略諸經論念佛法門往生淨土集卷上 1.21

1.21

相既不殊。還同虛妄。由此理故。為證菩提。所修諸行。雖皆取相。而非虛妄。必能為因。證涅槃。故不同妄情。計度分別。我我所執。顛倒虛妄。問曰。修菩薩行。雖皆取相。必能為因。而非妄者。何故。金剛波若楞伽等經云。凡所有相。皆是虛妄。今言有相非虛妄者。與此聖教。豈不相違。答曰。諸聖教中。說虛妄者。有其四義。第一理事相對說虛妄。第二生死離繫因果相對說虛妄。第三凡聖相對說虛妄。第四有無相對說虛妄。第一理事相對說虛妄者。理真事妄。何以故。理即圓成實性。無為法故。凝然常故。無去來故。無增減故。無生滅故。體堅實故。無變易故。事即依他起性。有為法故。緣生法故。有增減故。有生滅故。如坏幻故。有變易故。所以將事望理。理真事妄。此即有體虛妄。非如兔角。第二生死離繫因果相對說虛妄者。離繫因果真。生死因果妄。何以故。因真故果真。因妄故果妄。因果相感法爾。如是生死果妄。離繫果真。何以故。生死果報。輪迴不定。得失無恒。離繫之果。得而不失。證而無退。無恒故妄。無退故真。所以因隨於果。真妄必同。果從於因。理齊虛實。若將生死。望於離繫。生死因果。雖有體而虛妄。離繫因果。絕羈鎖而故實。離繫果者。即菩提涅槃。更無別物。果唯無漏。因通有漏。菩薩有二。頓漸別故。頓悟菩薩地前有漏漸通無漏。七地已前通漏無漏。八地已去無漏相續。第三凡聖相對說虛妄者。凡妄聖真。何以故。凡夫顛倒。不能了知常與無常。生死涅槃。青黃赤白。男女等法。本無名字。隨世假立。迷情計實。尋名執著。強生分別。境分違順。便有憎愛。二心而起。無量煩惱。隨二心生。無明厚重。不了假名。依之執實。造生死業。菩薩不爾。遠離顛倒。了達一切。常與無常。生死涅槃。青黃赤白。男女等法。本來無名。欲起言說。呼召諸法。隨順世俗。假立名字。了知名法。互不相屬。何以故。一切諸法。離於言論。說不及故。但為遮詮假立名目。今知彼此。而無雜亂。熾然說法。度脫眾生。廣立名目。開張善惡。指有涅槃。今厭生死。勸遣精進。斷惡修善。知立假名。表詮諸法。依名取解。而無封執。封執既無。憎愛不生。煩惱不有。煩惱既亡。虛妄心斷。虛妄心息。名之為聖。所以將凡望聖。凡見虛妄。非聖所解。同凡所見。亦虛妄也。經言。虛妄但約妄心。以心妄見。不稱境知。說彼妄見。名為虛妄。不可令彼一切諸法。隨妄見心總皆虛妄。若言諸法定隨妄心虛妄無者。妄心疑杌為人鬼。杌非虛妄。彼既不爾。此云何然。故知。不可以心妄故令境皆妄。第四有無相對說虛妄者。無妄有真。何以故。無即遍計所執性。有即依他起性。然依他起法。緣生幻有。法從緣生。緣從法有。緣法和合。可有形段。可有作用。而知有物。即如遍計所執之我。空無有物。依彼五蘊迷情妄執。計有實我。異於五蘊。別有體性。然此我體。無非妄計。無有作用。形段可知。因茲妄執。增諸惑業。憂悲苦惱。從此而生。譬如迷繩。妄生蛇想。蛇無是妄。繩有故真。依他況繩。我類於蛇。我體空無。無故虛妄。依他法有。有如幻有。然諸聖教說虛妄者。不過此四。智者尋文。宜識經意。虛妄言寬有無俱遍。各據一義。與教何違。若言世尊說諸有為。定如空華。無有一物名虛妄者。虛妄無法。非解脫因。如何世尊。勅諸弟子。勤修六度。萬行妙因。當證菩提涅槃之果。豈有智者。讚乾闥婆城。堅實高妙。復勸諸人。以兔角為梯。而可舉陟者哉。由此理故。雖是凡夫。發菩提心。行菩薩行。誓斷生死。趣大菩提。所修諸行。雖然有漏。著相修習。是實是正。有體虛妄。非如龜毛。空無一物。說為虛妄。若能如是解經意者。常行於相。相不能礙。速出生死。速得解脫。迷情局執。於教不通。雖求離相。恒被相拘。欲求解脫。反沈生死。良為禪師。不樂多聞。見解浮淺。執心有在。迷昧聖言。雖復勤苦。專求出離。於彼行門。不了遲疾。妄與非妄。有之與無。邪之與正。假使修行。無利勤苦。故涅槃經云。譬如有人乘船遊戲。琉璃寶珠。墮落深水。眾人競取。各得瓦石。謂為真實。便生歡喜。若有人說。汝所得者。悉是瓦石。琉璃寶珠。現在水下。亦不信受。然諸禪師。亦復如是。共傳虛偽邪僻之法。謂為真實。各自保愛。歡喜而行。若有智者。依諸聖教。為說佛法。真實禪定。修學行門。毀而不信。棄聞思修三慧善心。取無記心。不斷不修。以為真實。此即謬中之謬。