasures,
as the net of Indra mutually reflects a thousand lights.
Since my own mind is like this, so it is for both sentient beings and buddhas.
Thus we know that letting the spirit roam through billions of lands is actually born within one's own mind;
how could nourishing one's form within the nine grades of lotuses escape the span of a single instant?
When the worthies of the two vehicles turn their minds, they immediately reach the golden pond;
when ordinary beings guilty of the five heinous offenses engage in ten recitations, they promptly ascend to the precious realm.
Alas! When consciousness is clouded and obstacles are heavy, faith is scarce and doubts are many.
They disparage pure karma as an expedient vehicle and mock recitation and upholding as coarse practice;
is this not being indulged and drowned in the burning house, willingly resigning oneself to eternal kalpas of delusion,
rebelling against the compassionate parents, and deeply lamenting the vain loss of an entire life?
One must believe that without relying on other-power, there is no way to sever karma and delusion;
without encountering this gate, there is no road to escape birth and death.
Vowing to be one with the buddhas and daring to emulate former cultivators,
I encourage later worthies to profoundly revere this path:
Those who have made the vow, are making the vow, or will make the vow—in every affair dedicate it toward Amitābha;
those who have been born, are being born, or will be born—in every thought return to the Pure Land.
If you wish to accomplish the great affair of this single life, turn your attention right here.
At all times, a thousand carts follow the same track;
within the four postures, myriad virtues share the same return.
Together ascend the wondrous gate of Sukhāvatī;
swiftly consummate the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi.
The very first step must be distinct and clear;
all the way to the West there is no other road.

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The Causal Ground of Amitābha Buddha

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The Sūtra of the King of Drum Sound states: "In a past kalpa, there was a kingdom named Abhirati (Wonderful Joy). The king was named Kauśika; his grandfather was the king of the Pure and Peaceful Country; his father was the wheel-turning king Candrottara; and his mother was Varaprabhāvatī. She bore three sons: the eldest was named Candramukha, the second Kauśika, and the third Devagaṇa. At that time, a buddha appeared in the world, named Lokeśvararāja. The mind of Kauśika generated the resolve for the Way. He abandoned his kingdom's throne, took refuge in the Buddha, left the household life, and was named Monk Dharmākara." Furthermore, the Larger Amitābha Sūtra states: "Monk Dharmākara generated the unexcelled resolve in the presence of Lokeśvararāja Buddha, which none in all the worlds could match. At that time, the Buddha expounded the lands of twenty-one billion buddhas in response to his aspiration. Dharmākara bowed his head in reverence to the Buddha and expounded forty-eight vows at length, saying (recorded fully in the sūtra proper) that if they were not fulfilled, he swore not to attain buddhahood. At that time the great earth trembled, the heavens rained wondrous flowers, and a voice in the sky praised in unison: 'You will decisively attain buddhahood.'"

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The Causal Ground of the Fundamental Vows of Amitābha and Śākyamuni

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The Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka-sūtra states: "In an ancient kalpa, there was a wheel-turning king named Araṇemin, whose minister Samudrareṇu served as his spiritual friend. Together, they generated bodhicitta in the presence of Ratnagarbha Buddha. Araṇemin made this vow: 'I shall cultivate the Mahāyāna and obtain a pure land; I shall never wish to attain anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi in a defiled land where the world's sentient beings suffer tribulations. If I do not attain such a buddha-land, I shall not attain correct awakening.' Now that his fruit is fulfilled, he is named Amitābha, and thus he manifests the Pure Land. The minister Samudrareṇu vowed to mature sentient beings in a defiled land; now his fruit is also fulfilled, and he is named Śākymuni, who attained the bodhi of buddhahood within this turbid, evil world."

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The Buddha Expounds the Proper Cause for Pure Karma for Queen Vaidehī

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The Sūtra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life states: "At that time, Vaidehī wept aloud and addressed the Buddha, saying: 'World-Honoured One! Would that you explain for me at length a place free from grief and sorrow, where I may go to be reborn, for I take no joy in the turbid and evil world of Jambudvīpa.' At that time, the World-Honoured One emitted light from between his eyebrows, completely illuminating the immeasurable worlds of the ten directions; the lands of all buddhas appeared therein. When Vaidehī saw them, she addressed the Buddha, saying: 'Although these buddha-lands are pure and all have radiance, I now wish to be born in the world of Sukhāvatī, where Amitābha Buddha resides. Would that the World-Honoured One teach me how to contemplate, teach me how to attain correct reception.' The Buddha told Vaidehī: 'Amitābha Buddha is not far from here; you should fasten your thought and attentively contemplate that land. I shall now explain it for you at length, and also enable ordinary beings of the future who cultivate pure karma to attain rebirth in the Western land of Sukhāvatī. Those who wish to be born in that land should cultivate the three blessings: First, to filial-mindedly support parents and serve teachers and elders, to have a compassionate mind without killing, and to cultivate the ten good karmas. Second, to receive and uphold the three refuges, to be complete in all precepts, and not to violate the rules of deportment. Third, to generate bodhicitta, deeply believe in cause and effect, read and recite the Mahāyāna, and encourage practitioners. These three things are called the proper cause for pure karma.' The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: 'Listen attentively, listen attentively, and reflect on it well.'"

