龍舒增廣淨土文

Master Wang Rixiu cited the words of Mencius, who said that every person is capable of practicing virtue like the sage-kings Shun and Yao. Master Xunzi said that even a man walking along the road may be called King Yu.

The Bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta (Never-Disparaging) said: "I dare not slight any of you, for all of you, if you cultivate, can likewise become Buddhas." Thus, if every person may become a sage or worthy, and anyone at all may become a Buddha, then it is plainly evident that the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in the Pure Land is one that, assuredly, there is no single person who cannot practice. Therefore, today I (Wang Rixiu) have composed this volume, the Universal Exhortation to Cultivate and Uphold (a universal urging that each and every one strive to cultivate and strive to practice).

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE FIRST

Someone once asked Confucius: "Are there people who, when ennobled and moving house, forget even their own wives?" Confucius replied: "Indeed there are many such people. King Jie and King Zhou forgot even their own selves." If one looks with the eye of the Way, then people of the present age, for the most part, forget even their own lives. Why is this so? From the early morning when they rise and open their eyes from where they lay, until evening when they come to where they lie down and close their eyes again, there is no moment in which they do not set their minds to worrying over the affairs of worldly toil. They have never for a moment paused to examine their own bodies—this is to forget one's own self.

Moreover, as for the human body, speaking of what is immediately before the eyes: nothing is greater than hunger and thirst, so one must surely provide food and drink. Speaking of what concerns the whole year round: nothing is greater than cold and heat, so one must surely provide a fur robe and a felt garment. Speaking of what concerns the entire lifetime: nothing is greater than the matter of birth and death—so why does one not provide the provisions needed for the journey to the Pure Land?

Consider further: a person possessing a hundred catties of gold, should he meet with great calamity and be unable to carry it with him, must surely abandon the gold and go empty-handed. If, out of greed and attachment, he clings to the gold and carries it along, then he must surely die. The world calls such a one a fool (a great fool). Now this body is far more precious than a hundred catties of gold.

Yet in ordinary daily life, one anxiously pursues fame and contends for profit; even over a trifling thing worth no more than a hundred coins, one will not consent to let it go—how is it, then, that one does not treasure one's own body?

Or should someone curse you as a thief, or revile you as a beast, you become resentful and enraged; some bear a grudge to the end of their lives and cannot be appeased, and some come to blows until it ends in lawsuits. Yet the name "thief" or "beast" that another speaks does no harm whatsoever to your body, and yet you hate and rage like this—this is to vainly cherish the false name attached to yourself while remaining ignorant of what is truly your own. How can this be?

And what, then, is what is truly your own? It is forcibly called "death," yet in truth it has never been able to die. People do indeed see one who casts off this false body and departs, and they call precisely that "death." But they do not know that, having cast off this body, one then goes to be reborn, taking up another body. And since one is bound for that destination, how can one fail to prepare the provisions beforehand?

Therefore the teaching of the Western Pure Land is truly 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, oxen and cattle, carts and horses, and even down to stools and benches, bowls and basins, clothing and sashes—every single possession, whether great or small. Whether it was left to you by your ancestors, or you yourself made and acquired it, or your children and grandchildren, or others, gathered it together on your behalf—which of these is not regarded as your own thing?

Take, for instance, the paper pasted over the windows: though a most trifling thing, when another pokes a hole through it, you still harbor anger; though a needle is small, when another takes it away, you still harbor regret. Your storehouses are already full, yet the mind of greed is not yet satisfied. Your gold and silver are already abundant, yet you go on acquiring without end.

From opening your eyes to lifting your feet, there is nothing to which you are not attached. One night sleeping away from home, and you already worry about matters at home; one servant not yet returned, and you already worry that he has fled. A hundred affairs are calculated, and there is not one that you do not take to heart and scheme over.

Yet one morning the great calamity arrives, and all of it is utterly abandoned. Even this body of yours is a thing to be cast aside—how much more the things outside the body? When one ponders this with a stirred heart, it is no different from a long dream.

Therefore Master Zhuangzi said: "Only when there is one of Great Awakening does one afterward know that this body is a great long dream."

The ancients had the saying: "Yi ri wu chang dao, fang zhi meng li ren; wan ban jiang bu qu, wei you ye sui shen," which means: "When one day impermanence arrives, only then does one know one was a person within a dream; at the moment of death, the myriad things cannot be carried along—there is only the karma that follows and pursues oneself." How exceedingly true are these words!