無過此也。何以故。夫無記者。非善非惡。中庸之心。不從分別。思慮而起。隨逐因緣。任運轉故。體性羸劣。不能為因。感三有果。況彼解脫出世妙果。而能證耶。聞思修慧。解脫正因。何不安住。自利利他。展轉相傳。住無記心。確執不移。豈不謬乎。如來法門八萬四千。隨宜為說。散在諸教。無智懈怠。不能遍覽。執自愚見。以為究竟。迷昧捷徑。迂路傾心。三界往來。不求見佛。哀哉可愍。顛倒眾生。豈有遠離諸佛如來。得成佛耶。或有一類男女道俗。於彼淨土。都不信有。但令心淨。此間即是。何處別有西方淨土。奇哉罪業。不信聖教。豈佛世尊虛妄說耶。然菩提道八萬四千。其中要妙。省功易成。速得見佛。速出生死。速得禪定。速得解脫。速得神通。速得聖果。速得自在。速遍十方。供養諸佛。現大神變。遍十方界。隨形六道。救攝眾生。有進無退。萬行速圓速成佛者。唯有淨土一門。盡此一形。專心修學。願生彼國。如是等法。悉皆咸就。何以得知。得生淨土。如是等法。悉皆成就。觀無量壽佛經。上品上生文中說云行者自見其身。坐金剛臺。隨從佛後。如彈指頃。往生彼國。即悟無生法忍。經須臾間。歷事諸佛。遍十方界。於諸佛前。次第受記。還至本國。得無量百千陀羅尼門。以此文證得而非謬。祇如坐禪習定久受勤苦。經歷多劫。難行苦行。難得成就。退多進少。難得見佛。難得禪定。難得解脫。難得出難。緣去疑難。無上慈父殷勤示誨。殷勤教誡。此是穢土。此是牢獄。此是火宅。無樂有苦。佛世難遇苦。正法難聞苦。禪定難得苦。聖果難證苦。邪惡眷屬苦。老病死逼苦。三塗罪報苦。怨家強會苦。王官逼迫苦。名利驅馳苦。求不隨意苦。衣食貧乏苦。更相繫縛苦。常憂不活苦。恒懼惡名苦。貪生畏死苦。六道輪迴苦。有如是等無量苦聚。逼功身心。宜應厭離。尋求西方阿彌陀佛國。然彼佛國無苦有樂。無三惡趣樂。超過八難樂。永斷輪迴樂。老病死無樂。常見諸佛樂。聽聞正法樂。隨聞悟解樂。超凡證聖樂。入諸禪定樂。神通自在樂。遊歷十方樂。聖眾共往樂。供養諸佛樂。所須應念樂。一生不退樂。菩薩眷屬樂。隨形化生樂。永斷生死樂。證大菩提樂。有如是等無量快樂。應當欣樂。發願往生。愚癡眾生不知恩德。反生誹謗。毀呰不信。愛著三界。六道輪迴。不樂往生安樂世界。或有發心。厭生死苦。速求解脫。不遇善友。於淨土門。多懷猶豫。不能決定。專心趣向。隨逐眾迷。觀空撥有。苟偷朝夕。循環火宅。任性沈浮。今為此等無歸趣者。迷謬執者。不信淨土者。猶豫不決者。搜揚聖教。採撮要妙。念佛法門。鳩集一處。令彼見聞。總皆迴彼。無信者令信。迷謬者令悟。無歸者有歸不決者令決。若能迴向願生淨土者。端身正向。西方淨土。繫心於彼阿彌陀佛。念念相續。稱彼名號。行住坐臥。常須稱念。兼念觀世音菩薩。誦觀無量壽佛經。及阿彌陀經。每日一遍。酒肉熏辛。以死為期。斷而不食。藥分不通。奉持齋戒。清淨三業。念佛誦經。迴向願求。上品上生。盡此一形。必定往生。超昇淨剎。頓捨流浪。三界長辭。禪定神通。生便即得。一念之頃。遍十方界。所過國土。歷事諸佛。經百萬億。供養事訖。與恒沙眾。瞬息之間。還至本土。日日如是。乃至成佛。若大悲方便。化導群生。能於一念。分身遍往十方世界。隨彼所宜。現身說法。令得解脫。問曰。阿彌陀經唯言。念佛得生淨土。何故。今者兼令誦經。及念二大菩薩。方得往生。答曰。阿彌陀經。但令念佛。得生淨土。不開九品。行業差別。今依觀經。位分三輩。行開九品。上品上生。必須持戒。念佛誦經。并念菩薩所以。觀經上品上生文中說云。一者慈心不殺。具諸戒行。二者受持讀誦大乘。方等經典。三者修行六念。迴向發願。願生彼國。具此功德。一日乃至七日。即得往生。六念者。一者念佛。二者念法。三者念僧。四者念施。五者念戒。六者念天。今念觀音勢至。即是菩薩。聖僧準此經文。上品上生。要須念佛。誦經并念菩薩。各據一義。亦不相違。若不斷酒肉熏辛。命終之後。必墮地獄。人身尚失。況乎淨土。故楞伽經第八。遮食肉品云。是故大慧。我見一切諸眾生等。猶如一子。云何而聽以肉為食。亦不隨喜。何況自食。大慧。如是一切葱韮蒜薤。臭穢不淨。能障聖道。亦障世間人天淨處。何況諸佛淨土果報。酒亦如是能障聖道能損善業。能生諸過。是故大慧。求聖道者。酒肉葱韮及蒜薤等。能熏之味。悉不應食。下偈又云。

