龍舒增廣淨土文

Master Vương Nhựt Hưu (Wang Rixiu) cites the words of Mencius, who said that any person at all can practice wholesome conduct like King Thuấn (Shun) and King Nghiêu (Yao). Xunzi said that even a man walking along the road may be called King Võ (Yu).

The Bodhisattva Thường Bất Khinh (Sadāparibhūta, the Never-Disparaging) said: "I do not dare to disparage any of you, for all of you, if you cultivate, can likewise become Buddhas." Thus every person is fit to become a Sage or a Worthy, and anyone at all can become a Buddha. From this one may know that the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land is something that, beyond any doubt, there is not a single person who cannot cultivate. Therefore today I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) have composed this volume, the Phổ Khuyến Tu Trì (Universal Exhortation to Cultivate and Uphold — exhorting everyone to strive in cultivation and practice).

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE FIRST

Someone once asked Confucius (Đức Khổng Phu Tử): "Is there a man who, upon moving house, forgets even his wife?" Confucius replied: "There are indeed many such men. King Kiệt (Jie) and King Trụ (Zhou) forgot even their own selves." If one looks with the eye of the Way, then most people of the present age forget even their own lives. Why is this? From the early morning, when they wake and open their eyes and leave the place where they lay, until nightfall when they return to the place where they lie down and close their eyes again, there is no moment in which they do not set their minds upon worrying over the toils of the dusty world. They have never paused even briefly to examine their own selves — and this is precisely to forget one's own self.

Moreover, as for the human body: speaking of what is right before the eyes, nothing is greater than hunger and thirst, so one must surely procure food and drink. Speaking of the round of the year, nothing is greater than cold and heat, so one must surely procure the fur robe ("Cừu") and the coarse robe ("Yết"). Speaking of one's whole lifetime, nothing is greater than the road of birth and death — yet to make no provision of the resources needed to journey to the realm of the Pure Land: how can this be?

Consider, too, a man who possesses a hundred catties of gold: should a great calamity befall him such that he cannot carry it along, he must surely abandon the gold and depart empty-handed. If out of greed and attachment he clings to the gold and carries it, then he must surely die. The world calls such a one a foolish man (a great fool). Now this body is far more precious than a hundred catties of gold.

Yet in ordinary daily life, men anxiously pursue fame and contend for profit, and even over a trifling thing worth a mere hundred coins they will not consent to let go — while they do not value their own bodies: how can this be?

Or if a man curses you as a thief, or reviles you as a beast, then you are aggrieved and enraged; some bear resentment and reproach to the end of their lives and can never let it subside; some come to blows and beat one another until it ends in litigation. Yet the name "thief" or "beast" that the man has spoken does no harm at all to your body, and you hate and rage over it so — this is to grieve vainly over the false name attached to oneself, while not knowing what is truly real in oneself: how can this be?

Furthermore, what is this true reality of oneself? It is forcibly called "death," yet in truth one has never been able to die at all. People always see someone cast off this false body and depart, and that is precisely what they call death. But they do not know that, having cast off this body, one then goes to be reborn taking up another body. Now, as for that destination toward which one goes — how can we fail to prepare provisions for it beforehand?

Therefore the teaching of the Western Pure Land truly ought not to be cast aside.

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE SECOND

When a person is born, there are father, mother, wife, children, house and home, fields and gardens, buffalo, oxen, carts, horses, and even stools and benches, bowls and basins, clothing, and waist-sashes — every kind of belonging, whether great things or small. Whether handed down to one by one's forebears, or made by oneself and only thereby possessed, or amassed for one's sake by children and grandchildren or by others — is each of these things not one's own possession?

Take even the paper pasted over a window: though it is a most trifling thing, yet if another person pokes a hole through it, we still harbor anger in our hearts; a single needle, though small, if another takes it away, we still harbor regret in our hearts. The storehouse is already full, yet the greedy heart is not yet satisfied. Gold and silver are already abundant, yet one keeps amassing without end.

