寶王三昧念佛直指 1.52

1.52

夫二土者，即諸佛折攝二門也。行人聞上所說依正之境，則能如彼經旨，了知此土實苦、彼土實樂。雖聞觀慧法門圓融微妙，而直見二土儼然皆即實境。非如淺信之人，謂彼土心有則有、心無則無，光影幻化虛妄不實，處處皆是西方等解。深知彼土亦如此土，端確的實而無謬誤。若人能具此智，不為世間一切邪解偏見諸惡知識之所回轉，則當正觀二土苦樂淨穢。於其境上，生二種心以為方便，非此二心不能生彼。何謂二心？一者厭離心、二者忻樂心，於此娑婆生厭離故，則能隨順釋迦所說折門；於彼極樂生忻樂故，則能隨順彌陀所示攝門。以此二門精進修行，念佛三昧必定成就。何謂折門？以聞如上所說極樂勝妙，則應如理觀察此娑婆世界皆苦無一樂者，三塗地獄日夜燒然，餓鬼、旁生不可堪忍，修羅忿戰，人處何安？根塵與八苦交煎、因果共四生昇墜，時有寒暑、境是沙泥，晝夜推遷，無常不住。又復受身臭穢，男女異形，所需衣食艱難麁惡，壽命不永、眾苦相生。縱有生於天宮，報盡還歸極苦。又不知人中樂即是苦、親正是冤，顛倒攀緣不求出路，從業致業展轉不休。如是苦惱不可具陳，故當厭離也。何謂攝門？行人聞說娑婆實苦如是，則於彼土西方極樂生大忻樂。彼極樂土寶地寶池無三惡道，莊嚴妙勝超過十方，無寒暑晝夜推遷，無生老病死結業，純男無女，蓮華化生，衣食自然，能成法喜，壽命無量，身光莫窮，聞法音則應念知歸，覩相好而剎那悟道。如是種種快樂無量，得名極樂，故當忻樂也。若能於此一門，精進修習日夜不休，隨順佛教，於此土聲色諸境，作地獄想、作苦海想、作火宅想，於諸寶物作苦具想，飲食衣服如膿血鐵皮想，於諸眷屬作夜叉羅剎噉人鬼想。況復生死不住、長劫奔波，實可厭離。於知識若經卷中，聞彼佛願力國土莊嚴，於念念中稱彼理趣，生安隱想、生寶所想、生家業想、解脫處想。彌陀如來菩薩僧眾，如慈父想、如慈母想，生接引想、生津梁想。於怖畏急難之中，稱名即應，功不唐捐，剎那便至，速來救護想、應念出離想。如是功德無量，實可忻樂。若於此折門不能修行、厭離不深，則娑婆業繫不脫。若於彼攝門不能修行、忻樂不切，則極樂勝境難躋。是以行人欲生淨土成就念佛三昧，當齊修二門，為發行最初一步也。若不修此二門，雖了觀慧之旨，但成虛解；縱欲生彼，以不忻厭，無因可得。若能修此二門，不識觀慧之旨，雖可生彼，但事想故，位非上輩；若能熾然忻厭，圓修觀慧，既生而復上品者矣。學者豈可謂此說固執著相而輕棄也？或曰：何不諸緣放下一念萬年，使心與理會、境與神融，自然合法。何必忻厭取捨若是之深？答：若謂諸緣放下是道，只起一念放下之心，便不名為放下，却與道反遠，類於斷見外道。故鵝湖云：莫秖忘形與死心，此個難醫病最深。又云：若還默默恣如愚，知君未解做工夫。又佛十八不共法中有精進無減，又六波羅蜜因精進故方得成滿。且放下者，但放下世間業緣耳，豈是放下精進體道之心哉？古人所謂坐在無事甲裏，正是此輩。若謂放下自在是道，而不勤加精進一心修行，豈得心會境融打成一片與道合耶？若知不放下是放下，熾然忻厭取捨，即是不忻厭取捨，修即無修、念即無念，則名無功用行，亦名無作妙心，奚難速證中道之理？又修故離斷、無修離常，斷常既離，則異乎所問而直生安樂世界，以二大士為同修，日與彌陀佛相對，彼時知何法而不可問、何行而不可學、何疑而不可除、何求而不可得。既無退轉，則此忻厭豈不是成無上正覺之大因行哉！

Now, the two lands are the two gateways of subduing and gathering in among the buddhas. When practitioners hear the circumstantial and primary environments described above, they can, in accordance with the purport of those sūtras, thoroughly understand that this land is truly suffering and that land is truly bliss. Although they hear that the Dharma-gateway of contemplation and wisdom is completely interfused, subtle, and wondrous, they directly see that the two lands are both manifestly real environments. They are not like those of shallow faith who say that that land exists if the mind exists and does not exist if the mind does not exist, that it is a phantom reflection, illusory, empty, and unreal, or understand that every place is the West. They deeply know that that land, just like this land, is definitively real and true without error. If a person can possess this wisdom and not be turned around by all the heterodox understandings, partial views, and evil companions in the world, then they will correctly contemplate the suffering, bliss, purity, and defilement of the two lands. Toward their environments, they generate two kinds of mind as an expedient; without these two minds, one cannot be born there. What are the two minds? The first is the mind of revulsion and renunciation; the second is the mind of joyful aspiration. Because they generate revulsion and renunciation toward this Sahā [world], they can accord with the gateway of subduing taught by Śākya[muni]; because they generate joyful aspiration toward that Sukhāvatī, they can accord with the gateway of gathering in revealed by Amitābha. By zealously practicing with these two gateways, the buddha-mindfulness samādhi will certainly be accomplished. What is the gateway of subduing? Because one hears the superior wondrousness of Sukhāvatī described above, one should properly contemplate that this Sahā world is entirely suffering without a single joy: the three [evil] paths and the hells burn day and night; hungry ghosts and animals endure the unbearable; asuras fight in fury; how can the human realm be peaceful? The sense organs and dusts torment each other with the eight sufferings; causes and effects rise and fall