寶王三昧念佛直指 1.38

1.38

原夫無上正遍知覺聖主世尊普應機宜，從兜率宮降神於世，故四十年中說法三百餘會，皆令群有同證真常。乃至末後靈山會上方說法華，俾令眾生開示悟入佛之知見，出世本懷於茲暢矣。然出世度生之道非但釋迦，三世如來莫不咸爾。而於釋迦一代施化法門之中，求其所以機宜相感生佛緣深、至簡至易而功高徑捷者，無越求生淨土一法門也。蓋念佛法門，首因法藏比丘於無量劫前為大國王，聞世自在王佛說法，遂棄國出家而成比丘，其佛復為廣說二百一十億佛剎莊嚴人天善惡麁妙不同等事。法藏聞已，即於佛前發四十八種大願，願成佛時，國中無有三途三毒八苦八難九惱十纏等一切障礙，生我國者皆住正定、得忍悟心解脫勝智之人，乃至十念得生。若不爾者，不取正覺。其時大地震動、天雨妙花、空樂自鳴，佛與其記。今已得果，成佛十劫。因昔願勝，功德神通光明力無畏等超過十方，佛號阿彌陀。其阿彌陀佛所居之國，從是娑婆世界直西過十萬億國土，名曰極樂，或曰安樂。今見在彼，以昔大願及神通力而為說法，攝取十方世界念佛眾生。眾生生者得不退轉，剎那尚莫勝數，何況歷劫度脫。其生彼者有何限極，微塵恒沙所不能俞。其佛國土莊嚴勝妙，超過十方。有諸寶池，隨其大小皆七寶成。或有大池，其量盈廣。正住其中，底布金沙、邊鋪階道。其池之上復有樓閣，千層萬疊廣博妙好，光明赫奕不可具說。其池之內，八功德水香美清徹盈溢充滿，為十四支。於諸無量莊嚴具中尋流上下，出聲演說無量法門。是妙水中復有六十億七寶蓮華，團圓正等，水注葉間四色四光，三輩九品行列次第，香潔微妙映蔽其國。寶地平正，願力所成。於其地上復有七重欄楯、七重行樹，寶幢臺榭、旛蓋珠纓各各無量殊特妙好，周廻間列莊嚴其國。又於虛空，甫諸天衣天香天花天繒天樂各各無量，繽紛散漫遍虛空界。如是無量諸莊嚴具，皆金銀瑠璃、硨磲碼瑙、毘楞伽、甄叔迦等金剛摩尼如意珠王不可思議眾寶所成，是眾寶內各放無量百千萬億寶色光王互相輝映，一一遍照三千大千世界。其光交羅不相障礙，極虛空際不可窮盡。如是無量一一光明、一一莊嚴，與虛空中天樂香花、珍禽鈴網，其聲雅正、宮商清徹、鏗鏘應節，流出無量無邊微妙之音，其音遍滿不間不斷，悉能演說苦、空、無我、諸波羅蜜，歎菩提道讚佛法僧，或說念處、正勤、根、力、覺、道，諸菩薩行諦緣願度、力、無畏等，十八不共、大慈大悲大喜大捨，不可思議無量法門。其所說法，三世十方依正色心融通無礙，及勸精進，如佛音聲等無有異。其國眾生聞是法已，悉皆念念隨其所樂，速能證入三乘勝行一切道品無量解脫，如從佛聞得無差別。縱是凡夫，聞此法故自然精進，尚無一念疲倦之心，云何更有退轉？又彼國土純一男子無有女人，蓮華化生不處胎胞，妙服美味能成法喜，從其所欲悉隨念至。無寒暑晝夜、無生老病死、無土石諸山、無三途惡道。往來虛空、經行樹下，欲作佛事、示現神通悉從心念。又復壽命無極。如是種種快樂無極，故名極樂。況復彌陀世尊功德光明威神相好各八萬四千，如紫金山，處大蓮華師子之座，莊嚴赫奕超過虛空，大海彌盧所不能及。眉間白毫功德增勝，如日舒光眾明悉絕。光中化佛菩薩聲聞各放光明，遠照塵剎攝受眾生，彼二大士亦復如是。文殊師利、普賢大行諸大菩薩皆住彼國，一生補處其數甚多。諸上善人俱會一處，悉為良友。以佛為師，親近慈容、聞第一義，頓超三界即證無生，十地高超二覺圓滿。況能於念念中供養十方三寶，成就一切法門，遊戲神通淨佛國土，乃至入於三途六道，舒光破暗救苦眾生，或復塵剎分身隨機化導，應病與藥如佛弘慈。於念念中，圓滿普賢所有行願、具文殊智、有大勢力如觀世音，同證菩提、同佛所住。則一切眾生性雖昏昧，得聞此說，誰不歡喜而生信樂？然彼妙土及莊嚴事雖具我心，若非彌陀如來於過去世為度眾生行菩薩道不可稱計，焉得成就？當知彼佛行願無邊、莊嚴無盡，是故如來居彼國土。大願圓滿寶土斯成，依正莊嚴悉皆具足。如是莊嚴依正境界，假使各十方面百恒河沙微塵剎數菩薩聲聞，以大辯才如實稱揚，盡未來時不可窮極。若善男子善女人聞如是說，至心信樂欲生彼國者，應如佛教，圓發三心、具足眾戒不犯威儀，然後直心正向觀彼國土一切依正無量莊嚴勝妙境界，及彼如來八萬相好功德光明清淨之身。或復隨取一相一境，乃至如來眉間白毫相光，遠離虛妄，或一念至十念或一日至七日，譬如壯士屈伸臂頃即得往生。其有直信有彼國土、有彼如來願力威神不生疑惑，但能一心不亂執持名號者，不出所期亦得生彼，何待色身報滿然後得生？當知阿彌陀佛接引眾生，令離苦海過彼慈親。於先劫中已立大誓，無苦不忍、無行不臻、無願不立、無法不說，為度我故方便百千。今正是時，目睛不瞬，垂臂待我，已歷十劫。念念不捨，甚於剖心。乃至其心激切，入生死中遍歷三道，地獄猛火不辭勞倦。我若廻心向佛，如子戀母，正慰所懷，則不逾當念便得往生，何必更經十念之頃然後得生？