Today I (Wang Rixiu) also, following the latter two lines of the verse above, add two lines to form a single verse as follows: "Wan ban jiang bu qu, wei you ye sui shen, dan nian A-mi-tuo, ding sheng An-le guo," which means: "The myriad things cannot be carried along; there is only the karma that follows oneself. If one recites Amitābha, one will assuredly be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss."

Now karma is of two kinds: the first is wholesome karma, the second is unwholesome karma. As for these two kinds of karma, both can be carried along. How, then, can one fail to set the mind upon reciting the Buddha's name, seeking rebirth in the Pure Land as one's karma?

There was an Elder named Mingliao who, on behalf of the entire assembly, pointed to this body and said: "This body is a thing that dies; yet within this dying body there is that which does not die, and that which does not die is called the Conscious Mind. This mind lives on forever, unto immeasurable kalpas. So do not be deluded, scheming for life upon a thing that dies. You must rather, upon the living thing, seek out and pursue the living thing—only then will it be right."

I (Wang Rixiu) deeply admire the words of this Elder, and therefore I often say to others: "To covet the various things outside oneself in order to nourish the body is, indeed, to scheme for life mistakenly upon a thing that dies. People of the world, though they cannot yet escape their circumstances, must still dwell within the affairs of earning a living to sustain themselves. But taking advantage of leisure moments, one must also turn the mind to reflect, setting one's mind upon this Dharma-gate of the Pure Land—this is to scheme for life upon the living thing." Consider: one who anxiously schemes for life, though as wealthy as Shi Chong and as exalted as the first rank of office,

will in the end have a day when his allotted span is exhausted—how can this compare to reciting the Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land, there to enjoy boundless and inexhaustible bliss?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE THIRD

A person has never truly died, yet the name "death" is already inherent in this body. Why is this so? Because the spirit-consciousness goes to be reborn and lodges in the realm of the body of the four great elements; this body, through having the spirit-consciousness, is able to grow and become strong, and so it is called "birth." When the spirit-consciousness departs from the body of the four great elements, then this body, because of this, decays and perishes, and so it is called "death."

What is the spirit-consciousness? It is like one's own self.

What is the body of the four great elements? It is like the house one dwells in.

We come and go, and so our house is built and decays.

Thus, while alive here, one is not truly alive: it is because the spirit-consciousness has come that this body appears, as it were, to live. At death, one does not truly perish either: it is only because the spirit-consciousness departs that this body must disperse. Yet of people born into the world, few are able to recognize this, and they grasp only at this body of the four great elements. Because they grasp at these four elements, taking them to be really existent and everlasting, they therefore hope for life and contrive to hate death. To be so deluded—how can one not pity it?

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

The answer: It departs according to the conditions of karma.

Question: What are the conditions of karma?

Wherever a person creates karma, whether wholesome or unwholesome, the spirit-consciousness follows the karmic conditions and is reborn to undergo that retribution. Thus one who creates the karma of the human realm (receiving the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts)—the spirit-consciousness accordingly is reborn into the human race. One who creates the karma of the heavens above (cultivating the Ten Wholesome Deeds)—the spirit-consciousness accordingly is reborn ascending into the heavenly realms.

One who creates the karma of the realm of the asuras (likewise cultivating the Ten Wholesome Deeds but with much anger and hatred)—the spirit-consciousness accordingly is reborn again into the realm of the asuras. One who creates the karma of the three evil paths (with much greed, anger, and delusion)—the spirit-consciousness accordingly is reborn into the three evil paths (the hells, the hungry ghosts, the animals). Thus the spirit-consciousness, according to the karmic conditions it creates, transmigrates ceaselessly among the six destinies, with no appointed time at which it may emerge.

Yet this spirit-consciousness, from beginningless time down to the present day, has been reborn and changed bodies, unable to dwell long in one place—for what reason? It is because the karma we generate does not endure long; therefore the spirit-consciousness dwells within these bodies for only a brief span, and then, following karma, passes over into another body, sustaining that other body until the karma is exhausted and the spirit-consciousness departs.

