無量壽經義記卷下 1.11

1.11

至心迴向願生彼國者。若偏談善體善有習因相生。自然感果復無迴向。若就果報復為陰身及以財帛所繫。復無迴義。所以得有迴義者。以我所得果報迴施一切眾生。以迴施之功我生善。善既增長。所繫果報便斷。麁果報既斷。得受細妙之身。迴麁來作細故言迴向也。住不退轉者。迴向心為因。終得不退轉為果也。願生彼國凡有三輩已下明十方諸天人民有發心專政願生彼國。欲生彼者凡有三輩。三輩之人上中下三品殊別。然此經文雖略辯三品而義含有九。今就觀無量壽經廣明三輩分為九品。佛自解釋分明歷然矣。其上輩者。凡生方有九品人。上品生者。發三種心即便往生。何等為三。一者誠心。二者深心。三者迴向發願心。具此三心必生彼國也。捨家棄欲而作沙門。發菩提心者。此是上品之人。願生彼國。即棄欲出家發菩提心修慈不殺。具諸戒行讀誦大乘方等經典。修行六念發願往生。具此功德從一日乃至七日。精進勇猛晝夜不息。阿彌陀佛與觀世音大勢至無數化佛百千比丘諸天大眾。皆乘七寶宮殿。觀世音執金剛臺。與大勢志。至其人前。阿彌陀佛放大光明照其人身。與諸菩薩授手迎接。讚歎行人勸進其心。行人見已歡喜踊躍。自見其身乘金剛臺。隨從佛後。如彈指頃往生彼國。見彼佛身及眾菩薩眾相具足。於光明林中演說妙法。聞已即悟無生法忍。遍歷十方供養諸佛。於諸佛前次第受記。還至本國。得無量百千陀羅尼門。是名上品人也。

"With the utmost mind dedicating [merit] and vowing to be born in that land": if we speak exclusively of the essence of the wholesome, the wholesome has habitual causes that produce one another; naturally sensing the fruit, there is again no dedication. If we consider karmic fruition, it is again bound by the physical body and wealth; there is again no meaning of dedication. How can there be the meaning of dedication? It is by dedicating and bestowing the karmic fruition I have obtained to all sentient beings. Through the merit of dedicating and bestowing, wholesome deeds arise in me. The wholesome having increased, the bound karmic fruition is then severed. The coarse karmic fruition having been severed, one receives a subtle and exquisite body. Turning the coarse to make the subtle: hence it is called dedication (parīṇāmanā). "Dwelling in non-retrogression": with the mind of dedication as the cause, they ultimately attain non-retrogression as the fruit. "Those who vow to be born in that land are of three classes in all": below, it explains that among the gods and people of the ten directions, there are those who generate the mind and resolve uprightly, vowing to be born in that land; for those who wish to be born there, there are three classes in all. Among the people of the three classes, the upper, middle, and lower three grades are distinct. Although this sūtra text only briefly discriminates the three grades, the meaning contains nine. Now, relying on the Sūtra on the Contemplation of Immeasurable Life, we broadly explain the three classes divided into nine grades; the Buddha's own explanation is clear and distinct. "Those of the upper class": among all people born there, there are nine grades. Those of upper-grade rebirth generate three types of mind and immediately attain rebirth. What are the three? The first is the sincere mind; the second is the deep mind; the third is the mind of dedication and making vows. Possessing these three minds, they will surely be born in that land. "Leaving home, abandoning desire, and becoming a śramaṇa, generating the bodhicitta": this refers to persons of the upper grade. Vowing to be born in that land, they abandon desire, leave home, generate the bodhicitta, cultivate loving-kindness without killing, fully observe the moral precepts, recite the Mahāyāna vaipulya scriptures, practice the six recollections, and make vows for rebirth. Possessing this merit, for one day to seven days, they are energetic and courageous, without rest day or night. Amitābha Buddha, together with Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, countless apparitional Buddhas, hundreds of thousands of monks, and the great assemblies of gods, all riding on seven-jeweled palaces—with Avalokiteśvara holding a diamond dais, together with Mahāsthāmaprāpta—arrive before this person. Amitābha Buddha releases great light shining on the person's body and, extending his hand along with the bodhisattvas, welcomes them, praising the practitioner and encouraging their mind. Having seen this, the practitioner leaps for joy, seeing their own body riding the diamond dais, following after the Buddha, and in the space of a finger-snap they are reborn in that land. They behold that Buddha's body and the bodhisattvas fully endowed with all the marks, expounding the wondrous Dharma in the grove of light. Having heard it, they immediately awaken to the anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti, travel throughout the ten directions to make offerings to all Buddhas, successively receive prophecies before all the Buddhas, return to their native land, and attain hundreds of thousands of immeasurable dhāraṇī doors. Such is called a person of the upper grade.