Opening the eyes, lifting the foot — where is there no attachment and clinging? Sleep one night away from home, and one already frets over the house; let a single servant fail to return, and one already frets that he has run off. A hundred matters are reckoned and schemed over, and there is not one of them that is not laid upon the heart to plot and calculate.

Yet when one morning the great calamity arrives, all of it is cast off entirely. Even this very body of ours is itself a thing to be discarded — how much more the things outside the body? Stirred at heart and pondering deeply, it is no different from a single long dream.

Therefore Master Trang Tử (Zhuangzi) said: "Only when there is a Great Awakening does one then know that this body is one long, vast dream."

The ancients spoke this verse: "Nhất nhật vô thường đáo, phương tri mộng lý nhân, vạn ban tương bất khứ, duy hữu nghiệp tùy thân" — which means: "When one day impermanence arrives, one realizes one was a person within a dream; at death the myriad things cannot be carried along, only karma follows and clings to the body." Most true indeed are these words.

Today I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) likewise, following the latter two lines of the verse above, add two lines to make a complete gāthā as follows: "Vạn ban tương bất khứ, duy hữu nghiệp tùy thân, đản niệm A Di Đà, định sinh An lạc quốc" — which means: "The myriad things cannot be carried along, only karma follows the body; if one recites Amitābha (A Di Đà), one will surely be born in the Land of Peace and Nurture."

Now, karma is of two kinds: the first is wholesome karma, the second is unwholesome karma. As reckoned, both of these kinds of karma can be carried along. How then should one not set one's mind upon reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land as one's karma?

There was an Elder, Minh Liễu (Mingliao) Trưởng lão, who, for the sake of the whole assembly, pointed to this body and said: "This body is a dying thing; yet within this dying body there is that which does not die, and that which does not die is called the Conscious Mind (Thức Tâm). This mind lives on forever, unto immeasurable kalpas. So do not be deluded, contriving a plan for living upon a dying thing. You must, precisely upon the living thing, seek out the living thing — only then is it right."

I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) deeply admire the words of this Elder, and therefore I often say to people: "Generally, to crave the various things outside oneself and use them to nourish and serve the body is, indeed, precisely to contrive a plan for living upon a dying thing." Though people of the world cannot yet escape this state, and must dwell within the work of making a living, yet, taking advantage of leisure moments, they should also turn the mind back to reflect, and set their minds upon this Dharma-gate of the Pure Land — this is to contrive a plan for living upon the living thing.

For if one anxiously frets only over living, though one be as rich as Master Thạch Sùng (Shi Chong) and exalted to the first rank of office, in the end there will still come a day when one's allotted span is exhausted. How can this compare to reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land, there to enjoy bliss utterly without end?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE THIRD

A person has never in fact died, yet the name "death" is already inherent in this body. Why is this? Because the spirit-consciousness (thần thức) goes to be reborn and lodges in a realm-body of the four great elements; this body, having the spirit-consciousness, is thereby able to grow large and grow strong — and so this is called birth. When the spirit-consciousness departs from the body of the four elements, then this body, thereby, falls to ruin and decay — and so this is called death.

What is the spirit-consciousness? It is like, say, this very body of ours.

What is the body of the four elements? It is like, say, the house we dwell in.

We have our goings and our comings, and so our house has its forming and its falling to ruin.

Thus, this life here is not truly a living; it is only that, because the spirit-consciousness has come, this body seems as though it lives. And at death, neither is it truly a final dying; it is only that, because the spirit-consciousness has departed, this body must disperse. Yet people, born into the world, are seldom able to recognize this, and merely cling to this body of the four elements alone. Because they cling to these four elements as truly existent and as everlasting, they hope for living and contrive to hate dying — to be deluded and confused to such a degree, how can it not be pitiable?

When the spirit-consciousness departs, from where does it depart?

The answer is: It departs according to karmic conditions.

Question: What are karmic conditions?

