寶王三昧念佛直指 1.54

1.54

夫淨穢同心、生佛一理，諸法本等，奚假勸修。其奈眾生迷心作境淨穢斯分，對待相成縛脫迥異，纏縛多劫不覺不知，故須勸娑婆苦海眾生求生西方極樂世界也。行人既聞如上所說二種法門，則必深知淨穢苦樂之土真實不謬，便當發行求生。如彼農民得利自趨，止之不可得也。然彼農民近為一歲饑寒之苦，尚甘日夜不休朝愁暮苦，具經年載而不自倦。況彼三昧行者，若一念精勤超歷劫娑婆之苦，何止一歲饑寒；登九品極樂之安，何止一年溫飽。以彼較之，優劣可知，是尤不必待人勸也。又前示人折攝二門，其旨已明。如云此是金玉、此是砂石，雖三尺孺子亦必棄石而求金，不勸而自取，蓋因識其貴賤。行者亦爾，既明識此土是苦、彼土是樂，此是生死沈溺、彼是自在解脫，亦必捨此穢土而求彼淨土，自然念念不住、心心不息，如救頭然聞教便行，奚待更勸？苦樂二土是佛所說，諦信不疑，修則自得。今人見屎尿，則必搐鼻攢眉，嫌其臭穢便欲速去；見錦綺，則必舒顏展笑，貪其瑩潔便欲速得。彼暫時美惡幻境尚不能一忍，而憎愛熾然，況長劫極樂極苦之處而不速生忻厭，可謂愚之甚惑之深矣。又此娑婆世界釋迦已滅、彌勒未生、賢聖隱伏，一切眾生奔波苦海，猶失父之兒。若不以極樂願王為歸，則誰為救護？又況此界六道雜還，人天雖優，報盡則墜。今且以人處竪修論之。彼神仙之黨未離空地，尚不易至，況彼天乎。彼生天者，以三品十善之因生三界天，自劣至優各歷多劫不能如願，成小敗廣，如海如滴。中間或遇邪惡魔黨，永退永失。敢言得出三界而望四果四向之地，況歷信住行向諸地而超此耶？若能修此念佛法門求生淨土，雖在凡地，不出一生即便橫截三界五道生死，徑超諸有，蒙佛接引頓生安養，於彼上品蓮臺托質，花開見佛，聞法悟道。不離當念闊步大方，供養一切三寶，教化一切眾生。彌勒世尊降生之時，再來此地，同佛弘慈。所有歷劫父母妻子兄弟姊妹冤親等境，諭以道品，告以昔因，皆令證果。則其行願豈不廣大耶？此娑婆世界所有三障一切結業，更不能累我。如是功德，若一念失修便屬後世，豈宜自緩？況又世事千端、生緣萬擾，如鎖如鉤連環不斷，心則念念不住、身則在在無休，役我升沈、障我本性，歷劫至今曾未休息。無常遷變不可久留，縱壽百年不逾彈指，今日明日難保其存，忽於眼光落地之際，不覺剎那異生，隨其業因受形別類，披毛戴角、著地飛空，今日見解都忘，恍忽三途六趣，飄零多劫不知自歸，可謂大苦。縱是彌勒出世，而我生處何知？尚不聞父母三寶名字，何況經教圓談！雖受異身，保惜深重，因業致業、從冥入冥，懼死貪生不異今日。若非即於目下當念之間，効彼先覺丈夫，猛發大心、立決定志，奮揚舉鼎拔山之力，一截截斷跳出稠林，使兩頭撒開中間放下，安能行業昭著、光動人天，群有蒙恩、諸佛護念，閉三惡趣、開總持門。即使不待娑婆報滿，便得往生者也。若又更待處所穩便、衣食豐饒，充足香華、事事稱意，思前算後、卜彼良時，報盡恩冤、圓成善事，然後發行。假使虛空界窮，亦無此日矣。所謂晴乾不肯去，直待雨淋頭。古云：即今休去便休去，欲覓了時無了時。斯之謂也。

The pure and the defiled share the same mind; sentient beings and buddhas share one principle. Since all dharmas are originally equal, why rely on exhortations to practice? Yet, sentient beings are deluded in their minds and create external realms, so that the pure and the defiled are thereby separated. Duality establishes itself, bondage and liberation become vastly distinct, and entangled for many kalpas, they neither perceive nor know it. Therefore, one must exhort sentient beings in the sea of suffering of the Sahā world to seek rebirth in the Western World of Sukhāvatī. Having heard the two Dharma-doors explained above, practitioners will certainly understand deeply that the lands of purity and defilement, suffering and joy, are genuine and unerring, and they should immediately undertake practice to seek rebirth. They should be like farmers who naturally hasten toward profit, so that nothing can stop them. Now, those farmers, merely for the sake of a single year's suffering from hunger and cold, are willing to labor day and night without rest, sorrowing in the morning and toiling in the evening, exhausting months and years without weariness. How much more so for a practitioner of this samādhi: if with a single thought of diligent exertion one transcends the suffering of the Sahā world endured through kalpas, how is it merely a single year's hunger and cold? Ascending to the peace of the nine grades of Sukhāvatī, how is it merely a single year of warmth and plenty? Comparing the two, the superior and the inferior are plain to see; there is especially no need to wait for others' exhortations. Furthermore, as the two gates of subduing and gathering in were shown to people earlier, their intent has already been clarified. It is as if one said, 'This is gold and jade; that is sand and gravel.' Even a three-foot child would certainly discard the stones and seek the gold, taking it naturally without needing exhortation, precisely because they recognize value and worthlessness. Practitioners are also like this: once they clearly recognize that this land is suffering and that land is joy, that this is sinking in birth and death and that is sovereign liberation, they must surely cast aside this defiled land and seek that Pure Land, naturally having thought after thought unceasing, mind after mind unflagging, acting immediately upon hearing the teaching like saving one's head from burning—why wait for further exhortation? The two lands of suffering and joy were taught by the Buddha; have sincere faith without doubt, and if you practice, you will attain it naturally. When people today see feces and urine, they inevitably wrinkle their noses and knit their brows, loathing the foul stench and wishing to depart quickly; when they see brocade and patterned silk, they inevitably relax their faces and smile, coveting its lustrous purity and wishing to obtain it quickly. If one cannot endure even for a moment these transient, illusory realms of beauty and ugliness, and hatred and love burn fiercely, how much more so with places of ultimate joy and ultimate suffering across long kalpas—if one does not quickly give rise to joy and revulsion, one may truly be called extremely foolish and profoundly confused! Furthermore, in this Sahā world, Śākyamuni has already entered parinirvāṇa, Maitreya has not yet been born, and the sages and worthies remain concealed; all sentient beings rush about in the sea of suffering, like children who have lost their father. If they do not take the King of Vows of Sukhāvatī as their refuge, who will rescue and protect them? How much more so since in this realm the six paths intermingle, and although humans and devas are superior, when their retribution is exhausted, they fall. Now let us consider vertical cultivation from the human realm. Even the groups of spirit immortals who have not left the empty ground do not attain it easily, how much less those heavens! Those born in the heavens, through the causes of the three grades of the ten wholesome deeds, are born into the heavens of the three realms; from the inferior to the superior, they pass through many kalpas yet cannot fulfill their wishes, their minor successes and vast failures being like a drop compared to the ocean. Along the way, if they happen to encounter evil and demonic cohorts, they retrogress and fall away forever. How could one dare say they will manage to escape the three realms and look toward the stages of the four fruits and four directions, let alone pass through the various stages of the faiths, abodes, practices, and dedications to transcend all this? If one can practice this Dharma-door of buddha-mindfulness to seek rebirth in the Pure Land, then although one is on the level of an ordinary being, within a single lifetime one will cut horizontally across birth and death in the three realms and five destinies, directly transcending all states of existence. Receiving the Buddha's welcoming guidance, one is instantly born in the Land of Peaceful Nurturance, entrusted to the lotus pedestal of the highest grade, seeing the Buddha when the flower opens, and awakening to the Way upon hearing the Dharma. Without leaving this present thought, one strides broadly through the great expanse, making offerings to all the Three Jewels and teaching and transforming all sentient beings. When Maitreya the World-Honoured One descends to be born, one will return to this land to join the Buddha in propagating great compassion. To all the fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters, enemies, and kin of past kalpas, one will instruct them in the factors of the Way and inform them of past causes, causing them all to realize the fruit. Would not such practice and vows be vast and great? All the three obstructions and all fettering karma of this Sahā world can never burden me again. If such merit is neglected in a single thought, it will fall into a future life; how could one slacken oneself? How much more so given that worldly affairs have a thousand tangles and the conditions of life have myriad disturbances, linked without interruption like chains and hooks; the mind does not abide from thought to thought, and the body finds no rest anywhere, driving me to rise and sink, obstructing my original nature, never having rested from kalpas past until today. Impermanent change cannot be long delayed; even a lifespan of a hundred years does not exceed the snap of a finger, and whether one survives from today into tomorrow can hardly be guaranteed. Suddenly, when the light of the eyes falls to the ground, one is reborn in a different form in an instant without realizing it; in accordance with karmic causes one receives forms of different kinds, donning fur and wearing horns, walking on the ground or flying in the sky. Today's understanding will be entirely forgotten; bewildered amidst the three paths and six destinies, drifting for many kalpas without knowing where to return, this can truly be called great suffering! Even if Maitreya appears in the world, how will I know where I am born? I would not even hear the names of parents or the Three Jewels, let alone the complete discourse of the scriptural teachings! Although having received a different body, cherishing and clinging to it deeply, causing karma through karma, entering from darkness into darkness, fearing death and coveting life no differently from today. If one does not right now in this very thought emulate those awakened heroes of old, vigorously generate the great mind, establish a resolute will, and summon the strength to lift a tripod and uproot a mountain, cutting through cleanly in one stroke to leap out of the dense thicket, casting aside both ends and letting go of the middle, how could one's practice and karma be illustrious, shining to move humans and devas, all existences receiving grace, all buddhas being mindful of and protecting one, shutting the three evil destinies, and opening the gate of dhāraṇī? This brings it about that without even waiting for the Sahā retribution to end, one immediately attains rebirth. If, instead, one waits for conditions to be secure and convenient, food and clothing to be abundant, incense and flowers to be sufficient, and all affairs to be satisfactory, calculating past and future, divining an auspicious time, repaying all kindness and grievances, and perfecting wholesome deeds before setting out in practice—even if space itself were exhausted, such a day would never come! This is what is meant by: 'Unwilling to depart while the weather is clear and dry, waiting until the rain pours over one's head.' The ancients said: 'If you can quit right now, quit right now; if you wait for an end, there will never be an end.' It refers to this.