Then the bodily form must decay; when the form decays, the spirit-consciousness has nothing on which to rely; and because it has nothing on which to rely, it follows the karma created in this present life, and according to that karma it goes to be reborn, taking up another body (the body of the next life). It is like a person who builds a house and then dwells within the house; one who provides food and drink will surely partake of that food and drink.

Therefore, whatever karma one creates, one must surely undergo a retribution that corresponds to it. This is the principle of nature.

This being so, ought we not to be most careful as to what karma we create in this present life?

For those who wish quickly to be free from transmigration and to be forever parted from suffering and affliction, nothing is more essential than to set the mind upon the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Therefore I (Wang Rixiu) beg all you good people not to dally and delay, failing to cultivate while there is yet time.

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE FOURTH

A person living in this sphere of the world is no different from a bubble of foam floating upon the surface of the water—now present, now gone, arising and perishing, impermanent. Some live but a single year, some live two years, some live ten or twenty years. To be blessed with reaching forty or fifty is already considerable; even seventy (the so-called "rare since ancient times at seventy") is exceedingly uncommon.

People of the world see only those before their eyes who are not yet old, but they do not know to consider how very many there are who, before they had grown old, had already died. How much more so in that, within this world, there is nothing that is not suffering—only because people do not set their minds to reflect upon it, they fail to understand clearly. Even in times when we are not content, we are already suffering. And when we meet with matters that please us, it is not for long before father, mother, wife, children, in-laws, and kinfolk fall ill and die, or are slain in conflict and scattered, or one's own allotted span comes to an end by some chance and unexpected turn.

Reflecting back upon one's life, how could a whole lifetime be wholly good with not the slightest sin or evil?

Take, then, the matters before one's eyes that are easy to see: when our mind gives rise to a single improper thought, when we speak a single improper word, gaze upon an improper thing, hear an improper sound, or do an improper deed—how can there be no sin or fault? How much more so the food we eat, which is the flesh of sentient beings, and the clothes we wear, which exist through the killing of silkworms.

Beyond this, our sins are not merely those of eating flesh and wearing silk; so long as we do not reflect, it passes—but once we reflect upon it, it is truly terrifying.

From childhood to old age, from birth to death, in a single lifetime we accumulate much, bound and entangled in many layers, with no means by which to be liberated. After closing the eyes, one cannot escape going along according to karmic conditions—dim and obscure, who knows where one will be? One may fall into the hells and undergo every extreme torment; one may be born among the hungry ghosts, the flames of hunger searing the body; one may enter among the asuras, the belly full of anger and hatred. And even if, with some slight wholesome karma, one is born up into the heavens or in the human realm, once the blessings and rewards are exhausted, one still cannot escape returning again to transmigration as before—rising and sinking, bobbing and floating—impossible to discern.

Only the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land is the one straight and direct path to escape transmigration swiftly.

How much more so, since this human body is hard to obtain—therefore, while not yet old and free of 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 paths, yet never once have I known this Dharma-gate, and therefore I have not escaped the realm of transmigration in the six paths.

"Now that I have come to know it, how could I not at once set about it?" Those advanced in years should indeed make every effort, and the young likewise should not dally and delay.

When one's life comes to its end, one will be born into the world of Ultimate Bliss, and looking back, one will see those who have died entering the underworld, appearing before King Yama and undergoing those extreme and ghastly torments. 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

Just as a person entering a great walled city must of course first find a settled place to dwell, and only then go back out to attend to business, so that when evening comes there is a place to return and rest.

First finding a settled place to dwell signifies cultivating the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name. The coming of evening signifies the arrival of the great calamity (death). Having a place to rest signifies being born within a lotus flower, escaping descent into the evil destinies.

Again, just as when we travel a long road, we must first provide gear to shield us from rain, so that should we meet with rainy weather, we are spared the misery of being soaked and wandering destitute.

What is providing rain-gear beforehand? It is one who cultivates the Pure Land. What is meeting with rain? It is one's great life-span drawing to its end.

What is being spared the misery of being soaked and wandering destitute? It means not coming to be sunk and drowned in the evil destinies, undergoing every kind of bitter and tangled suffering.

Moreover, first finding a settled place to dwell does no harm to going out to do one's work. Providing rain-gear beforehand poses no obstacle to traveling the long road. One who cultivates the Pure Land likewise meets no obstacle in any of the affairs of the world. Why, then, do people of the world not cultivate and recite?