Through whatever wholesome or unwholesome karma a person creates, the spirit-consciousness follows the karmic conditions and goes to be reborn, undergoing that karmic recompense. Thus, if a person creates the karma of the human world (receiving the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts), the spirit-consciousness accordingly goes to be reborn among humankind. And if one creates the karma of the heavenly realms above (cultivating the Ten Wholesome Deeds), then the spirit-consciousness accordingly goes to be reborn up in the heavens.

And if one creates the karma of the realm of the Asuras (also cultivating the Ten Wholesome Deeds, but with much hatred and anger), the spirit-consciousness accordingly goes to be reborn again in the realm of the Asuras. And if one creates karma within the three evil destinies (with much greed, hatred, and delusion), then the spirit-consciousness accordingly goes to be reborn into the three evil destinies (the hells, the hungry ghosts, the animals). Thus the spirit-consciousness, in accordance with the karmic conditions it has created, transmigrates forever among the six destinies, with no appointed time at which it shall ever escape.

Yet this spirit-consciousness, from the beginningless past down to the present day, is reborn and changes bodies, unable to dwell long in one place — for what reason? Because the karma we have made and created does not last long, and therefore the spirit-consciousness dwells within each of these bodies for but a brief span, then follows its karma over into another corpse, guarding another body; and when the karma is exhausted and the spirit-consciousness departs, then the bodily form must fall to ruin; when the form falls to ruin, the spirit-consciousness has no place to rely upon; and because it has no place to rely upon, it follows the karma created in this present life, and according to that karma it goes to be reborn, taking up another corpse (the body of the next life).

It is like a person who builds a house and then dwells within the house; one who lays in food and drink must surely enjoy that food and drink. Therefore, whatever karma one creates, of just such a kind one must surely undergo the recompense — this is the principle of naturalness.

This being so, as to what karma we create in this present life — how can we fail to be most careful indeed?

As for those who wish swiftly to escape the round of transmigration and forever to leave behind suffering and affliction, there is nothing so essential as setting the mind upon the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Therefore I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) beg of you, virtuous ones, do not delay and dawdle, failing to cultivate early.

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE FOURTH

A person living within this orb of a world is no different from a bubble of foam floating upon the surface of the water — here, then gone; arising and ceasing, impermanent. Some may live one year, some may live two years, some may live ten or twenty years. To be blessed with good fortune and reach forty or fifty is already fair enough; even seventy (what is called "since ancient times, seventy is rare") is most uncommon.

People of the world see only those not yet old before their eyes, but do not know to consider that there are also a great many who, not yet old, have already died. Moreover, within this world, there is nothing that is not suffering; only because people do not set their minds to reflect upon it do they fail to know it clearly. Take, for instance, that when we are displeased, we are already suffering. And even when we meet with what pleases us, it does not last long before father, mother, wife, children, in-laws, and kin either fall ill and die, or are slain and put to the sword, are separated and scattered, or we ourselves reach our allotted span by some chance occurrence (unexpectedly).

Looking back over a lifetime: how can a whole life be wholly good, without the slightest fault or evil?

So let us speak of what is easily seen right before the eyes: if our mind gives rise to a single improper thought, speaks a single improper word, looks at an improper thing, hears a single improper sound, does a single improper deed — how can there be no fault? How much more so when the food we eat is the flesh of living beings, and the clothes we wear come from the slaughter of silkworms and their silk.

More than this: the fault lies not only in eating meat and wearing silk — if one does not reflect upon it, that is one thing; but reflect upon it, and it is truly dreadful indeed.

From youth to old age, from birth to death, all that one has heaped up in a single lifetime is already much; bound and fettered with many layers, there is no means whereby to gain liberation. After one closes the eyes, one cannot avoid following the karmic conditions and departing — dim and dark, hazy and obscure, who knows where one will be? Perhaps one falls into the hells and undergoes the various extreme punishments; perhaps one is born among the hungry ghosts, with the fire of hunger burning the body; perhaps one enters among the Asuras, with hatred and anger filling the belly.

Even if, by some small portion of wholesome karma, one attains birth in the heavens or among humankind, once the blessed recompense is exhausted, one still cannot avoid transmigrating back as before — rising and sinking, drowning and floating, without any way to bring it to an end.

