西方合論 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

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Section Two: Dependent Arising of the Teaching

Now, those who take pleasure in a dried-fish shop do not think of sandalwood; it is not that they truly do not think of it, but that they have not grown disgusted [with the foul smell]. If one suddenly brings them into a bright chamber and burns sandalwood and aloeswood, before the day is over they will lament their former filth and regret not having turned away from it sooner! Now, the foul stench of saṃsāra is worse than that of a dried-fish shop, yet sentient beings greedily crave it, doubly surpassing flies and gnats. The buddhas are like fragrance-selling elders: seeing a generation of humans and devas drowning in the turbid sea, how could they not feel commiseration? Therefore, the guiding master Amitābha widely opened the shop of fragrant adornment; Śākyamuni, the compassionate father, precisely pointed to the gate of the pure realm. Throughout the entire earth there is no one who is not an impoverished child; the single Buddha-name is precisely the capital [they need]. If you wish to test these true words, do not depart from the ten recitations; once you block your nostrils to the rank and foul, with time you will naturally feel disgust. Now, regarding the Western Land's initiation of the teaching, I briefly distinguish ten meanings:

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1. Because of the one great cause. 2. Because past causes are deep.

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3. Because it manifests fruit-virtue. 4. Because it relies on the causal nature.

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5. Because it accords with sentient beings. 6. Because the characteristic of defilement is empty.

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7. Because it is a supreme expedient. 8. Because it guides the two vehicles.

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9. Because it is a method of firm patience. 10. Because it demonstrates the true Dharma.

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First, regarding 'the one great cause': Sentient beings live in the world of five defilements, like criminals residing in prison, receiving unequal punishments merely according to the gravity of their crimes. Some violate minor laws, others run afoul of the supreme net; though their offenses differ, as for the suffering of bonds and fetters and the punishment of bastinado and caning, not a single person escapes. Why is this? Because those who enter prison are all criminals, and those who abide as humans and devas all have karmic retribution, bodies of fragmented limitation. Yet once criminals enter prison, there is not a moment they do not seek escape, for they know the burning torments of prison are unbearable and agonizing, and that outside the thorny wall there is a vast and immensely delightful world. Now sentient beings take defilement as their home and saṃsāra as their park; they fasten their hearts on being chief prisoners in caps and robes, and find comfort in pillories and cangues made of gold and jade. How could they know that the Great Iron Ring Mountains are our thorny wall, and that outside the execution grounds of the traidhātuka, each and every one has their own native home and land? The buddhas pity this with aching hearts and pained bones; therefore they distinguish purity and defilement, pointing out the route to escape and return. Yet for people who have abandoned it for long years, there is no place to return; the buddhas also build great mansions to settle them. On the one hand, they go to and fro at the prison gates to clear the road; on the other hand, they wait continuously outside the prison to adorn the guest houses. For such grace, with what body could one repay it? Alas! Illuminating the long night of the traidhātuka and overturning the overturned basin of billions of births, since the buddhas do not begrudge extending their hands, why alone do sentient beings cling so bitterly? The sūtra says: 'The Tathāgata appears in the world for one great cause.' The great cause is precisely this matter. Sentient beings, on the contrary, cling in various ways to this mere hair's-tip of affairs, exchanging the great for the small, content to starve to death—why?