I myself (Wang Rixiu) once knew a man who, throughout his ordinary life, had for the most part created the sin of killing fish; when he grew old he fell ill, as though stricken with a wind-disorder. Pitying that this man, having created evil karma, was suffering the misery of illness, I went to visit him. I urged him to recite the name of the Buddha Amitābha. He grumbled and would not consent to recite, only staring at me and then speaking improper (nonsensical) words.

Was this not, then, a case of being obstructed (hindered) by evil karma—sickened and delirious? Thus, if one is not able to turn the mind and recite wholesomely (to ponder and remember wholesome things), then after closing the eyes and departing, upon what will one rely?

Therefore one who cultivates this Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name must quickly turn back his head while there is yet time.

In the world, where there is day there must surely be night, where there is cold there is heat. Everyone knows this, and it is not concealed anywhere. But when it is said that where there is life there must surely be death, everyone is afraid and avoids it, to the point that they dare not speak it; and when a child blurts out the words ("I will die"), the parents scold and rebuke him: "Stop talking nonsense"—how wretched this is!

Alas! How can they not understand that what is called "death" has never in fact died, but is only the spirit-consciousness departing from the flesh-and-blood body when the karmic conditions are exhausted—nothing more.

Therefore we must cultivate the Pure Land and seek rebirth within a lotus flower, there to receive a body like that of a Buddha, living for an immeasurable span, 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

For a person born in the lowest grade, even at the moment of death, when the marks of hell appear before his eyes, if that person with utmost sincerity of mind recites ten times "Namo Amitābha Buddha," then the marks of hell are transformed into a lotus flower, and that person too attains rebirth in the Pure Land. This is owing to the compassion of the Buddha, whose august virtue is of the utmost depth and greatness; therefore there is such power as this.

This passage speaks of the ten recitations of the Buddha's name during one's own lifetime (while still alive), when one oneself recites ten times "Namo Amitābha Buddha." It is not a matter of, after the body has passed (after death), requesting others to recite on one's behalf.

When one recites oneself during life, then at the moment of death the Buddha together with the Bodhisattvas comes in person to receive and escort one, and therefore one is assured of rebirth in the Pure Land. As for requesting others to recite on behalf of the deceased body—that I (Wang Rixiu) do not know about for certain!

The Sutra of Cause and Effect says: "When, after death, one requests others to recite and performs meritorious deeds to deliver the departed, then of the seven portions of merit, the departed receives but one portion; whereas during life (before death), reciting oneself, one fully enjoys a hundred thousand portions out of a hundred thousand."

What harm is there for people of the world that they do not, during life, recite the Buddha's name ten times each day? Why must they wait until death to invite a master to recite the Buddha's name in their stead?

Furthermore! Though iron and stone be heavy, with the strength of a boat or ship they may be ferried across a great river. Yet though a single needle be light, without the aid of a ship or raft it cannot cross even a small river. This means that, though a person may have grave sins, by the power of the Buddhas' protective support he may go to the Pure Land; whereas a person whose evil deeds are few (light), if without the protective support of the Buddhas, will find rebirth in the Pure Land hard to attain.

Furthermore! Just as a person who has done evil his whole life, the moment he ceases doing it, likewise becomes a wholesome person, so one who turns his mind toward the wholesome and recites the Buddha's name—by the Buddha's protective support, his evil sins are dissolved—is likewise so.

Furthermore! Just as an ant or a louse, through ten thousand lifetimes and ten thousand kalpas, could never travel a thousand miles—yet if it clings within the garment of a person, even a thousand miles it may reach—so, by the power of the Buddhas' protective support, attaining rebirth in the Pure Land is exactly like this. Pray do not doubt it!

If a person with evil sins turns his mind and recites the Buddha's name, yet does not wish to be reborn there alone—his mind desiring only to see the Buddha, and, having attained the Way, to return and deliver all, so that both foes and loved ones may alike attain rebirth—then there is not a single person who shall not attain rebirth there.

Someone (one who doubts) may ask: "If a person who throughout his life did evil, slaying sentient beings and cruelly oppressing the good folk, recites the Buddha's name at death and likewise attains rebirth, then those sentient beings who were slain and made to suffer—how long will it be before the resentment they harbor is appeased and fades away?"

