淨土往生傳 1.3

1.3

給孤園中聖賢之眾畢集。是時眾無一辭之請。如來遽然而告曰。過是西方十萬億國有淨土焉。其土廣博百寶成焉。又曰。眾生思焉念焉。求而以生者。皆如願焉。說者曰。十二分教以羅萬有。此乃無問自說之一分也。其義猶何。猶母之拊嬰兒不俟其請。但欲顧其手足乳而哺之。腹而擁之也。然如來捨淨梵降迦維。其說法者五十年。流慈振毓。隨機有授。其間龍天釋梵聲聞緣覺大菩薩眾。棄頭目捐髓腦。外於國城珍寶。殷勤三請者非一。如來或辭或默。止止而不說也。有之至是而乃自說。誠悲五濁異生流浪。而不息者長劫。夫將厭五濁。期生于淨土。必在乎專念。念言之至以繫乎想十六觀。所以第資焉。經稱諸佛正遍知海從心想生。其故何哉。明其始也。舉其漸之之謂也。行始於有修。智始於有習。無上極果以始于深心。深心者確乎其不可拔者也。故一念轉三塗之苦。十念階九品之善。此雖大乘方等諸經。皆所互陳而互發。非止一經。言而發之也。漢魏已來。翹誠西向。蔑聞其有人者。實以大法初流經文之未備矣。西晉時劉曜寇蕩京雒。僧顯避地江東。始由三事因願。驟感祥異。然其拳拳之志。以遭亂世。遺風勝業代或無聞。東晉之末。遠師憩跡廬阜。其時同意法師。釋道炳竺道生佛陀耶舍。洎在家英豪。劉遺民雷次宗周續之等一百二十三人。締結方外之遊。希風來集。遠以幻集之期不克。以常保夢遊之軀。不可以長存。因指無量壽國。結之遐遊焉其已也。又言。其國清淨無三塗無六趣。眾生依向不一。生而生者。寶幢為之前導。金蓮為之受質。於是相與而有蓮社之想焉。今之以蓮社云云。蓋其始也。或時以為淨社義亦詳矣。自遠而下。淨土之修益振。故宋有曇弘。齊有慧進。梁有道珍。李唐之間。頴悟通識之士。如道綽善導者累復有焉。余以像季之餘。值佛遺法。[糸*丐]懷淨業其亦有年。每以前賢事績散於諸傳淪於異代。不得類例。相從條然以見。繇是歷考梁隋而下慧皎道宣諸師所撰傳記十有二家。洎大宋通慧大師新傳。且得顯等七十五人。其傳之作理。或有所暗昧。辭或有所叢脞。因復修正而發明之。外有鴻業慧明等六十二人。在其生平想像。至於捨生之際。不甞以矚勝相。備之不足起深信。乃無以備之。後之明哲。或患其所不足。摭而備之者。亦余之闕有補焉。