Since marks are not different [in having substantial reality], they are likewise false. By this principle, although the various practices cultivated to realize bodhi all grasp marks, they are not false; they can definitely serve as causes for realizing nirvāṇa. Thus they are not like erroneous mental activity with its calculating discriminations, attachments to self and what belongs to self, which are inverted and false.

Question: If cultivating bodhisattva practices, despite grasping marks throughout, can definitely serve as causes and are not false, why do sūtras such as the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā and the Laṅkāvatāra say, 'All marks are false'? To say now that having marks is not false—how does this not contradict those sacred teachings?

Answer: When the sacred teachings speak of 'false,' there are four meanings:
First, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between principle and phenomena.
Second, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between the causes and effects of saṃsāra versus those of release from bonds.
Third, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between ordinary persons and sages.
Fourth, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between nonexistence and existence.

Regarding the first, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between principle and phenomena: principle is real and phenomena are false. Why? Principle is the pariniṣpannasvabhāva. Because it is an asaṃskṛtadharma, it is serenely eternal; because it has neither coming nor going; because it has neither increase nor decrease; because it has neither arising nor cessation; because its substance is solid and real; because it has no alteration. Phenomena are the paratantrasvabhāva. Because they are saṃskṛtadharmas; because they are conditioned dharmas; because they have increase and decrease; because they have arising and cessation; because they are like a clay vessel or an illusion; because they have alteration. Therefore, looking at phenomena from the perspective of principle, principle is real and phenomena are false. This is falsehood that has an entity; it is not like a rabbit’s horns.