Only the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Western Pure Land is the one straight and direct road by which one swiftly escapes the round of transmigration.

Moreover, this body is hard to obtain; therefore, while one is not yet old and without illness, one must take care to settle this great matter (of birth and death). One should constantly think thus: "From immeasurable kalpas down to here, I have passed through the round of transmigration in the six destinies, and yet there has never been a time when I knew this Dharma-gate — and that is why I have not escaped the round of transmigration in the six destinies.

"Today I have come to know it; how can I not at once set about it?" Those advanced in years should still strive their utmost, and the young, too, must not delay and dawdle.

When life comes to its end, one attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss (Cực Lạc); and then, looking back, one sees those dead who go down into the netherworld, who appear before King Diêm La (Yama) and undergo various dreadful, extreme punishments. The distance between them is as that between heaven and the abyss — they cannot be spoken of in the same breath.

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE FIFTH

It is like a person who enters a great city: he must of course first seek out a place to settle in peace, and only then go back out to do his work, so that when evening falls he has a place to return to and rest.

First seeking out a place to settle in peace is the meaning of cultivating the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name. When evening falls is the meaning of the great calamity (death) arriving. Having a place to rest is the meaning of being born within a lotus flower, escaping a fall into the evil destinies.

Again, it is like setting out on a far journey: first one must procure rain-gear, so that should one meet with rainy weather, one is spared the worry of being soaked and wandering wretchedly.

What is first procuring the rain-gear? It is the person who cultivates the Pure Land. What is meeting with the rain? It is the great life-span about to be exhausted.

What is being spared the worry of being soaked and wandering wretchedly? It means not coming to the point of being drowned in the evil destinies, undergoing every kind of harrowing suffering.

Moreover, first seeking out a place to settle in peace does no harm at all to going out to work. Procuring rain-gear beforehand is no hindrance at all to setting out on a far journey. So too, cultivating the Pure Land is no hindrance at all to any affair of the world. Why, then, do people of the world not cultivate the recitation?

I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) myself came to know a certain man who, throughout his ordinary life, had mostly created the sin of slaughtering fish; when he grew old he contracted an illness resembling a stroke. Pitying that this man had committed evil deeds and now bore the suffering of illness, I went to visit him. I exhorted him to recite the name of Amitābha Buddha (Đức Phật A Di Đà). But he grumbled and would not consent to recite, only staring at me and speaking words contrary to the Dharma (nonsense).

How is this not a case of being obstructed (hindered) by evil karma, sick and delirious? So if one is unable to turn the mind back and recite the wholesome (to call to mind wholesome things), then after one closes the eyes and departs, on what will one rely?

Therefore those who cultivate the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name must swiftly turn their heads back early.

Within the world, where there is day there must surely be night; where there is cold there is heat. Everyone knows this, and it is hidden nowhere. So too, where there is life there must surely be death — yet everyone is afraid of it and shuns it, to the point of not daring to speak of it; if a child opens its mouth and lets slip a word ("I shall die"), the parents scold it: "Stop talking nonsense!" How wretched a thing this is!

Alas! How can they fail to know that what is called death there has in fact never been any death at all! It is only that, when the karmic conditions are exhausted, the spirit-consciousness departs from the corpse of flesh and goes — that is all.

Therefore we must cultivate the Pure Land and seek rebirth within a lotus flower, there to receive a body like a Buddha's, living on without limit, and to be freed from all the grief, sorrow, and affliction within the round of birth and death!

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE SIXTH

A person born into the lowest grade — precisely at the moment of dying, when the marks of the hells appear before his eyes — if that person, with utmost sincerity of mind, recites ten times "Nam mô A Di Đà Phật" (Homage to Amitābha Buddha), then the appearing marks of the hells are transformed into a lotus flower, and that person too attains rebirth in the Pure Land. This is by reason of the compassion of the Buddha, whose utmost profundity of awesome virtue is most great, and therefore there comes to be such power as this.

