萬善同歸集 1.76

1.76

答：「《那先經》云：『國王問那先沙門言：「人在世間，作惡至百歲；臨終時念佛，死後得生佛國。我不信是語。」那先言：「如持百枚大石置船上，因船故不沒。人雖有本惡，一時念佛，不入泥犁中。其小石沒者，如人作惡不知念佛，便入泥犁中。」』又《智論》問云：『臨死時少許時心，云何能勝終身行力？』答：『是心雖時頃少，而心力猛利。如火如毒，雖少能作大事。是垂死時心，決定勇健故，勝百歲行力，是後心名為大心；及諸根事急故，如人入陣，不惜身命，名為健。』故知善惡無定，因緣體空；跡有昇沈，事分優劣。真金一兩，勝百兩之疊華；爝火微光，熱萬仞之𧂐草。」

Answer: "The *Sūtra of Nāgasena* says: 'The king asked the śramaṇa Nāgasena: "A person in the world does evil up to a hundred years of age, but being mindful of the Buddha at the point of death, after death they attain birth in a Buddha land. I do not believe these words." Nāgasena said: "It is like taking a hundred large stones and placing them on a boat; because of the boat they do not sink. Although a person has original evil, being mindful of the Buddha for a moment, they do not enter niraya. As for the small stone that sinks, it is like a person who does evil and does not know to be mindful of the Buddha, so they enter niraya."' Furthermore, the *Treatise on Great Wisdom* asks: 'How can the brief moment of mind at the point of death surpass the power of practice of an entire lifetime?' It answers: 'Although the duration of this thought is brief, the power of the mind is fierce. Like fire or poison, though small, it can accomplish great matters. Because this mind when nearing death is decisive and heroic, it surpasses the power of practice of a hundred years. This final mind is called a great mind; and because the matters of the sense faculties are urgent, like a person entering battle who does not spare life and limb, it is called heroic.' Hence we know that good and evil are not fixed, and causes and conditions are empty in essence; though traces involve rising and sinking, phenomena are distinguished as superior and inferior. An ounce of true gold surpasses a hundred ounces of cotton flowers; the faint spark of a torch burns ten thousand fathoms of dead grass."