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Second, regarding 'past causes are deep', there are three: first, the right cause; second, the right vow; third, the right practice. First, the right cause: this is the inherently pure essence of the buddhas of the three times and of all sentient beings, just as the myriad phenomena rely on space, mountains and rivers rely on the earth, grain relies on seeds, and flowers and fruits rely on kernels. Without this cause, the fruit of buddhahood cannot be achieved. Why? All compassion and wisdom are established purely on the basis of this cause. Therefore the Elder's Helun says: 'The body of the tathāgatagarbha is the dharmakāya; the oceans of all blessings and wisdom dwell within it, hence it is called a garbha (treasury). If one does not see the dharmakāya, all blessings and wisdom, great kindness and great compassion, are entirely unaccomplished, and all belong to arising and ceasing.' The dharmakāya is precisely this right cause. Second, the right vow: as when Bhikṣu Dharmākara, in this sūtra, made forty-eight great vows before the Tathāgata Lokeśvararāja, not taking bodhi if even one vow were not fulfilled. This was giving rise to such inconceivable vow-power based on the immeasurable compassion and wisdom of the svabhāva; it was not that he saw sentient beings outside the mind and made vows wishing to deliver them, because sentient beings are not outside the mind. Third, the right practice: as this sūtra states, 'Having made these vows, he thus dwelt in various virtues and practiced such bodhisattva practices for immeasurable, incalculable, nayutas of hundreds of thousands of kalpas.' Furthermore, as the Yixiang chusheng pusa jing says: 'When Amitābha Buddha was a prince in the past, he heard this subtle Dharma gate and upheld it with vigor; for seven thousand years his ribs did not touch a mat, he did not think of lust or wealth, did not inquire into other matters, and always dwelled alone with an unshakeable mind; he further taught and transformed eighty thousand billion nayutas of people, causing them to attain non-retrogression.' This is the svabhāva's practice, the svabhāva's vigor, not an intentional or conditioned virtue; though passing through billions of kalpas, it does not depart from a single thought-moment, because this subtle Dharma gate transcends all practices and all kalpas. These are called the right cause, the right practice, and the right vow; like the three dots of the letter 'i', if one is missing, it is not formed; they are neither fabricated nor unfabricated. Thus an ancient worthy said: 'When roots are deep, the fruit is luxuriant; when the source is far, the stream flows long. Since the past causes are deep, the arising of the teaching is also great.' How true this is!

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Third, regarding 'manifesting fruit-virtue': as the 'Chapter on the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra' in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: 'The buddhas and tathāgatas arise with great compassion on account of sentient beings; based on great compassion, they generate the bodhicitta; based on the bodhicitta, they attain samyaksaṃbodhi. Just as in the midst of a desert wilderness there is a great king of trees, if its roots obtain water, its branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits will all flourish; so too is the king of bodhi trees in the wilderness of saṃsāra. All sentient beings are the tree's roots, while the buddhas and bodhisattvas are its flowers and fruits. By benefiting sentient beings with the water of great compassion, one can accomplish the flowers and fruits of wisdom of the buddhas and bodhisattvas.' Therefore, one should know that all buddhas attain the fruit of buddhahood relying on sentient beings; if there were no sentient beings, the fruit of buddhahood would not be accomplished. For example, because the King of Han rescued the people, there were a hundred battles; because of the hundred battles, he ascended the great imperial throne; because he ascended the throne, the common people enjoyed their livelihoods. If there were no common people, none of the above things would exist. In the final analysis, whenever one performs a single virtue, a single task, a single benefit, or a single fame, without sentient beings none of them can be accomplished. Therefore, if I have no sentient beings, I cannot become myself: sentient beings are the dependent [circumstances] and I am the primary [entity]; or sentient beings are the primary and I am the dependent. The equality of others and self, and the non-obstruction of dependent and primary, are because it is naturally so. What is naturally so is precisely the natural fruit-virtue. If it were established outwardly, the meaning of fruit would not be accomplished.

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Fourth, relying on the causal nature: All sentient beings possess this pure nature. It is like pure gold cast into hairpins, bracelets, or chamber pots. The nature of the gold is one; the chamber pot is merely a utensil whose filth belongs to the vessel, not the gold. If it is melted down and recast into various fine and pleasing articles, the gold remains unchanged. It is the same with sentient beings and the Buddhas: they share the same pure nature; the distinctions are merely like those between bracelets and chamber pots, not differences in their nature. Therefore, when ordinary mortals on this terrestrial plane attain rebirth in ten recitations, it is because of their fundamental purity. When Amitābha Buddha wishes to embrace these sentient beings and immediately does so, it is because sentient beings are fundamentally pure. It is like the brightness of a mirror, which is not produced by polishing; rebirth in the Pure Land is not brought about solely through vows, practices, and mindfulness power. Why is this? Mindfulness and practice are like the furnace and hammer: they merely melt the gold, but do not produce other gold.

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Fifth, according with sentient beings: To delight children, one must use cakes and fruit; to delight women, one must use fine silks. What all sentient beings value are solely jewels, jade, clothing, and food; therefore, there are spontaneous seven treasures, as well as magnificent pavilions, garments, food, drink, and the like. This is like the children in the burning house who would never come out without goat and deer carts, yet once outside are given only the great cart. Now, Śākyamuni Tathāgata, according with the perceptual inclinations of sentient beings, spoke of Amitābha's Pure Land of seven treasures solely because sentient beings perceive their realms in this way and it was appropriate to speak thus. Once sentient beings are reborn there, they each perceive subtle and exquisite pure features beyond comparison, and only then do they realize that lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, and agate are like broken tiles and gravel. It is like high officials and nobles describing the magnificence of the royal palace to a rustic peasant: they merely use what is most precious to him as an analogy, for it is beyond what his ordinary perceptions can fathom. Just as speaking of colors to the congenitally blind is of no use, so too is this analogy.

