廬山蓮宗寶鑑 6.8

6.8

A disciple of pure karma asked the Lotus School's guiding master Cizhao: 'Can a disciple who exclusively cultivates the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi use giving, keeping the precepts, and making offerings to create merit?' The Master answered, saying: 'If you can exclusively recite Amitābha, yet do not keep the precepts, there is the offense of breaking them; if you do not practice giving, you increase the karma of stinginess and greed; if you do not make offerings to the Three Jewels, there is the karma of arrogance; if you do not respect everyone, there is the sin of looking down upon others. Therefore, breaking precepts leads to falling into hell; stinginess and greed lead to falling into hungry ghosts; arrogance keeps one constantly in the evil paths; looking down upon others brings poverty and lowliness life after life. With such evil karma obscuring you, how could you attain birth in the Pure Land? For such a practitioner of buddhānusmṛti, it is like planting grain in a dry, barren field and hoping for a harvest—it cannot be attained. Therefore, Master Zhao said: "Although the conditioned is illusory, if one abandons it, the Buddha Path is hard to achieve; although the unconditioned is real, if one clings to it, the nature of wisdom will not be bright." Now, if you wish to cultivate the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, attain rebirth in the Pure Land, and swiftly accomplish the fruit of buddhahood and bodhi, you must exclusively take buddhānusmṛti as the right practice, and additionally cultivate merit and virtue as an auxiliary practice. Morning and evening, constantly and diligently make offerings to the Three Jewels, bow in prostration and repent, practice giving and keep the precepts, purify the three karmas to increase and aid pure conditions, do no evil, practice all goods, and dedicate all cultivated roots of goodness toward the Pure Land, fulfilling the merit of buddhānusmṛti and swiftly realizing bodhi.' This can be called rowing a boat downstream while also adding oars and sculls.