Now, the unexcelled, fully enlightened, holy master, the World-Honored One, in universal response to the capacities of beings, descended in spirit to the world from the Tuṣita Palace; thus over forty years he preached the Dharma at more than three hundred assemblies, causing all sentient beings equally to realize the true and eternal. Even up to the very end at the assembly on Vulture Peak, he only then expounded the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, enabling living beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the knowledge and vision of the Buddha; with this, the fundamental purpose of his appearance in the world was fully expressed. Yet the path of appearing in the world to deliver living beings is not unique to Śākyamuni; the Tathāgatas of the three times are all likewise. And among the teachings taught and transformed throughout Śākyamuni's lifetime, if one seeks that wherein capacity and stimulus resonate with each other, where the affinity between beings and the Buddha is deep, which is most simple and most easy yet supreme in merit and a direct shortcut, there is nothing that surpasses the single teaching of seeking rebirth in the Pure Land.

Now, as for the teaching of buddha-mindfulness, it first began when the monk Dharmākara, incalculable kalpas ago, was a great king. Hearing the Buddha Lokeśvararāja preach the Dharma, he then abandoned his kingdom, left household life, and became a monk. That Buddha further expounded to him in detail the differing matters—coarse and fine, good and evil—of the humans, gods, and adornments of twenty-one billion buddha lands. Having heard this, Dharmākara immediately made forty-eight great vows before the Buddha: that when he became a buddha, in his land there would be no three wretched destinies, three poisons, eight sufferings, eight difficulties, nine afflictions, ten entanglements, or any other obstructions; that those born in my land would all abide in right concentration, be people of superior wisdom who have attained tolerance, awakened to the mind, and gained liberation, and even with ten thoughts attain rebirth. If it were not so, he would not attain right awakening. At that time the great earth shook, the heavens rained down wondrous flowers, music sounded spontaneously in the sky, and the Buddha bestowed a prediction upon him.

