廬山蓮宗寶鑑 5.4

5.4

A sūtra states: "It is difficult to obtain human birth; it is difficult to possess complete six sense faculties; it is difficult to be born in the central land; it is difficult to encounter the Buddha's Path; and it is difficult to give rise to faithful mind." Now, considering why faith is difficult to arouse, it is because there is doubt. If one does not cut off doubt, how can faith arise? Therefore the Diamond Sūtra states, "Right faith is rare," the Lotus Sūtra states, "One gains entry through faith," and Wang Longshu said: "The Buddha is the king of physicians for humankind; he can cure all illnesses, but cannot save one whose life has ended. The Buddha can deliver all people, but cannot deliver those who do not believe." Faith is sincerity in a single thought-moment. If a person thinks of going, their body follows and goes; if they think of staying, their body follows and stays. Thus we know this body moves in accordance with the mind's thoughts. If one has the thought to go but the body is held back, when the physical body breaks up there is only a single thought; wherever that single thought reaches, there is nowhere it does not reach. Therefore, if with a faithful mind in a single thought-moment one practices buddhānusmṛti and seeks rebirth in the Pure Land, one will certainly arrive at the Pure Land. How much more so given that our Buddha, the World-Honoured One, and all the great bodhisattvas possess the power of their fundamental vows to welcome and guide one to rebirth!

Someone asked: "Nowadays there are those who uphold the precepts and practice buddhānusmṛti throughout life, yet at the end of life fail to be born in the Pure Land. Why is this?"

Answer: "This is because the power of their faith is not deep, and their practice and vows are deficient. Moreover, they have never generated the great aspiration for bodhi, nor have they severed the unwholesome deeds of the ten unvirtuous actions. Though called practitioners, their words and deeds have never corresponded. Though called buddhānusmṛti practitioners, their pure mindfulness has never been continuous. Lacking genuine practice, how could they attain the retribution of the Pure Land? The Vimalakīrti-sūtra states, 'In accordance with the purity of their minds, the Buddha-land is pure.' The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch states, 'If within the mind there is no evil, the West is not far from here.' If one harbours an unwholesome mind, it is difficult to arrive even while reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth; if one does not sever the mind of the ten unvirtuous actions, which Buddha would come to welcome them? Thus the Great Master saw that worldly people do not strive to purify the mind, but merely recite the Buddha's name with their mouths, seeking a Buddha outside their minds with false thinking and attachment; not purifying their own minds, their minds commit various evils. This is called destroying one's own Buddha—how then could they seek another Buddha elsewhere? Therefore it is said: when deluded, one is a sentient being; when awakened, one is a Buddha.

The Dharma-gate of Perfect Penetration states: 'If one remembers the Buddha and practices buddhānusmṛti, now or in the future one will certainly see the Buddha.' Remembering and thinking is the mindfulness of the mind. When the faithful mind is pure, faith, practice, and vow are all complete. The Śūraṅgama states: 'When one sense faculty returns to the source, all six faculties attain liberation.' The ten unvirtuous actions are transformed into the ten virtuous actions; the six consciousnesses are transformed into the six supernormal powers. Therefore, when in a mind of right faith one remembers and recites the Buddha's name, with pure mindfulness in unbroken continuity, Amitābha of one's own nature manifests before one. When this stimulates, that responds; at the end of life, how could one fail to see the Buddha and be born in the Pure Land? Whenever one cultivates pure karma, one must believe the Buddha's words and practice the Buddha's deeds. With mind and mouth in harmony, cause and effect are decidedly unobscured. If one hears but does not believe, or believes but does not practice, it is like drawing a cake to satisfy hunger. When the mind lacks faith, doubts and slander arise; once doubts and slander are aroused, one obscures one's own mind; when one's own mind is obscured, the Pure Land becomes distant indeed.