The answer: "Provided I am born into the Pure Land, then after attaining the Way I shall return and deliver all—foes and loved ones alike shall together come to the Land of Peace and Nurture.

"How is this not better than for those who breed enmity and bind up hatred, wrong answering wrong in mutual retribution, until in the end both self and other are sunk and submerged together in the suffering of transmigration, not knowing in what kalpa they may appoint their escape?"

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE SEVENTH

I (Wang Rixiu) establish 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, taking the mind of the Buddha as one's own mind, so that everyone may come to know it and together be born into the Pure Land. One must bear this in mind: "If others come to know this Dharma-gate, just as I have come to know it, how is this not a joy (a delight)? But if others do not know it, just as I might not have known it, how is this not a sorrow?"

It is not to cultivate for oneself alone. If one cultivates for oneself alone, then one is of the company of the Śrāvakas, whom the Buddha calls those of the Lesser Vehicle (Hīnayāna).

"Lesser" means small. "Vehicle" is a cart, or "vehicle" means to convey. This means: one who cultivates the Lesser Vehicle is like a very small cart, able to convey only oneself. The Buddha says that such a person is one who cuts off the seed of Buddhahood—because he cultivates in a selfish manner (benefiting only himself).

But one who gives rise to a vast and great mind, exhorting all people to cultivate together, is called a Bodhisattva of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna). It is like a very great cart, conveying both oneself and others together to the place of ultimate attainment, the fruition of the Buddhas.

Therefore the blessings and rewards of such a person are likewise great, immeasurable and boundless. The Buddhas of the ten directions, numerous as the sands of the Ganges—every one of them praises the merit of Amitābha Buddha as inconceivable. This means: it cannot be fathomed by the mind in thought, nor can it be discussed and debated in words.

Such great merit cannot be described to its fullest extent. Therefore one merely borrows two words to extol it, saying "supreme." Yet with merit so great and so supreme as this, what task could there be that it would not accomplish?

Therefore, to exhort even a single person to cultivate the Dharma-gate of the Pure Land—through this wholesome affinity, one's evil sins too may be dissolved away. Not only are evil sins dissolved, but one's blessings and life-span are increased and elevated as well.

Not only are blessings and life-span increased and elevated, but one may also accomplish the merit of rebirth into the Pure Land. Not only may one oneself attain rebirth into the Pure Land, but praying for a departed one to attain rebirth into the Pure Land is likewise possible.

Yet one must indeed make supplication with utmost sincerity in order to attain the merit and to attain rebirth into the Pure Land. One may know this from the account of Master Fang Zhu (Master Fang Zhu, of grave sins, by reciting the Buddha's name likewise attained rebirth and ascended to the non-retrogressing fruition).

How much more so to exhort one person, indeed five persons, ten persons! I exhort others, and then bid them in turn exhort yet more widely. Generation after generation without ceasing—in this way the teaching of the West is scattered abroad throughout the whole world, and all sentient beings in the sea of suffering likewise all attain rebirth into the Pure Land.

To exhort people to practice the wholesome Way is called the Gift of Dharma. And this Dharma-gate of the Pure Land is the foremost among all the Gifts of Dharma. And for wishing to escape transmigration, nothing equals this Gift of Dharma.

Therefore the blessings and rewards of giving the Dharma cannot be told to their utmost.

The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (Mahā-maitrī) composed a verse exhorting people to cultivate the Pure Land, as follows:

Neng quan er ren xiu,

Bi zi bi jing jin,

Quan zhi shi yu ren,

Fu de ji wu liang.

Which means:

If one can exhort two people to cultivate,

It compares with one's own diligence.

If one exhorts more than ten people,

One's own blessings and virtue are immeasurable.

And the lines:

Ru quan bai yu qian,

Ming wei zhen pu-sa.

You neng guo ci shu,

Ji shi A-mi-tuo.

Which means:

If one exhorts a hundred thousand people,

He is called a true Bodhisattva.

And if one can exhort more than that number,

He is none other than Amitābha Buddha.

Seeing this, one then knows: how could the teaching of the Western Pure Land fail to make use of a vast and great mind, exhorting and transforming all people so that they together come to know this Dharma-gate, thereby to amass immeasurable blessings and rewards?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE EIGHTH

Take, for instance, when we see a person who is hungry and give him a single meal, or when a person suffers from cold and we give him a single garment—this is already a great kindness.