together across the four modes of birth; the seasons bring cold and heat, the surroundings are sand and mud; day and night shift and pass, impermanent and never halting. Moreover, the body received is foul and defiled, male and female differ in form, the necessary food and clothing are hard to come by, coarse and inferior, life spans are not enduring, and manifold sufferings arise in succession. Even if one is born into a celestial palace, when the retribution is exhausted one returns again to extreme suffering. Furthermore, not knowing that joy among humans is itself suffering and that loved ones are precisely enemies, they cling to conditions upside down without seeking a way out, generating karma from karma, turning around endlessly. Such afflictions cannot be fully detailed, and therefore one should feel revulsion and renunciation. What is the gateway of gathering in? When practitioners hear that the Sahā [world] is truly suffering like this, they then generate great joyful aspiration toward that Western land of Sukhāvatī. In that land of Sukhāvatī, with its jeweled grounds and jeweled ponds, there are no three evil paths, and its adorned, wondrous excellence surpasses the ten directions. There is no shifting of cold, heat, day, or night, no binding karma of birth, old age, sickness, and death; there are purely men and no women, who are born by transformation from lotus flowers; food and clothing are naturally provided, enabling the fulfillment of Dharma-joy; life spans are immeasurable, and bodily radiance knows no end; hearing the sounds of the Dharma, they immediately know the refuge in every thought; beholding the marks and signs, they awaken to the Way in an instant. Such manifold joys are boundless, which is why it is named Sukhāvatī; therefore one should feel joyful aspiration. If one can, in this single gateway, zealously cultivate without resting day or night, according with the Buddha's teaching, one contemplates all the environments of sound and form in this land as hells, as seas of suffering, as a burning house; contemplates all precious objects as instruments of suffering; contemplates food, drink, and clothing as pus, blood, and iron hides; contemplates all kin and relatives as yakṣas, rākṣasas, and man-eating ghosts. Furthermore, birth and death do not cease, scurrying through long kalpas—truly it is worthy of revulsion and renunciation. When from spiritual companions or sūtra scrolls one hears of that Buddha's vow power and the adornments of his land, then thought after thought, corresponding to that principle, one conceives it as a secure refuge, as a place of jewels, as one's true home, as a place of liberation. Toward the Tathāgata Amitābha and the assembly of bodhisattvas and saṅgha, one conceives them as a loving father, as a loving mother, conceives them as guiding and receiving, as a ferry and bridge. In the midst of terror, emergency, and distress, when one invokes the name there is immediate response and the effort is not in vain: one conceives that in a single instant they will arrive, swiftly coming to rescue and protect, and that according with one's thought one will escape. Such merits are limitless; truly it is worthy of joyful aspiration. If one cannot cultivate this gateway of subduing and revulsion and renunciation are not deep, then one will not be free from the karmic fetters of Sahā. If one cannot cultivate that gateway of gathering in and joyful aspiration is not earnest, then the superior realm of Sukhāvatī will be difficult to attain. Therefore, when practitioners wish to be born in the Pure