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Sixth, the emptiness of impure marks: As the *Dàzhìdù lùn* says: “Suppose a man has a son who enjoys playing in filth, heaping up dirt as grain and using grass and wood as birds and beasts, cherishing them deeply. If anyone takes them away, he cries in anger. The father sees this and thinks: ‘Although this child currently cherishes them, this is easily relinquished; when he grows a little older, he will naturally stop. Why? Because these things are not real.’ The bodhisattva is also like this: observing that sentient beings cherish an impure, foul body and various five desires, once their five faculties, such as faith, are perfected, they can renounce them. If what the child clung to were real, even at a hundred years old his attachment would only grow deeper. If the things sentient beings clung to were truly existent, even if they attained the five faculties, they would be unable to abandon them. Because all phenomena are empty, deceptive, and unreal, they can be abandoned.” The Tathāgata’s expounding of the Pure Land to sentient beings is also like this: because that which sentient beings cling to is unreal, they are easily guided and transformed. It is like a person who in youth delights in beauty, in prime of life pursues official rank, and in old age craves profit. If these things were truly worth clinging to, they would not change with the months and years. Because they change, when the Pure Land is taught, they also delight in it, pursue it, and crave it, like a person in a dream who awakens as soon as he is called; if the dream were real, calling him would be of no avail. Because both are unreal, the Buddhas expound such a Dharma gate to all sentient beings.

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Seventh, the supreme expedient: This expedient relies neither on self-power nor on other-power. Because the ocean of one's own nature intrinsically contains such unimpeded merit, everything is readily complete. Therefore, a single holy name requires no further tedious words; with the success of ten recitations, many eons are suddenly transcended. It is like the myriad apertures roaring fiercely: the power lies in the gale, yet it manifests because of the apertures. It is like a dark ravine brightly illuminated: the efficacy lies in the morning sun, yet it is seen because of the ravine. It is like an ant hole of a single thread that can breach an embankment spanning mountain ranges: it is the power of the water, not the power of the ant. Again, it is like a single reed mat that can propel a ship of ten thousand bushels: it is the power of the wind, not the power of the reed. In short, all are manifested by the unproduced, unconditioned, inconceivable power of the ocean-nature of the dharmadhātu; neither self nor other, everything is fully possessed. Hence there is such a superior expedient—truly the quickest among the quick, the shortcut among shortcuts. To abandon this and not cultivate it is utter foolishness!

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Eighth, guiding the two vehicles: The two vehicles avoid external realms to tend toward quiescence, realizing a pseudo-nirvāṇa; unable to attain the Tathāgata’s dharmakāya, they suffer the distress of karmic afflictions. First, due to the ground of ignorance, they cannot attain direct sight of the final, complete extinction of the defilements, turbidities, and foul habit-energies, which is the fruit of the purity pāramitā. Second, because illusory actions arising from the ground of ignorance are not yet eliminated, they cannot attain direct sight of unproduced, non-action, which is the fruit of the self pāramitā. Third, because subtle delusions give rise to uncontaminated karma and the mind-made aggregates are not yet completely eradicated, they cannot attain direct sight of ultimate cessation and detachment, which is the fruit of the bliss pāramitā. Fourth, because the continuous arising and passing away of inconceivable transformation mortality persists, they cannot attain direct sight of the utterly changeless, which is the fruit of the permanence pāramitā. Due to these four kinds of karmic afflictions, they have not realized the true reality. The Tathāgata pities them and instructs them to turn away from their mind of nihilistic extinction and cultivate Pure Land practice, causing them to know that emptiness is not annihilation and existence is not permanent, and to board the wisdom of the Mahāyāna to enter the ocean of nirvāṇa.