Therefore, the Layman Zhou of Xiangshan, in his preface to Cizhao's Lotus School Repentance, stated: 'The Guide transforms beings with skilful methods and instructs people in accord with principle. Using deep faith as that which enables entry, he shatters all icchantikas; using exclusive buddhānusmṛti as the gate of practice, he keeps the mind undistracted; adding the vow of bodhi as the root, he delivers sentient beings. Equipped with these three, one can ascend to the very highest grade of the Sukhāvatī Buddha-land, and effortlessly reach the ocean of Vairocana's fruition through flowing waters.' He also stated: 'Everyone fundamentally possesses this matter, and each is completely endowed with it. It is because of lacking the three words—faith, practice, and vow—that they sink and fall. Alas! For anyone, it does not depend on merit, nobility, cleverness, or appearance; merely being equipped with faith, practice, and vows constitutes the provisions for rebirth in the Pure Land.'

The Fourfold Selection states: 'Going west from here past a hundred thousand kotis of Buddha-lands, there is a world named Sukhāvatī: this speaks in terms of distance. If in a single thought-moment of faithful mind one practices buddhānusmṛti and immediately arrives in the West: this speaks in terms of proximity. Therefore it is said: it is both near and far, depending on a person's faith and vows. With faith, not a hair's breadth separates them; with doubt, one turns in saṃsāra.' It also states: 'Going west from here past a distant journey of a hundred thousand stages, if the provisions are fully complete, why worry that one will not arrive?' This is precisely it. Therefore it is said that faith is the foremost of all virtues and the ancestor of the hundred practices. The Avataṃsaka takes the ten faiths as the beginning of attaining buddhahood; the Lotus Sūtra takes right faith as the gate of entering the Path. Among the five faculties, the faculty of faith is foremost; among the five powers, the power of faith is supreme. For this reason, the Buddhas of the three times, all great bodhisattvas, and the patriarchs of successive generations, in cultivating all meritorious practices and possessing great power of vows, entering the realm of the Buddhas and realizing bodhi, have never failed to enter through this single word 'faith'.

When Master Luan encountered Bodhiruci's Guan jing, he immediately burned the immortal scriptures and cultivated pure karma—was this not due to this word 'faith'? Vice Minister Bai, whether walking or sitting, recited Amitābha—this too did not depart from this word 'faith'. Scholar Su carried a painted image of Amitābha with him whether walking or sitting, declaring it to be his official passport to the Western Pure Land—this likewise did not depart from this word 'faith'. Zhang Shanhe slaughtered oxen all his life; when near death, the signs of hell appeared before him. Meeting a monk who taught him to recite Amitābha Buddha, before he had recited ten times he saw the Buddha arrive to welcome him to rebirth in the Pure Land, whereupon he escaped hell—was this not brought about because his faith was thorough?

The Avataṃsaka Sūtra states: 'Faith is the source of the Path and the mother of merit; faith can nurture all good roots; faith can transcend the paths of the maras; faith can enter samādhi; faith can liberate from the ocean of birth and death; faith can accomplish the Buddha's bodhi.' Alas! Nowadays, vegetarian practitioners believe in upholding the precepts but do not believe in buddhānusmṛti; they believe in venerating the Buddha but do not believe in rebirth in the Pure Land. These all forfeit their own great benefit. Truly, on the road of humans and devas, merit comes first; in the ocean of birth and death, buddhānusmṛti is foremost. Now to wish for the bliss of humans and devas without cultivating merit, or to wish to transcend birth and death without practicing buddhānusmṛti, is like a bird wanting to fly without wings, or a tree wanting to flourish without roots—how could that be possible? All my companions in this covenant, you must deeply believe that what the Buddhas taught is true and not false. There is no better remedy for escaping suffering than buddhānusmṛti; cultivate pure karma exclusively and resolve to transcend saṃsāra. Time waits for no one; be careful not to doubt or regret. Truly it is said: if this body is not delivered in this lifetime, in what lifetime will this body ever be delivered?