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Filial Support of Parents

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Buddhānusmṛti is the essential of all dharmas, and filial support is the foremost among the hundred conducts. A filial mind is none other than the Buddha's mind; filial practice is nothing other than the Buddha's practice. If you wish to have your way identical to all buddhas, you must first filial-mindedly support your two parents. Therefore, Chan Master Qi said: "The single word 'filial piety' is the door to myriad wonders. The Buddha's words take filial piety as their ancestral principle; the Buddhist scriptures take filial piety as their precept. Being unconfused in speech, from the mouth issues the light of the precepts; directly clear and distinct, one suddenly opens the mind-ground." Now, as for filial piety, there is the filial piety of the householder, and there is the filial piety of the monastic. As for the householder's filial piety: when parents love them, they rejoice and do not forget it; when parents dislike them, they labor and bear no grievance, according with their expressions to exhaust all efforts in nurturing their life. As for the monastic's filial piety: they sever affection and bid farewell to their kin, feeding on the subtle to accord with the origin, penetrating deeply into the principle of unconditioned action, and repaying above the boundless kindness—an essential road toward liberation, a shortcut to repay compassionate parents; not only does it bring benefit in the future, it also achieves success in the present life. Hence, the Tathāgata leaped over the city walls in the middle of the night, perfecting the Way upon the Snowy Mountains; Lu Neng gave white gold to his mother, inheriting the Dharma at Huangmei. However, having severed affections through the Dharma, one should remember to repay virtue. Hence, [the Buddha] visited his father in Kapilavastu and comforted his mother in Trāyastriṃśa; when [parents] are destitute and without support, it is proper to serve and care for them in person. For this reason, Pilindavatsa gave rise to the precept of serving with utmost devotion; Master Ren had a hall for nurturing his mother; Chen Muzhou wove sandals to provide for his mother; and Dharma Master Lang carried his baggage on a pole while traveling to study. Thus, monastics take the flavor of the Dharma as delicious delicacies, not forgetting the mind of feeding in return; they take Buddhist affairs as diligent endeavor, never abandoning the etiquette of conventional truth. They repay not only the parents of a single life, but the parents of many lifetimes; they deliver not merely the parents of one body, but the parents of the entire dharmadhātu. Ascending together to the shore of awakening, how could it be limited to the Duke of Zhou matching Heaven? Universally pointing out the deluded ford, it truly surpasses Kaoshu's pure filial piety. As for the monastic's filial piety, its benefits are vast indeed! If circumstances are not yet harmonious and parents do not consent, one should exhaust the householder's filial piety and encourage them to cultivate the transmundane cause. If one can reach the true through the secular, there is also a path to buddhahood. Aspiring to reverse to the conduct of an infant without failing in veneration before one's parents' knees, repaying both parents' labor of care and protection, and reaching the fully perfected ground of the ekayāna—this enables householder bodhisattvas to have no doubts in practice and understanding, and exalted recluses can also take this as a mirror to reflect their shortcomings. If one is unable to fulfill one's service to the Buddha, upon seeing this regarding service to parents, one will be moved, and within this can completely realize one's filial piety. Alas! Time passes easily; parents are difficult to forget. Having parents present in the hall is like the Buddha being present in the world. Repaying parental virtue with this, and completely fulfilling the merit of buddhānusmṛti, one knows that when parents rejoice, all buddhas rejoice; when this mind is pure, the buddha-land is pure. It can be said: 'Wild scenery is no longer blocked by mountains; moonlight flows directly into union with the water.'