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Ninth, the power of firm forbearance: Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna said: “A child from over four years of age up to under twenty is said to be on the stage of kumārabhūmi. A bodhisattva newly born into the bodhisattva household is like an infant; when he attains the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas up to the ten abodes, free from all evils, it is called the kumārabhūmi stage. To attain such a stage, one must learn the prajñāpāramitā and constantly wish not to be separated from the Buddhas. “Question: ‘A bodhisattva should transform sentient beings; why should he constantly wish not to be separated from the Buddhas?’ “Answer: ‘There are bodhisattvas who have not entered the bodhisattva stage and have not received the prediction of avaivartika. If they distance themselves from the Buddhas, they destroy their roots of goodness and sink into afflictions; unable to deliver themselves, how could they deliver others? It is like a person riding a boat that breaks apart midstream: wishing to save others, he instead drowns. It is also like pouring a little hot water into a large frozen pond: although a small spot melts, it instead turns into ice. When a bodhisattva has not entered the Dharma stage, if he distances himself from the Buddhas, with little merit and lacking the power of expedients, he might wish to transform sentient beings, but despite minor benefit, he falls back instead. For this reason, newly studying bodhisattvas should not be separated from the Buddhas.’ “Question: ‘If so, why not speak of not being separated from śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas? Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can also benefit bodhisattvas.’ “Answer: ‘Bodhisattvas have great aspiration. Although śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas offer the benefit of nirvāṇa, lacking omniscience, they cannot instruct bodhisattvas. The Buddhas possess knowledge of all aspects and thus can instruct bodhisattvas. Just as an elephant stuck in mud cannot be pulled out except by an elephant, so it is with bodhisattvas. If they enter improper paths, only a Buddha can rescue them, for they share the Great Path. Therefore it is said that bodhisattvas constantly wish not to be separated from the Buddhas.’ “Furthermore, the bodhisattva reflects: ‘Since I have not attained the Buddha-eye, I am no different from a blind man; if not guided by the Buddha, I have nowhere to go and will mistakenly enter other paths. Even if I hear the Buddha's Dharma, practicing in different places, I will not know the timing of teaching or the measures of practice. Furthermore, when bodhisattvas see the Buddha, they obtain diverse benefits: either their eyes see and their minds become pure; or upon hearing what is spoken, their minds delight in the Dharma, they attain great wisdom, practice according to the Dharma, and achieve liberation.’ With such immeasurable benefits from meeting the Buddha, how could they not single-mindedly and constantly wish to see the Buddha? “It is like an infant who should not leave its mother; like a traveler who should not leave his provisions; like one in intense heat who does not part from cool wind and cold water; like one in severe cold who does not wish to leave the fire; like crossing deep waters where one should not leave the boat; like a sick person who does not leave a skilled physician. A bodhisattva not leaving the Buddhas surpasses all the above. Why? Parents, relatives, good friends, human and heavenly kings, and the like, cannot benefit like a Buddha. The Buddha benefits bodhisattvas, freeing them from realms of suffering and placing them on the stage of the World-Honoured One. For this reason, bodhisattvas never part from the Buddhas. “Question: ‘Conditioned phenomena are deceptive and unreal, entirely untrustworthy. How can one attain one's wish not to be separated from the Buddhas?’ “Answer: ‘Because merit and wisdom are fully complete, one attains Buddhahood, not to mention not being separated from the Buddhas. Sentient beings fail to attain their wishes due to karmic causes from immeasurable eons. Although they cultivate merit, their wisdom is deficient; although they cultivate wisdom, their merit is deficient; hence their wishes are not fulfilled. Because a bodhisattva seeks the Buddha Path, he must cultivate two forbearances: patience toward beings and forbearance of dharmas. By practicing patience toward beings, he gives rise to compassion toward all sentient beings, extinguishes sins of immeasurable eons, and attains immeasurable merit. By practicing forbearance of dharmas, he destroys ignorance regarding all dharmas and attains immeasurable wisdom. With these two practices combined, what wish could not be fulfilled? For this reason, a bodhisattva throughout lifetimes is never separated from the Buddhas. “Furthermore, because a bodhisattva constantly loves and delights in buddhānusmṛti, upon casting off and receiving bodies, he always meets the Buddhas. It is like sentient beings with strong habits of desire who receive the bodies of lustful birds, such as peacocks and mandarin ducks; those with excessive habits of anger are born among venomous creatures, such as evil dragons, rākṣasas, centipedes, and poisonous snakes. The mind of this bodhisattva does not prize the wheel-turning sage king or the blessings and pleasures of humans and devas, but is mindful solely of the Buddhas; therefore, according to what the mind values, he receives bodily forms. Furthermore, because a bodhisattva constantly and skillfully cultivates the causal conditions of the buddhānusmṛti samādhi, wherever he is born he constantly encounters the Buddhas.’”