Now he has already attained the fruit, having been a buddha for ten kalpas. Because of his former vows' superiority, his merit, spiritual powers, light, strengths, and fearlessnesses surpass the ten directions; the Buddha's name is Amitābha. The land where that Amitābha Buddha resides is straight to the west from this Sahā world, past a hundred thousand kotis of lands; it is called Sukhāvatī, or called Peace and Bliss. Now he is currently present there, expounding the Dharma through his former great vows and spiritual powers, gathering in the living beings of the worlds of the ten directions who practice buddha-mindfulness. Of the living beings who are born there, they attain non-retrogression; in a single kṣaṇa they are beyond count, how much more so those delivered throughout kalpas? What limit could there be to those born there? Fine dust motes and sands of the Gaṅgā cannot surpass them.

The adornments of that buddha land are supremely wondrous, surpassing the ten directions. There are jeweled ponds, all formed of the seven treasures according to their sizes. Some are great ponds whose measure is vast and overflowing. Directly abiding within them, golden sand is spread on the bottom and stepped paths are paved along the sides. Above the ponds there are further multistoried pavilions, thousands of layers and myriads of tiers, vast and wondrously fine, their radiant light so blazing that it cannot be fully described. Within the ponds, the water of eight merits is fragrant, sweet, clear, overflowing, and full, forming fourteen streams. Seeking their flows up and down among the immeasurable adornments, they emit sounds that proclaim immeasurable teachings.

Within this wondrous water there are further sixty billion seven-jeweled lotus blossoms, perfectly round and even. Water pours between the petals in four colors with four lights, arranged in tiers according to the three grades and nine ranks, fragrant, clean, delicate, and wondrous, illuminating his land. The jeweled ground is flat and even, formed by the power of his vows. Upon the ground there are further seven rows of railings and seven rows of trees, jeweled banners, terraces, pavilions, flags, canopies, and pearl necklaces, each immeasurably distinct and wondrously fine, arranged alternately in rounds to adorn his land.

Furthermore, in the sky, heavenly garments, heavenly incense, heavenly flowers, heavenly silks, and heavenly music, each immeasurable, scatter in profusion throughout the realm of empty space. All such immeasurable adornments are formed of inconceivable multitudes of treasures: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, agate, vilaṅga, kiṃśuka, vajra, and the king of wish-fulfilling maṇi jewels. Within these many treasures, each emits immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of jeweled color-light kings that shine upon one another, each illuminating the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world. Their lights interlace without obstructing each other, reaching to the bounds of empty space inexhaustibly.

All such immeasurable lights and all such adornments, together with the heavenly music, fragrant flowers, rare birds, and bell-nets in empty space—their sounds are elegant and correct, the musical tones clear, ringing in harmony with the rhythm, pouring forth immeasurable and boundless delicate sounds. The sounds fill everywhere without pause or interruption, all capable of expounding suffering, emptiness, non-self, the perfections, praising the path of bodhi, and extolling the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; or expounding the foundations of mindfulness, right efforts, faculties, powers, factors of awakening, the path, the bodhisattva practices, the truths, conditions, vows, perfections, powers, fearlessnesses, the eighteen unshared qualities, great loving-kindness, great compassion, great sympathetic joy, and great equanimity—inconceivable, immeasurable teachings.

As for the Dharma they expound, the circumstantial and primary, form and mind of the three times and ten directions are completely interpenetrating and unobstructed, also exhorting vigor, identical without difference to the voice of a buddha. When the living beings of that land hear this Dharma, in every thought according to their inclination, they are all able quickly to realize and enter the superior practices of the three vehicles, all the factors of the path, and immeasurable liberations, no different from hearing it directly from the Buddha. Even if one is an ordinary being, because of hearing this Dharma one naturally advances vigorously, without even a single thought of fatigue; how could there be any retrogression?

Furthermore, that land consists purely of men and has no women; they are born by transformation from lotus blossoms and do not dwell in a womb. Wondrous garments and fine foods bring about the joy of the Dharma, arriving in accordance with thought according to their desires. There is no cold or heat, day or night; no birth, old age, sickness, or death; no mountains of earth and rock; no evil destinies of the three paths. Moving through empty space and walking under the trees, whatever Buddha-activities they wish to perform or spiritual powers they wish to manifest all follow their mental intent. Furthermore, their lifespan is limitless. Such various kinds of happiness are limitless; hence it is named Sukhāvatī [Utmost Bliss].