Regarding the second, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between the causes and effects of saṃsāra versus those of release from bonds: the causes and effects of release from bonds are real, while the causes and effects of saṃsāra are false. Why? Because the cause is real, the fruit is real; because the cause is false, the fruit is false. Causes and effects induce each other by the nature of things. Thus the fruit of saṃsāra is false, while the fruit of release from bonds is real. Why? The retribution of saṃsāra revolves unsettled; gain and loss are inconstant. The fruit of release from bonds, once obtained, is never lost; once realized, there is no regression. Being inconstant, it is false; having no regression, it is real. Therefore, the cause follows the fruit: reality or falsehood must correspond. The fruit proceeds from the cause: in principle, emptiness and reality are equal. If one looks at saṃsāra from the perspective of release from bonds, the cause and fruit of saṃsāra, although having an entity, are false; the cause and fruit of release from bonds, having cut off fetters, are solidly real. The fruit of release from bonds is none other than bodhi and nirvāṇa; there is no other thing. The fruit is exclusively anāsrava, while the cause admits of the sāsrava. Bodhisattvas are of two kinds, due to the distinction between the sudden and the gradual: for sudden-enlightenment bodhisattvas, before the stages [the causes] are sāsrava, gradually becoming anāsrava; before the seventh stage they admit of both sāsrava and anāsrava; from the eighth stage onward, anāsrava continues unbroken.

Regarding the third, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between ordinary persons and sages: ordinary persons are false, while sages are real. Why? Ordinary persons are inverted and cannot understand that dharmas such as permanence and impermanence, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, blue, yellow, red, and white, male and female, originally have no names and are merely provisionally established according to conventional usage. With deluded minds they calculate them to be real, cling to them following the names, and forcibly produce discriminations. As the objects are divided into agreeable and disagreeable, feelings of hatred and love then arise. In accordance with these two minds, immeasurable afflictions arise. With heavy avidyā, they do not understand provisional designations, cling to reality on their basis, and create karmas of saṃsāra.
Bodhisattvas are not like this. Remaining far from inversions, they fully comprehend that dharmas such as permanence and impermanence, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, blue, yellow, red, and white, male and female, are originally nameless. Wishing to generate speech to call upon dharmas, they comply with the conventional world and provisionally establish names. They understand that names and dharmas do not belong to each other. Why? Because all dharmas are free from verbal discourse; speech cannot reach them. Merely for the sake of negative description are names and terms provisionally established. Now, discerning this and that without confusion, they blaze forth in expounding the Dharma to deliver sentient beings, broadly establishing names and terms, laying open the good and evil, pointing out the existence of nirvāṇa to inspire disgust with saṃsāra, and encouraging vigorous effort to cut off evil and cultivate good. Knowing that provisional names are established to delineate dharmas positively, they derive understanding from names without dogmatic attachment. Attachment being absent, hatred and love do not arise, and afflictions do not exist. Afflictions having vanished, false thoughts are severed. False thoughts having ceased, they are called sages. Therefore, looking at ordinary persons from the perspective of sages, ordinary views are false; it is not that the understanding of sages is identical with the view of ordinary persons and is also false. When sūtras say 'false,' it is only in reference to the false mind: because the mind's false view does not accord with knowledge of the object, that false view is called 'false.' One cannot cause all those dharmas to be entirely false following the falsely perceiving mind. If one says that dharmas must be falsely nonexistent following the false mind, [consider that] when a false mind suspects a stump to be a person or a ghost, the stump itself is not false. Since that is not so, how could this be so? Hence we know that one cannot cause objects to be false simply because the mind is false.

Regarding the fourth, speaking of falsehood in the contrast between nonexistence and existence: nonexistence is false and existence is real. Why? Nonexistence is the parikalpitasvabhāva, and existence is the paratantrasvabhāva. Yet paratantra dharmas are conditioned, illusory existence; dharmas arise from conditions, and conditions exist from dharmas. When conditions and dharmas combine, they can have form and extent, and can have functions, so that we know things exist. This is unlike the imagined self of the parikalpita, which is empty and devoid of any object. Relying on those five aggregates, the deluded mind falsely grasps, calculating that there is a real self different from the five aggregates with a separate substance. Yet the substance of this self is nothing but a false calculation; it has no function, nor discernible form and extent. Because of this false clinging, various defilements and karmas increase, and grief, sorrow, suffering, and distress are born from it. It is like being confused about a rope and falsely conceiving the notion of a snake: the snake does not exist and is false; the rope exists and is real. The paratantra is compared to the rope; the self is like the snake. The substance of the self is empty and nonexistent; being nonexistent, it is false. Paratantra dharmas exist; they exist like illusions.