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Tianru's *Doubts and Inquiries* says: “Since enlightened and realized masters of the Chan school say, ‘Seeing one’s nature, one becomes a Buddha,’ how could they still be willing to seek the Pure Land?” Answer: “It is precisely the enlightened and realized masters who vow to seek rebirth. It is merely that you have not yet awakened; if you were awakened, ten thousand oxen could not hold back your rush toward the Pure Land.”

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Question: “Practitioners need only worry that the Great Matter is not yet clear. Once the Great Matter is clarified, they should practice the Buddha’s teaching, manifesting bodies according to various types, entering the mud and water without shunning saṃsāra, to broadly deliver living beings. Why then seek rebirth in the Pure Land, detesting suffering and pursuing pleasure?”

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He replied: “Do you suppose that after a single enlightenment, habitual outflows are forever eliminated and one immediately attains non-retrogression? Do you suppose that after a single enlightenment, there is no longer any such thing as comprehensively studying the Buddhadharma, cultivating practice, and realizing the fruits? Do you suppose that after a single enlightenment, one can immediately equal all Buddhas above, enter saṃsāra, and not be disturbed by obstructive conditions? If it were truly thus, then the great bodhisattvas who cultivate the six perfections and myriad practices, constantly passing through kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, should all feel ashamed before you! An ancient teaching says: ‘Even śrāvakas are bewildered upon leaving the womb, and bodhisattvas suffer confusion between incarnations.’ How much more so those in recent times with shallow understanding and slight enlightenment, who cannot even save themselves! Even if there are those whose realization is profound and far-reaching, whose insight is lofty and bright, whose practice and understanding correspond, and whose resolve is set on saving others, yet because they have not mounted to non-retrogression and their power and function are not yet full, to dwell in this defiled evil [world] and transform these obstinate beings is likewise something not permitted by the ancient sages. It is like using an incomplete and unsolid boat to ferry many people across a perilous sea: that both oneself and others will drown is an inevitable principle. Therefore the *Rebirth Treatise* (*Wang sheng lun*) says: ‘Those who wish to sport freely in the gates of hell must be born in that land, attain the patience of non-arising (anutpattikadharmakṣānti), and having done so, return to saṃsāra to rescue suffering sentient beings; on account of this condition, one seeks rebirth in the Pure Land.’ Furthermore, an ancient sage said: ‘Before one has attained the station of non-retrogression, one must not mix with the worldly to save sentient beings; before one has attained the patience of the non-arising of dharmas, one must constantly remain not separated from the Buddha. Just like an infant who constantly does not leave its mother, or like a fledgling bird that can only cling to branches.’ Now in this country, Śākyamuni has already passed into extinction and Maitreya is not yet born; the suffering of the four evil destinies entangles [beings] through causes and effects; non-Buddhists and evil māras fan chaos with right and wrong; seductive forms and licentious sounds delude one another; and evil conditions and foul touches assault in turn. With no living Buddha to rely upon, and being disturbed by worldly objects and conditions, few among beginners who have attained enlightenment fail to meet with setback and defeat. That the World-Honoured One earnestly pointed the way back to Sukhāvatī was truly with good reason. For Amitābha is presently expounding the Dharma there, and the objects and conditions of that joyful land are manifold and pure. If one relies upon that Buddha, the power of patience is easily accomplished, one highly realizes the Buddha stage, and personally receives prediction (vyākaraṇa); thereafter, one goes forth to transform sentient beings, coming and going without hindrance. One often sees present-day Chan practitioners who do not investigate the definitive meaning of the Tathāgata and do not know Bodhidharma’s profound mechanism; with empty bellies and lofty minds, they grow accustomed to wild arrogance. Seeing someone cultivating the Pure Land, they laugh at them, saying: ‘That study is the practice of foolish men and foolish women.’ I have often argued that they are not despising foolish men and foolish women, but are despising Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Nāgārjuna, Aśvaghoṣa, and the like. Not only do they themselves stray from the right path, lose their own kuśalamūla, destroy their own wisdom-body, and extinguish their own Buddha-seed, but they also commit the karma of saddharmapratikṣepa and incur the calamity of despising the sages; Buddhas and patriarchs regard them as pitiable. Thereupon the Venerable Yongming deeply pitied and lamented them, laid bare his heart and liver, and championed the Pure Land, both to cultivate it himself and to transform the world. Therefore at his death various extraordinary signs appeared: relics piled up like fish scales, and he went directly to rebirth in the highest grade of Sukhāvatī; even King Yama regarded him as rare and paid homage before his portrait. Now, since Yongming had both awakened to Bodhidharma’s Chan of direct pointing and could also attain the highest grade of Sukhāvatī, using this to untie the clinging attachments of Chan practitioners and to encourage faith in the Dharma-Ending Age, he truly rendered great service to both the teachings and the school. How could it be that Yongming alone was like this? Chan Master Sixin Xin wrote a text encouraging cultivation of the Pure Land; again, Chan Master Zhenxie Liao wrote a *Pure Land Discourse* (*Jingtu shuo*) that says: ‘The entire Caodong lineage engages in hidden cultivation; what is the reason for this? It is truly because the buddhānusmṛti dharma-gate is a shortcut in cultivation that directly accords with the Great Canon, receiving those of the highest faculties and drawing in those of intermediate and lower capacity.’ It also says: ‘The great masters of the Chan school, having already awakened to the dharma that is neither empty nor existent, hold fast to the aspiration and diligently apply themselves to pure karma, because seeing the Buddha through pure karma is simpler and easier than in the Chan school.’ It also says: ‘Whether Buddhas or patriarchs, whether in the doctrinal teachings or in Chan, all cultivate pure karma and return together to the one source. If one can enter this gate, one can enter all measureless dharma-gates.’ As for such senior masters as Chan Master Tianyi Huai, Chan Master Yuanzhao Ben, Chan Master Cishou Shen, Chan Master Nanyue Si, Chan Master Fazhao, Chan Master Jing’ai, Chan Master Jingci Datong, Chan Master Tiantai Huaiyu, Chan Master Daozhen of Liang, Chan Master Daochuo of Tang, Chan Master Fazhen of Piling, Chan Master Shouna of Gusu, Chan Master Beijian Jian, and Chan Master Tianmu Li, all were masters of the Chan school; when one investigates their hidden cultivation and manifest teaching, and their elucidation of the tenets of the Pure Land, they agree without prior consultation. Being extensive as in those texts, they cannot be recorded in full. Therefore one should know: the hidden cultivation of the Chan school does not depart from the Pure Land; for those who suddenly awaken as beginners and have not yet left the stage of youth, entering this gate is precisely the gate of firmness and non-retrogression.”