How much more so with the World-Honored One Amitābha, whose merits, lights, majestic spiritual powers, and major and minor marks each number eighty-four thousand, like a mountain of purple gold, seated upon a lion throne of a great lotus blossom, blazing with adornments surpassing empty space, beyond the reach of the great ocean or Mount Meru. The white curl between his eyebrows is supreme in merit, like the sun shedding its light so that all other lights disappear. The transformation buddhas, bodhisattvas, and śrāvakas within his light each emit light, illuminating distant dust-mote lands to gather in living beings; the two Great Beings are also like this. Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra of Great Conduct, and all the great bodhisattvas dwell in that land, and those bound to one life [before buddhahood] are exceedingly numerous.

All superior good people gather in one place, all becoming good friends. With the Buddha as their master, they draw near his compassionate countenance and hear the ultimate truth, instantly transcending the three realms and immediately realizing the non-arising [of dharmas], loftily transcending the ten grounds and perfecting the two awakenings. How much more can they, in thought after thought, make offerings to the Triple Gem of the ten directions, accomplish all teachings, sport in spiritual powers, purify buddha lands, and even enter the three paths and six destinies, emitting light to destroy darkness and save suffering beings; or manifest divided bodies in dust-mote lands to guide beings according to their capacities, dispensing medicine according to the illness like the Buddha's vast compassion. In thought after thought, they fulfill all the practices and vows of Samantabhadra, possess the wisdom of Mañjuśrī, have great strength like Avalokiteśvara, equally realize bodhi, and dwell together with the Buddha.

Then, even though the nature of all living beings is benighted, having heard this explanation, who would not rejoice and give rise to faith and joy? Yet although that wondrous land and its adornments are complete within our mind, were it not for the Amitābha Tathāgata practicing the bodhisattva path in past lives for incalculable kalpas to deliver living beings, how could they have been accomplished? One should know that that Buddha's practices and vows are boundless and his adornments are inexhaustible; therefore the Tathāgata dwells in that land. His great vows fulfilled, this jeweled land is thereby completed, and the adornments of both circumstantial and primary [rewards] are fully complete. If bodhisattvas and śrāvakas numbering as many as the dust-mote lands of the sands of a hundred Gaṅgā rivers in each of the ten directions were to praise such a realm of circumstantial and primary adornments truthfully with great eloquence, they could not exhaust it even to the end of future time.

If good men and good women, hearing such an exposition, believe and take joy with supreme sincerity, desiring to be born in that land, they should, according to the Buddha's teaching, fully generate the three minds, possess all the precepts without violating deportment, and then with a straight mind rightly directed contemplate all the immeasurable, superior, and wondrous realms of circumstantial and primary adornments of that land, as well as that Tathāgata's pure body of eighty thousand marks, merits, and lights. Or further, following their inclination, take up a single mark or a single realm, even up to the light of the mark of the white curl between the Tathāgata's eyebrows, far removed from falsehood, for one thought up to ten thoughts, or for one day up to seven days; then, like a strong man bending and extending his arm, they will immediately attain rebirth. If there are those who directly believe that that land exists and that that Tathāgata's vow-power and majestic spirit exist, without giving rise to doubt, and are only able to uphold the name with single-minded unperturbedness, they will also attain birth there without exceeding their expectation; why wait until the retribution of the physical body is exhausted before attaining rebirth?

One should know that Amitābha Buddha's receiving and guiding living beings to cause them to leave the sea of suffering exceeds that of loving parents. In previous kalpas he already established great vows: there is no suffering he has not endured, no practice he has not attained, no vow he has not established, and no Dharma he has not spoken, using hundreds of thousands of skillful means for the sake of delivering me. Now is precisely the time; without blinking an eye, extending his arm to wait for me, already ten kalpas have passed. He does not abandon me in thought after thought, more intensely than cutting open his heart. His mind is so impassioned that he enters into birth and death, passing through the three paths everywhere, not shrinking from weariness amid the fierce fires of hell. If I turn my mind toward the Buddha like a child yearning for its mother, directly comforting what he cherishes, then within the very thought at hand I will immediately attain rebirth; why must one pass through the span of ten more thoughts before attaining rebirth?