Now, when the sacred teachings speak of falsehood, it does not exceed these four. The wise who examine the texts should recognize the intention of the sūtras. The word 'false' is broad, encompassing both nonexistence and existence; each rests on its own meaning—how could it contradict the teachings? If one were to say that the World-Honoured One spoke of all saṃskṛta dharmas as definitely being like sky-flowers, without a single real thing, and called them 'false,' then a false, nonexistent dharma could not be the cause of vimokṣa. How then could the World-Honoured One instruct his disciples to diligently cultivate the six pāramitās, the myriad practices as wonderful causes, so that they should realize the fruit of bodhi and nirvāṇa? How could a wise person praise a city of the gandharvas as solid and lofty, and further urge people to take a rabbit’s horns as a ladder that can be ascended?

By this principle, even though one is an ordinary person, if one generates the bodhicitta, practices the bodhisattva conduct, vows to cut off saṃsāra, and advances toward great bodhi, the various practices cultivated—although sāsrava and practiced with attachment to marks—are real and correct. They are falsehood that has an entity; they are not like turtle hair, empty without a single thing, spoken of as false. If one can understand the intention of the sūtras in this way, one constantly acts among marks yet marks cannot obstruct; one quickly leaves saṃsāra and quickly attains vimokṣa.

Confined by deluded feelings and narrow clinging, people do not penetrate the teaching. Though seeking to leave marks, they are constantly bound by marks; wishing to seek vimokṣa, they sink back into saṃsāra. This is truly because the dhyāna masters do not take joy in extensive learning; their views are shallow, their clinging minds fixate, and they are blind to the sacred words. Though they toil diligently, dedicated to seeking renunciation, they do not understand the slow and the swift, the false and the non-false, existence and nonexistence, the heterodox and the orthodox among those gates of practice. Even if they cultivate, it is useless toil.

Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Suppose a person is sporting in a boat, and a lapis lazuli jewel falls into the deep water. People vie to retrieve it, and each gets tiles and stones, thinking them to be real and rejoicing. If someone says, "What you have retrieved are all tiles and stones; the lapis lazuli jewel is still beneath the water," they will not believe or accept it.'
Yet the dhyāna masters are also like this: together they transmit false and deviant dharmas, deem them real, cherish them, and joyfully practice them. If a wise person, relying on the sacred teachings, explains the Buddha-Dharma, the true samādhi, and the gates of practice to be cultivated, they slander it and do not believe. Abandoning the wholesome minds of the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation, they adopt the indeterminate mind, neither cutting off nor cultivating, and deem it real. This is the error among errors; nothing exceeds it. Why? The indeterminate is neither good nor bad; it is an indifferent mind that does not arise from discrimination and contemplation, but merely turns spontaneously according to causes and conditions. Its substance is feeble and weak, incapable of serving as a cause to induce the fruits of the three realms of existence—how much less could it realize that marvelous transcendental fruit of vimokṣa!

The wisdom of hearing, reflection, and cultivation is the true cause of vimokṣa. Why not abide in it to benefit oneself and others? To transmit the indeterminate mind from one to another, holding firmly without wavering—is that not erroneous?

The Tathāgata’s Dharma gates are eighty-four thousand; taught according to suitability, they are scattered throughout the teachings. The ignorant and indolent cannot examine them all, but cling to their own foolish views, taking them to be ultimate. Blind to the direct path, their minds incline toward circuitous routes; they come and go in the traidhātuka, never seeking to see the Buddha. How pitiful and lamentable are inverted sentient beings! How could one become a Buddha while remaining distant from the Buddhas and Tathāgatas?

Or there is a class of men and women, both monastic and lay, who do not believe at all in that Pure Land, [saying], 'As long as one makes the mind pure, this place is it; where else could there be a Western Pure Land?' How extraordinary is their sinful karma, not believing the sacred teachings! Could the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, have spoken falsely?