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Tenth, revealing the true Dharma: among all dharma-gates of cultivation, to speak of emptiness is to lapse into annihilation, and to speak of existence is to lapse into permanence; neither is ultimate. Only this buddhānusmṛti-samādhi is pure in the very midst of mindfulness, yet purity is not non-existence; it is mindful in the very midst of purity, yet mindfulness is not existence. Penetrating purity as without reliance is the very essence of mindfulness; comprehending mindfulness as originally detached is the very function of purity. Therefore, there is no mindfulness outside purity that could be mindful of purity; if there were mindfulness outside purity, mindfulness would have an object, and an object is not purity. Nor is there purity outside mindfulness that could enter all thoughts; if there were purity outside mindfulness, purity would have duality, and duality is not purity. One should know that all Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the mind of quiescent extinction; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of quiescent extinction. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the mind of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the mind of equal sentient beings; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of equal sentient beings. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the karma of great compassion and wisdom; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of the karma of great compassion and wisdom. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with non-arising, unconditioned, and inconceivable karma; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of the non-arising, unconditioned, and inconceivable. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the nature of defilements and afflictions; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of defilements and afflictions. All Buddhas adorn the Pure Land in accord with the characteristic of minute dust particles and mustard seeds; therefore, those who are mindful of the Pure Land should enter all gates of minute dust particles and mustard seeds. All the great dharma-gates above are fully realized and entered with just a single utterance of Amitābha, without any characteristics of one who realizes or that which is realized. If it were not so, then it would be a purity with remainder; the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi is not like that.

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Comprehensive Treatise on the Western Land, Fascicle Two (End)

Linked texts (1)

西方合論 — Classical Chinese