Land and accomplish the buddha-mindfulness samādhi, they must cultivate both gateways together as the very first step in initiating practice. If they do not cultivate these two gateways, even if they comprehend the purport of contemplation and wisdom, it will only become empty understanding; even if they wish to be born there, because they lack joyful aspiration and revulsion, there is no cause by which it can be attained. If they can cultivate these two gateways but do not understand the purport of contemplation and wisdom, although they may be born there, because it is merely mental visualization of concrete phenomena, their station will not be of the superior grade. If they can ardently feel joyful aspiration and revulsion while completely cultivating contemplation and wisdom, having been born, they will moreover belong to the superior grade. How could learners say that this teaching is stubborn attachment to marks and lightly discard it? Someone may ask: 'Why not lay down all conditions for ten thousand years in a single thought, causing the mind to harmonize with the principle and the realm to blend with the spirit, naturally according with the Dharma? Why must one practice joyful aspiration and revulsion, grasping and discarding, so deeply as this?' I answer: If you say that laying down all conditions is the Way, then merely giving rise to a single thought of laying things down is already not called laying things down; instead, it is farther away from the Way, akin to the heterodox path of the view of annihilation. Thus Ehu said: 'Do not merely forget the physical form and make the mind dead; this illness is the hardest to cure and the deepest.' He also said: 'If you still stay taciturn and indulge in being like an idiot, I know that you have not understood how to apply effort.' Furthermore, in the Buddha's eighteen unshared dharmas there is no decrease in zeal, and the six pāramitās can only reach fulfillment because of zeal. Moreover, as for 'laying down', it is only laying down the worldly karmic conditions; how could it be laying down the mind of zealous devotion to realizing the Way? Those whom the ancients called 'sitting inside the armor of doing nothing' are precisely this sort of person. If one claims that laying down and being at ease is the Way, and yet does not diligently apply zeal and cultivate with a single mind, how could the mind harmonize, the realm blend, fuse into one, and unite with the Way? If one knows that not laying down is laying down, that ardently feeling joyful aspiration and revulsion, grasping and discarding, is itself not feeling joyful aspiration and revulsion, grasping and discarding, and that cultivation is non-cultivation and mindfulness is non-mindfulness, then it is called effort-free practice and is also called the wondrous mind of non-action. How could it be difficult to swiftly verify the principle of the Middle Way? Moreover, because of cultivation, one is free from annihilation; because of non-cultivation, one is free from permanence. Annihilation and permanence having been eliminated, it is completely different from what was asked, and one directly takes birth in the World of Peace and Joy, taking the two Mahāsattvas as fellow cultivators and facing Amitābha Buddha every day. At that time, what Dharma could not be inquired about, what practice could not be learned, what doubt could not be eliminated, and what seeking could not be obtained? Since there is no retrogression, is not this joyful aspiration and revulsion the great causal practice for achieving unexcelled correct awakening?!