Now, among the eighty-four thousand paths to bodhi, the essential, marvelous, labor-saving, and easily completed one, whereby one quickly gets to see the Buddha, quickly leaves saṃsāra, quickly attains samādhi, quickly attains vimokṣa, quickly attains supernormal powers, quickly attains the holy fruit, quickly attains mastery, quickly travels everywhere in the ten directions to make offerings to all Buddhas, manifests great divine transformations across the worlds of the ten directions, manifests forms in the six destinies to rescue and gather sentient beings, advances without regress, quickly completes the myriad practices, and quickly attains buddhahood—is solely this single gate of the Pure Land! Dedicating this entire lifetime, single-mindedly cultivating and studying, vowing to be reborn in that land, all such dharmas will be fully accomplished.

How do we know that by attaining rebirth in the Pure Land, all such dharmas are accomplished? In the Guan Wuliangshou jing, the passage on the highest grade of the superior class says that the practitioner sees his own body sitting on a vajra seat, following behind the Buddha; in the snap of a finger, he is reborn in that land. He immediately awakens to the anutpattikadharmakṣānti; in an instant, he travels to serve the Buddhas across the worlds of the ten directions, receives prophecies in sequence before all Buddhas, and returning to his original land, attains immeasurable hundreds of thousands of dhāraṇī gates. Taking this text as proof, the attainment is not erroneous.

As for sitting in dhyāna and practicing samādhi, one endures prolonged toil, passing through many kalpas of difficult and bitter practices that are hard to achieve, with much regression and little progress, hard to see the Buddha, hard to attain samādhi, hard to attain vimokṣa, and hard to leave behind difficulties, for the conditions are remote and doubts and difficulties abound.

The Unsurpassed Compassionate Father earnestly instructs and earnestly admonishes: 'This is an impure land, this is a prison, this is a burning house; there is no joy, only suffering.'
There is the suffering of the Buddha's era being difficult to encounter;
the suffering of the True Dharma being difficult to hear;
the suffering of samādhi being difficult to attain;
the suffering of the holy fruit being difficult to realize;
the suffering of evil and deviant companions;
the suffering of being pressed by old age, sickness, and death;
the suffering of retribution for sins in the three wretched paths;
the suffering of forced encounters with enemies;
the suffering of oppression by kings and officials;
the suffering of being driven by fame and profit;
the suffering of desires going unfulfilled;
the suffering of poverty in food and clothing;
the suffering of binding one another in mutual ties;
the suffering of constant worry over livelihood;
the suffering of perpetual fear of an evil reputation;
the suffering of clinging to life and fearing death;
the suffering of transmigrating in the six destinies.
There are such immeasurable aggregates of suffering pressing upon body and mind; one should feel disgust and renounce them, seeking the Western realm of Amitābha Buddha.

Yet that Buddha-land has no suffering, only joy:
the joy of having no three evil destinies;
the joy of surpassing the eight difficulties;
the joy of forever cutting off transmigration;
the joy of having no old age, sickness, or death;
the joy of constantly seeing the Buddhas;
the joy of listening to the True Dharma;
the joy of understanding upon hearing;
the joy of transcending the ordinary and realizing the holy;
the joy of entering various samādhis;
the joy of mastery in supernormal powers;
the joy of roaming through the ten directions;
the joy of associating with the holy assembly;
the joy of making offerings to all Buddhas;
the joy of necessities appearing at a thought;
the joy of non-retrogression in a single lifetime;
the joy of having bodhisattvas as companions;
the joy of taking birth by transformation according to form;
the joy of forever cutting off saṃsāra;
the joy of realizing great bodhi.
There are such immeasurable joys; one should rejoice and make the vow to be reborn there.

Foolish sentient beings do not recognize this kindness and virtue; instead they generate slander, disparage, and do not believe, remaining attached to the traidhātuka and transmigrating in the six destinies, taking no joy in being reborn in the Land of Peace and Bliss. Or there are some who resolve their minds, weary of the suffering of saṃsāra and seeking swift vimokṣa, yet not meeting good spiritual friends, harbor much hesitation regarding the gate of the Pure Land, unable to make a firm decision to advance single-mindedly. Following along with the confused multitudes, contemplating emptiness and denying existence, they drift along from morning to night, revolving in the burning house, floating and sinking at will.