This passage speaks of the ten recitations of the Buddha's name performed precisely while one is still alive (while still living) — oneself reciting ten times "Nam mô A Di Đà Phật" — and not of the time after death (when one has already died), when one invites another to recite in one's stead.

When one recites for oneself while still alive, then at the moment of death the Buddha together with the Bodhisattvas come in person to receive and welcome one, and therefore one is assured of rebirth in the Pure Land. But as for inviting another to recite after death — that I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) cannot be certain of!

The Sūtra of Cause and Effect says: After death, if one invites another to recite and to make merit to deliver the deceased, then of the seven portions of merit and virtue, the deceased obtains but one portion; whereas while still alive (before death), if one recites oneself, then of a hundred thousand portions one enjoys the full hundred thousand portions oneself.

Why should people of the world not, precisely while still alive, recite ten times each day the name of the Buddha — why must they wait until death to fetch a master to recite the Buddha's name in their stead?

Furthermore! Iron and stone, though heavy, can yet be carried across a great river by the strength of a boat or ship. But a single needle, though small, if it has not the help of a ship or raft, cannot cross even a small river. This is to say that, though a person have grave sins, yet by the power of the Buddhas' protective sustaining, he may attain the Pure Land; whereas a person whose evil deeds are few (light), if he has not the protective sustaining of the Buddhas, can hardly be born in the Pure Land.

Furthermore! Just as a person who has done evil his whole life, if he but ceases for a single day, likewise becomes a good person, so too one who turns the mind back, inclines toward the good, and recites the Buddha's name, by the Buddhas' protective sustaining, has his evil deeds dissolved away — it is likewise so.

Furthermore! An ant or a louse, through ten thousand lives and ten thousand kalpas, has there ever been a time it could travel a thousand leagues? Yet if it clings within the garment of a person, even a thousand leagues it can reach. Attaining rebirth in the Pure Land by the power of the Buddhas' protective sustaining is just like this. — Pray, do not doubt!

A person with evil deeds, who turns the mind back and recites the Buddha's name, yet wishes not to be reborn there for himself alone — whose mind only wishes to see the Buddha, and, having attained the Way, to return and deliver all, so that both his foes and his loved ones may all alike attain rebirth — then there is not a single person who will not attain rebirth there.

Someone (one who doubts) asks: A person who in his ordinary life does evil, slaughtering living beings and cruelly mistreating the good folk, yet at death recites the Buddha's name and likewise attains rebirth — then those living beings who were slain, who suffered, will harbor a grudge of resentment (rancor) in their hearts: when will it ever fade and subside? What of that?

The answer is: Provided I am born in the Pure Land, then after I have attained the Way I shall return and deliver all — foes and loved ones alike returning together to the Land of Peace and Nurture.

Is this not better than those who forge enmities and bind up hatreds, grievance answering grievance in mutual recompense, so that in the end both oneself and the other are alike drowning and sinking within the suffering of transmigration, with no knowing in what kalpa it is appointed to come to an end?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE SEVENTH

I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) have set forth this teaching of the Pure Land wishing to exhort all — those who see and those who hear — to give rise to a vast and great mind (broad and great), taking the mind of the Buddha as their own mind, causing everyone to come to know it, so that all together may be born in the Pure Land. One must bring forth this thought of the mind: "If another comes to know this Dharma-gate, just as I know it, how can I not rejoice (be gladdened)? And if another does not know it, just as if I myself did not know it, how can I not be saddened?"

It is not for cultivating in isolation for oneself alone. For if one cultivates in isolation for oneself alone, then one is of the company of the Śrāvakas, whom the Buddha calls the lesser vehicle (Hīnayāna).

"Lesser" means small. "Vehicle" is a conveyance, or "vehicle" means to carry. This is to say: one who cultivates the Lesser Vehicle is like a very small conveyance, able to carry but oneself alone. The Buddha says that such a person is one who severs the seed of Buddhahood — for he cultivates along the way of selfishness (benefit for oneself).