How much more so when sentient beings, sunk and submerged in the six paths, have no appointed time at which to escape, and we teach them the Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name, enabling them swiftly to escape transmigration and enjoy long-lasting, utterly boundless and inexhaustible bliss—how could such kindness be fully reckoned?

The Diamond Sutra says: "If a person were to give away, in charity, bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges"—doing so for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas—how great would the blessings and virtue be! Yet this does not equal the case of one person who hears and understands this scripture, with a faithful mind that does not turn away; the blessings and virtue of this are still greater.

Why is this so? Because to give away one's body in charity is, at most, to enjoy the blessings and rewards of this world, which one day must come to an end.

But one who hears and understands this scripture will gradually awaken to the true nature and attain blessings without limit and without end. Therefore it is superior.

From this I (Wang Rixiu) examine and reckon: one who believes in the Diamond Sutra still attains blessings and rewards such as these. If one exhorts people to cultivate the Pure Land, the blessings and rewards are likewise as above, in no way less or lacking.

Why is this so? Because by cultivating the Dharma-gate of the Pure Land, there is no more transmigration, and one attains the stage of non-retrogression, going straight on to the attainment of Buddhahood, the ultimate and perfectly complete fruition.

How much more so since a person, once born into that land—though he has not yet at once realized the fruition of Buddhahood—is nonetheless precisely upon the gradation that ascends step by step toward the fruition of Buddhahood. Therefore to exhort one person to cultivate the Pure Land is to bring one sentient being to the accomplishment of Buddhahood.

All those who attain Buddhahood must of course deliver immeasurable sentient beings, and those sentient beings who are delivered are all led by ourselves as the foremost cause. It is therefore only natural that such blessings and rewards must be greater than those of one who gives away bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges in charity through immeasurable hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas—how could it be otherwise?

UNIVERSAL EXHORTATION TO CULTIVATE AND UPHOLD

THE NINTH

For all the kindness we have received—the teacher's instruction and guidance, the leading and guiding kindness of father and mother, the kindness of friends who escort us with courtesy—let us all exhort them to cultivate the Pure Land, in order to repay it; and on down to the kindness received from all people, whether the kindness of one who gave us a single bowl of tea, or one who helped with a single word, together with the servants who have labored in attendance upon us.

For all that we receive and enjoy is the power of others' kindness. We should take this Dharma-gate and exhort them all, enabling them to escape the sea of suffering—not only those who have shown us kindness, but all people whom we know and do not know, whether acquainted or unacquainted—we should contrive to teach this one method, hoping that together we may be born into the Pure Land.

Not only this. Consider how, in the time when the Buddha Śākyamuni was yet in the world, there was a small country difficult to convert. The Buddha said: "The people of this land have a karmic affinity with Maudgalyāyana." He then dispatched Maudgalyāyana to go and convert them, whereupon the people of that country all, one after another, submitted and followed the words of Maudgalyāyana.

Someone asked the Buddha: "What karmic affinity do the people of that land have with Maudgalyāyana?" The Buddha taught: "In a former life Maudgalyāyana was a woodcutter felling firewood, and he disturbed a swarm of bees in the mountains. Maudgalyāyana uttered a vow, saying: 'After I attain the Way, I vow to deliver this entire swarm of bees.' Now the people within this city are precisely that swarm of bees of old. Because Maudgalyāyana uttered that vow, there is therefore this karmic affinity today."

Seeing this, we should not only exhort all people to cultivate the Pure Land, but toward all the creatures that fly and run, and even down to the termites, ants, mosquitoes, and gnats—any that have a form and shape that can be seen—we should recite "Namo Amitābha Buddha" several times and utter a wholesome vow, saying: "May you, sentient beings, all be born into the world of Ultimate Bliss, and after I attain the Way I shall deliver you all."

It is not only toward beings with form and shape that we can see; toward beings whose form and shape cannot be seen, we should also do likewise in every respect.

In this way, our wholesome mindfulness becomes fully matured. With all sentient beings we have karmic affinity. We are born into the highest grade, and having been born into the highest grade, we return to this world to transform and deliver all people. At that time there will not be a single one who does not delight in and submit to our words.

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

NAMO ORIGINAL TEACHER ŚĀKYAMUNI BUDDHA

END OF VOLUME THREE