Now, for those who have nowhere to turn, who cling to deluded errors, who do not believe in the Pure Land, and who are hesitant and undecided, I have searched the sacred teachings and extracted the essentials of the buddhānusmṛti Dharma gate, gathering them in one place, so that those who see and hear them will all turn around: causing the faithless to believe, the deluded to awaken, those without refuge to have refuge, and the undecided to decide.

If one can dedicate merit and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land, one should straighten one's body and face directly toward the Western Pure Land, bind one's mind to that Amitābha Buddha, recite his name in thought after thought without interruption, and constantly recite it while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. In addition, recite [the name of] Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, and chant the Guan Wuliangshou jing and the Amitābha Sūtra once daily. Forbid and do not consume wine, meat, and the pungent roots until the end of life, allowing no exception even for medicine; uphold the purification precepts, purify the three karmas, recite the Buddha's name and chant the sūtras, and dedicate merit vowing to seek the highest grade of the superior class. Ending this single lifetime, one will definitely attain rebirth, ascending to the pure realm, abruptly casting off wandering, and saying farewell forever to the traidhātuka. Samādhi and supernormal powers are attained immediately upon birth. In a single thought-moment, one travels across the worlds of the ten directions; passing through lands, one serves millions of Buddhas, and after completing the offerings, in an instant one returns to one's native land together with an assembly numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Day after day it is like this, until buddhahood is attained. If through great compassion and skillful means one guides and transforms sentient beings, one can multiply one's body in a single thought to go everywhere throughout the worlds of the ten directions, manifesting a body and expounding the Dharma according to what is suitable for them, enabling them to attain vimokṣa.

Question: The Amitābha Sūtra only speaks of attaining rebirth in the Pure Land through buddhānusmṛti. Why do you now additionally instruct people to chant sūtras and be mindful of the two great bodhisattvas in order to attain rebirth?

Answer: The Amitābha Sūtra merely instructs one to practice buddhānusmṛti to attain rebirth in the Pure Land; it does not open up the nine grades and the distinctions of practice and karma. Now, relying on the Guan jing, the stages are divided into three classes and the practices are opened into nine grades. For the highest grade of the superior class, one must uphold the precepts, practice buddhānusmṛti, chant sūtras, and also be mindful of the bodhisattvas. Therefore, the passage on the highest grade of the superior class in the Guan jing says: 'First, having a compassionate mind and not killing, being endowed with the various precepts; second, receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the Mahāyāna and vaipulya scriptures; third, cultivating the six mindfulnesses, dedicating merit and making vows, wishing to be reborn in that land. Endowed with these merits, in one day or up to seven days, one will attain rebirth.'
The six mindfulnesses are: first, mindfulness of the Buddha; second, mindfulness of the Dharma; third, mindfulness of the Saṅgha; fourth, mindfulness of giving; fifth, mindfulness of the precepts; sixth, mindfulness of the devas. Now, being mindful of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta is mindfulness of the bodhisattvas, who are the holy Saṅgha. Based on this sūtra passage, for the highest grade of the superior class, one definitely must practice buddhānusmṛti, chant sūtras, and also be mindful of bodhisattvas. Each rests on its own meaning, and they do not contradict each other.

If one does not cut off wine, meat, and the pungent roots, after one's life ends one will definitely fall into hell; even a human body is lost, how much more the Pure Land! Therefore, Chapter 8, 'Prohibiting the Eating of Meat,' in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: 'Therefore, Mahāmati, I see all sentient beings as an only child; how could I permit the eating of meat as food? Nor do I rejoice in it, how much less eat it myself! Mahāmati, all such scallions, leeks, garlic, and scallion-bulbs are foul-smelling and impure; they can obstruct the holy path and obstruct the pure places of humans and devas in the world, how much more the fruit and retribution of the pure lands of the Buddhas! Wine is also like this: it can obstruct the holy path, harm wholesome karma, and produce various faults. Therefore, Mahāmati, one who seeks the holy path should not consume any foul-smelling flavors such as wine, meat, scallions, leeks, garlic, and scallion-bulbs.' The verse below further says: