廬山蓮宗寶鑑 8.6

8.6

School Master Cizhao's Ten Admonitory Gateways to the Pure Land says: "Those who practice buddhānusmṛti harbour three doubts at the end of life that prevent birth in the Pure Land: First, doubting: 'The karma I have created in this life is exceedingly heavy, and my practice has lasted only a short time; I fear I will not attain birth.' Second, doubting: 'I owe debts to others, or have unfulfilled wishes in mind, and my greed, anger, and delusion have not yet ceased; I fear I will not attain birth.' Third, doubting: 'Although I recite Amitābha, I fear the Buddha will not come to welcome me at the end of life.' Having these three doubts, one turns doubt into an obstacle, loses right mindfulness, and fails to attain rebirth." Therefore, practitioners of buddhānusmṛti must decisively believe in the clear intent of the Buddhist sūtras and never give rise to doubt. A sūtra says: "Reciting Amitābha Buddha's name once eliminates the grave sins of birth and death spanning eighty kotis of kalpas." From the highest level of an undisturbed single mind down to success in ten recitations, he welcomes one to the nine grades of lotus blossoms and bids farewell to the five turbidities. If in mind after mind one is unclouded, and thought after thought does not err, then doubtful feelings will be severed forever, and rebirth will be assured. As the saying goes: / A journey of a hundred thousand kotis is reached in the snap of a finger; / The slightest hesitation separates one by a thousand mountains.