But one who gives rise to the vast and great mind, exhorting all people to cultivate together, is called a Mahāyāna Bodhisattva. He is like a very great conveyance, carrying both oneself and others, all journeying together to the place of ultimate attainment — the fruition-state of the Buddhas.

Therefore the blessed recompense of such a person is likewise great, immeasurable and boundless. The Buddhas of the ten directions, as numberless as the sands of the Ganges — every one of these Buddhas praises the merit and virtue of Amitābha Buddha as inconceivable. That is to say: it cannot be reckoned by the deliberating mind, nor discussed and debated by means of words.

Merit and virtue so great as this cannot be described to the very end. Therefore one can only borrow two words to extol it, saying: "Utmost and supreme." Yet with merit and virtue so great and utmost as this, what undertaking is there that one would not accomplish?

Therefore, if one can exhort even a single person to cultivate the Dharma-gate of the Pure Land, then by this wholesome affinity one can have one's evil deeds dissolved and worn away; and not only one's evil deeds dissolved, but moreover one's blessings and one's life-span heightened as well.

Not only blessings and life-span heightened, but one can also accomplish the merit and virtue of being reborn in the realm of the Pure Land. Not only attain rebirth oneself in the realm of the Pure Land, but one can also seek rebirth for the deceased in the realm of the Pure Land as well.

Yet one must, with utmost sincerity, direct the prayer of dedication, and only then will one attain the merit and virtue and attain rebirth in the realm of the Pure Land. Look to the account of Master Phòng Chữ (Fang Zhu) and you will know this (Master Phòng Chữ was one of grave sins who, by reciting the Buddha's name, likewise attained rebirth and rose to the fruition-state of non-retrogression).

How much more, then, if one can exhort one person, and so on to five persons, ten persons! I exhort others, and then bid them in turn exhort yet others more widely. Generation after generation without ceasing, in this way the teaching of the West will be scattered abroad throughout all under heaven, and all living beings within the sea of suffering will likewise all attain rebirth in the Pure Land.

To exhort people to practice the wholesome Way is called the Gift of the Dharma (Dharma-dāna). And this Dharma-gate of the Pure Land is the foremost among all Gifts of the Dharma. And if one wishes to escape the round of transmigration, there is nothing like this Gift of the Dharma.

Therefore the blessed recompense of the giving of the Dharma cannot be told to the very end.

The Great Compassion Bodhisattva (Đại Từ Bồ Tát) composed a gāthā exhorting people to cultivate the Pure Land as follows:

Năng khuyến nhị nhân tu,

Tỷ tự tỷ tinh tấn,

Khuyến chí thập dư nhân,

Phước đức kỷ vô lượng.

Which means:

If one can exhort two people to cultivate,

It equals one's own diligent effort.

If one can exhort more than ten people,

One's blessings and virtue are immeasurable.

And the lines:

Như khuyến bá dư thiên,

Danh vi chân Bồ tát.

Hựu năng quá thử số,

Tức thị A Di Đà.

Which means:

If one exhorts a hundred thousand people,

One is called a true Bodhisattva.

And if one exhorts more than that number,

One is none other than Amitābha Buddha.

Seeing this, one then knows: as for the teaching of the Western Pure Land, how could one fail to employ a vast and great mind, exhorting and transforming all people so that all alike come to know this Dharma-gate, and thereby accumulate immeasurable blessed recompense?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE EIGHTH

Consider: if we see a hungry person and give them one meal, or if a person suffering from cold and we help them with a single garment — that is already a great kindness.

How much more so when living beings are sunk and drowning in the six destinies with no appointed time to escape, and we but teach them the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name, causing them swiftly to escape the round of transmigration and to enjoy bliss long-lasting, utterly without end — how could such a kindness be told in full?

The Diamond Sūtra (Kinh Kim Cang) says: If a person were to give as alms bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, doing so for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas — how great would such blessed virtue be! And yet this does not equal one person who hears and understands this scripture, whose faithful mind does not turn against it — for then the blessed virtue is even greater still.

Why is this? Because giving away the body is, at most, to enjoy the blessed recompense of this present world, which at some time must come to an end.

Whereas one who hears and understands this scripture will, in time, awaken and realize the true nature, attaining blessings without bound and without end. Therefore it is superior.

From this, I (Vương Nhựt Hưu) examine and verify: if one who believes the Diamond Sūtra still attains blessed recompense such as this, then one who exhorts others to cultivate the Pure Land likewise attains blessed recompense like that above, in no way lesser or deficient.

Why is this? Because to cultivate the Dharma-gate of the Pure Land is to be free of the round of transmigration and to attain the stage of non-retrogression, going straight on to the attainment of Buddhahood, the ultimate and perfectly complete fruition-state.

Moreover, once a person has been born in that realm there, even though he has not immediately realized Buddhahood, he is nonetheless precisely on the gradual ascent toward the fruit of Buddhahood. Therefore to exhort one person to cultivate the Pure Land is to bring one living being to the accomplishment of Buddhahood.

Now, all those who attain Buddhahood must of course deliver immeasurable living beings; and those living beings who attain deliverance are all owing to oneself as the foremost cause. So it stands to reason that this blessed recompense must be greater than that of those who give as alms bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges over immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas — how could it be otherwise?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE NINTH

Whenever we receive the kindness of a teacher, his instruction and guidance; the kindness of father and mother, their nurturing and leading by the hand; the kindness of friends, their courteous escort — let us in every case exhort them to cultivate the Pure Land, so as to repay them in return; and so on to bearing the kindness of all people — whether the kindness of someone who has given us a single bowl of tea to drink, or helped us with a single word, or servants who have labored in our service.

For all from which we have received and made use — all of it the strength of others' kindness — let us in every case take this Dharma-gate and exhort and counsel them, causing them to escape from the sea of suffering. Not only those who have shown kindness to us, but all people whom we know and do not know, are acquainted with and unacquainted with — let us contrive to teach them all this one method, hoping that all together we may be born in the Pure Land.

And not only this. Consider that, in the time when the Buddha Śākyamuni (Đức Phật Thích Ca) was still in the world, there was a small country that was difficult to teach and transform. The Buddha said: "The people of this realm have a karmic affinity with Mục Kiền Liên (Maudgalyāyana)." He thereupon sent Mục Kiền Liên to go and teach and transform them, and the people of that country one and all readily submitted and followed the words of Mục Kiền Liên.

Someone asked the Buddha: "Those people of that realm — what manner of karmic affinity have they with Mục Kiền Liên?" The Buddha taught: "In a former life, Mục Kiền Liên was a woodcutter felling firewood, and he startled a swarm of bees in the mountains. Mục Kiền Liên uttered a vow, saying: 'After I attain the Way, I vow to deliver this whole swarm of bees.' Now the people of this city are precisely that swarm of bees of that time. Because Mục Kiền Liên uttered that vow, therefore now there is this karmic affinity."

From this, then, we may see: not only do we, toward all people, exhort them to cultivate the Pure Land, but also toward all the birds and beasts that fly and run, and even toward termites, ants, mosquitoes, and gnats — whatever has form and shape and can be seen — let us in every case recite "Nam mô A Di Đà Phật" several times, and utter the good vow, saying: "All of you living beings, may you all be born in the world of Ultimate Bliss; after I attain the Way, I shall deliver you all."

It is not only toward those with form and shape that we can see, but toward those whose form and shape cannot be seen, we must do likewise in every case.

In this way, then, our wholesome mindfulness becomes ripened and matured. Toward all living beings we come to have karmic affinity. We are born in the highest grade; and once born in the highest grade, we return again into this realm to transform and deliver all people. At that time, there is not a single one who would not delight in and submit to our words.

Therefore there is the saying: "Speak a single word, and ten thousand people hear it" — such is the meaning.

NAM MÔ BỔN SƯ THÍCH CA MÂU NI PHẬT (HOMAGE TO THE ORIGINAL TEACHER ŚĀKYAMUNI BUDDHA)

END OF VOLUME THREE