In Anāthapiṇḍada's Park, the assembly of sages and worthies was fully gathered. At that time, not a single word of request came from the assembly. The Tathāgata suddenly announced to them, saying: "Passing beyond here to the west, past a hundred thousand koṭis of lands, there is a Pure Land. That land is vast and extensive, adorned with hundreds of jewels." He also said: "If sentient beings ponder it, mindfully recollect it, and seek to be born there, all will have their wishes fulfilled." Commentators say: The twelve limbs of the teaching encompass all that exists; this is the limb of the udāna (unsolicited discourse). What is its significance? It is like a mother caressing her infant without waiting for it to ask: she only wishes to look after its limbs, suckle and feed it, and embrace it to her bosom. Now, the Tathāgata departed from Śuddhodana's palace and descended upon Kapilavastu; for fifty years he taught the Dharma, spreading compassion and nurturing beings, giving instructions according to their capacities. During this time, dragons, devas, Śakra and Brahmā, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the great assemblies of mahāsattvas cast aside heads and eyes, donated marrow and brains, and gave away external realms and precious jewels; more than once did they earnestly make requests three times. The Tathāgata at times declined or remained silent, saying, "Cease, cease! Do not speak of it." Yet when it came to this [matter], he spoke it of his own accord. Truly he grieved for the ordinary beings of the five defilements drifting incessantly through long kalpas! Now, whoever wishes to weary of the five defilements and hopes to be born in the Pure Land must focus on single-minded mindfulness. When the extremity of mindful speech is reached, it connects to contemplation; hence the sixteen contemplations provide support in graded stages. The sūtra states that the ocean of the samyaksaṃbuddhas' omniscience arises from the mental contemplation of the mind. What is the reason for this? It illuminates their beginning; it refers to pointing out their gradual progress. Practice begins with cultivation; wisdom begins with habituation; the unsurpassed, ultimate fruit begins with the deeply resolute mind. The deeply resolute mind is firm and immovable. Therefore, a single recitation transforms the suffering of the three lower paths; ten recitations form steps to the virtues of the nine grades. Although all the Mahāyāna vaipulya sūtras present and elaborate this mutually, it is not expounded by merely a single scripture. Since the Han and Wei dynasties, those who set their sincere gaze toward the west were rarely heard of; this was truly because the Great Dharma had only begun to spread and scriptural texts were not yet complete. During the Western Jin, when Liu Yao invaded and disrupted the capital of Luoyang, Sengxian took refuge in the Jiangdong region; relying for the first time on the three causal vows, he suddenly experienced auspicious omens. Yet, his earnest aspiration having encountered an age of disorder, his bequeathed style and supreme deeds were hardly known to subsequent generations. At the end of the Eastern Jin, Master [Hui]yuan rested his footsteps on Mount Lu. At that time, fellow Dharma Masters of the same aspiration—Shi Daobing, Zhu Daosheng, and Buddhayasas—together with lay elites such as Liu Yimin, Lei Cizong, Zhou Xuzhi, and others, one hundred and twenty-three in all, formed an association of worldly-detached companions, admiring his virtue and gathering together. Because the time of illusory assembly could not be preserved forever, and the body of a dream-wanderer could not long endure, Master [Hui]yuan pointed to the Land of Amitāyus, uniting with them to make it their distant journey's destination. He also said: "That land is pure; it has neither the three lower paths nor the six destinies. Sentient beings rely on it and aspire toward it from various walks of life; when they are born there, jeweled banners serve as their vanguard and golden lotuses receive their bodies." Thereupon they mutually conceived the idea of the Lotus Society. Today's references to the Lotus Society, and so forth, indeed began with this. At times it was also called the Pure Society, and its significance is fully comprehensive. From Huiyuan onward, the practice of the Pure Land flourished ever more. Thus the Song had Tanhong, the Qi had Huijin, and the Liang had Daozhen; between the eras of the Li-Tang dynasty, men of brilliant awakening and thorough understanding, such as Daochuo and Shandao, appeared again and again. I, living in the remnants of the latter part of the Semblance Dharma age, have encountered the bequeathed Dharma of the Buddha. I have cherished the pure karma for many years. Whenever I noticed that the deeds of former worthies were scattered across various biographies and lost in different eras, lacking classification and unable to be viewed in continuous order, I therefore systematically examined the records and biographies composed by the twelve masters from the Liang and Sui downward, including Huijiao and Daoxuan, up to the new biographies by Master Tonghui of the Great Song. I obtained seventy-five individuals, beginning with Sengxian and others. Because the principles of those biographical works were sometimes obscure and their wording was sometimes cluttered, I consequently revised, corrected, and clarified them. In addition, there were sixty-two persons such as Hongye and Huiming: throughout their lives they had practiced contemplation, but when it came to the moment of relinquishing life, they had not witnessed auspicious signs. Including them would be insufficient to arouse deep faith, so they were left without inclusion. Should brilliant and discerning individuals of later times consider this an omission and glean materials to supplement them, that too would remedy my deficiencies.