西方合論 1.46

1.46

三、恒真淨土者，即靈山會上所指淨土，引三乘中權教菩薩，令知此土，即穢恒淨；諸眾信而未見。夫穢性本寂，俗相恒空。本寂故，菩薩居穢常寂；恒空故，菩薩入俗常空，正顯淨義。但以眾生執海難清、識繩易縛。言業本空，則恣情作業；言行無體，即肆意冥行。犯永嘉之所呵，墮善星之所墜；以至生遭王難，死為魔眷者，往往而是。嗟夫！使盡大地皆菩薩，則斯言誠為利益。天下之菩薩少而凡夫多，則斯言之利天下也少，而害天下多矣！

Third, the Eternally True Pure Land: this is the pure land pointed out in the assembly on Vulture Peak, guiding the provisional-teaching bodhisattvas among the three vehicles so that they would know that this land, while impure, is eternally pure; the multitude had faith in it but had not yet seen it. Now, the nature of defilement is originally quiescent, and worldly marks are eternally empty. Because it is originally quiescent, when a bodhisattva dwells in defilement, he is constantly quiescent; because it is eternally empty, when a bodhisattva enters the worldly, he is constantly empty—this precisely reveals the meaning of purity. However, beings' sea of grasping is difficult to clear, and the ropes of consciousness easily bind them. Hearing that karma is fundamentally empty, they give free rein to their desires and create karma; hearing that actions are devoid of substance, they recklessly act in darkness. They incur what Yongjia rebuked, and fall into the same ruin as Sunakkhatta; so much so that they meet with royal punishments in life, and become the retinue of Māra in death—such cases are seen everywhere. Alas! If the whole earth were all bodhisattvas, these words would indeed bring benefit. But in the world, bodhisattvas are few and ordinary beings are many; thus the benefit of these words to the world is small, while their harm to the world is great!