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Serving Teachers and Elders

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The ancients said: "Those who gave birth to me are my parents; those who brought me to completion are my teachers and friends." Thus we know that a teacher is a luminous guide on a straying path, a lamp of wisdom in a dark room, a vessel upon the sea of suffering, and eyes for gods and humans. Their kindness surpasses that of parents, and their virtue weighs heavier than heaven and earth; for this reason, disciples dare not serve their teachers with neglect or disrespect. Have you not seen the one who cast away his whole body to seek half a verse, or severed one arm to inquire after the True Vehicle; who made his body a seat to serve his teacher, or bound a stone to his waist to pestle rice and succeed the patriarch; who sold his heart and liver to study prajñā, or threw himself into a mass of fire to realize bodhi? Compared with the ancients, we are exceedingly fortunate; in serving a teacher and studying the Way, how could one not exert oneself? One must know that in renouncing the world and taking a teacher, one must seek right view; in travelling to seek instruction, do not attach yourself to heterodox schools. One must clarify the causes of sin and blessing, and carefully discern the advantages and hazards of right and wrong: the right leads to buddhahood, while the wrong leads to māras. If from the very beginning one does not encounter an adept master, then into old age one turns out to be nothing but worthless bric-a-brac. For this reason, the Tathāgata, knowing his teachers were flawed, abandoned them; and the Master [Confucius] chose those who were good and followed them. Seeing that the ancient sages were like this, why should people of today be otherwise? Moreover, in this final age there are many false teachers; whoever wishes to practice must never approach them. Merely maintain right mindfulness, and in the end you will meet an enlightened teacher. To resolve this great matter, take care not to treat it lightly. Therefore, when a disciple serves a teacher, it is identical to serving the Buddha. It may indeed be said: 'Offering the four necessities, dare one begrudge the toil? Even ten thousand ounces of gold would be fully deserved.'

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Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels

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The Buddha is the great teacher of the three realms, the Dharma is the eyes of all living beings, and the Saṅgha comprises the superior persons of the six harmonies; together they are the true and pure field of merit. To turn against them is heterodoxy; to accord with them is rectitude. Their spiritual potency is without equal, and their holy power is inconceivable. Eradicating suffering is like the medicinal drum that causes arrowheads to fall out; escaping calamities is like a frosted blade breaking through an encirclement. Turning suffering into joy takes but an instant, and transforming the ordinary into the holy takes only a moment. Therefore, when the fiery chariot appears, taking refuge immediately brings cool refreshment; when hell is about to befall, invoking their names causes one to leave suffering completely behind. That King Puming and the other kings escaped calamity was the merit of empty concentration; that Śakra repelled the might of Mandhātṛ was the power of prajñā. Therefore, faithful Buddhist disciples take refuge in the Three Jewels, make offerings to the Buddha and Saṅgha with incense and flowers of true compassion, read, recite, and disseminate the Dharma jewel, and gather these good benefits to dedicate toward bodhi, that all sentient beings may be born together in the Pure Land. Have you not heard: Kalaviṅkas and parrots obtained birth in the Western Realm by reciting the name; devas and kings revered them and vowed to seek the holy path. All are able above to accomplish the fruit of buddhahood, and below to escape the wheel of suffering. It may indeed be said: 'Chan belongs to Dahui, poetry to Daozhi; / The Tang emperors were only three.'

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Generating the Bodhicitta

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The unsurpassed fruit of buddhahood is named bodhi; if one generates this mind, one will definitely become a Buddha. The Dharma-Gate of Pure Practice says: 'Whenever cultivating the Pure Land, one must properly generate the mind. If, for one's own sake, one reviles the five turbidities and aspires to the nine grades, this contravenes the bodhicitta and is the practice of a śrāvaka; it should not be generated. If, for the sake of sentient beings, one gives rise to great compassion, seeks rebirth in that land in the hope of swift accomplishment, and with the power of the Way and spiritual penetrations traverses the ten directions to save all beings and cause them together to become Buddhas, this accords with the bodhicitta and is the practice of a bodhisattva; it ought to be generated.' Now I advise noble practitioners of pure karma: whenever you wish to benefit yourself and benefit others, you must generate this mind and establish this resolve. Before the Three Jewels, one should reverently offer incense and flowers, and with sincere mind make this vow, saying: 'Namo Buddhāya, Namo Dharmāya, Namo Saṅghāya. From this day forward, I, disciple [name], generate this great mind, not seeking for myself the blessed rewards of humans and gods, pratyekabuddhas, śrāvakas, or even bodhisattvas of the expedient vehicles, but relying solely upon the supreme vehicle to generate the bodhicitta. I vow that together with my parents of this present life, my parents of manifold lifetimes, and all sentient beings of the dharmadhātu—both foes and kin—we may be born together in the Pure Land and all attain non-retrogression in anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi.' Say this three times. This mind must be generated at all times, burning bright every day. Therefore Sudhana realized the fruit in a single lifetime, the Dragon Girl attained buddhahood at eight years of age, generating the mind in hell immediately surpasses the ten stages, and a novice's initial resolve already excels the two vehicles. It may indeed be said: 'A single breath of spring revives the primal cycle; / Favor descends upon the myriad creatures, running deep.'

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廬山蓮宗寶鑑 — Classical Chinese