淨土生無生論

Homage to the Triple Gem

I bow in reverence to the Able and Benevolent One of perfect wisdom,

The Teacher of the Great Way, Lord of the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Sutra of Immeasurable Life points to the Land of Peace and Nurturing,

The Mahāyāna teaching of complete meaning, truly perfect and sudden.

Mañjuśrī of Wondrous Virtue, Samantabhadra of Universal Manifestation, Avalokiteśvara the Self-Existent Observer,

Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and the Great Ocean Assembly of the Pure.

Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Vasubandhu,

And in this land, the Patriarch of the Lotus Society at Mount Lu.

Zhiyi the Wise of Tiantai, and Fazhi,

Dharma masters who have propagated the Dharma from ancient times until now.

I now take refuge and pay homage to the Triple Gem,

Praying to receive quiet aid and support.

I have gathered the secret meanings of the various sutras and treatises,

To set forth the Pure Land doctrine of birth and non-birth,

Praying that those of later ages who encounter this treatise

May sever doubt, believe and accept it, and never retreat.

The author of this treatise composed it, establishing ten gates:

1. The One True Dharma-Realm

2. The Dependent Arising of Body and Land

3. The Mutual Connection of Mind and Land

4. Sentient Beings and Buddha Are Not Two

5. The Dharma-Realm Is a Single Thought

6. Object and Contemplation Harmonize

7. The Three Contemplations Are Thus

8. Stimulus and Response Are Interrelated

9. There and Here Are Ever One

10. The Present and the Future Harmonize Together

1. The One True Dharma-Realm

Opening verse:

Within the one true Dharma-nature,

The ten Dharma-realms are complete and full,

Embracing entirely both circumstantial and direct retribution,

How then is the Buddha different from ourselves?

The treatise says: The One True Dharma-Realm is the mind-nature inherently possessed by sentient beings. This mind-nature possesses immeasurable virtues and bears immeasurable names. Why is it said to possess immeasurable virtues? Simply put, it is the nature's essence, the nature's measure, and the nature's endowment.

Why is it called the nature's essence? This mind-nature departs from the four propositions and severs the hundred negations; its essential nature is firm and solid, pure and undefiled, neither arising nor ceasing, ever-abiding and indestructible.

Why is it called the nature's measure? This mind-nature extends throughout the three times and spreads across the ten directions. The world has bounds, but empty space has no bounds; empty space has bounds, but the mind-nature has no bounds. The present has bounds, but the past and future have no bounds; the past and future have bounds, but the mind-nature has no bounds—boundless beyond boundlessness, measureless beyond measurelessness.

Why is it called the nature's endowment? This mind-nature fully possesses the ten Dharma-realms: the Dharma-realm of Buddhas, the Dharma-realm of Bodhisattvas, the Dharma-realm of Pratyekabuddhas, the Dharma-realm of Śrāvakas, the Dharma-realm of Devas, the Dharma-realm of Asuras, the Dharma-realm of humans, the Dharma-realm of animals, the Dharma-realm of hungry ghosts, and the Dharma-realm of hells—these are provisional names.

There is also direct retribution, called the five aggregates of Buddhas, the five aggregates of Bodhisattvas, and so on down to the five aggregates of the hells—these are the actual dharmas. There is also circumstantial retribution, namely the lands of Buddhas, the lands of Bodhisattvas, and so on down to the lands of the hells.

Today, to make it easy to understand, there are three kinds of distinction. Speaking from the point of grasping the meaning: precisely the nature's endowment is the nature's essence and the nature's measure. The nature's essence departs from faults and severs negations; precisely the nature's endowment of the ten Dharma-realms departs from faults and severs negations.

The nature's essence is firm and solid in its essential nature, pure and undefiled, neither arising nor ceasing, ever-abiding and indestructible; the nature's endowment of the ten Dharma-realms is likewise so. The nature's measure extends throughout and spreads across, inexhaustible upon inexhaustible, measureless upon measureless; the nature's endowment of the ten Dharma-realms is likewise so. The five aggregates of direct retribution are identical with the nature's essence and the nature's measure—pure and pervading everywhere; the lands of circumstantial retribution are likewise so.

These three dharmas are also called the three truths. The nature's essence is the truth of the Middle, the nature's measure is the ultimate truth, and the nature's endowment is the conventional truth. Thus the Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: "The Tathāgata-garbha, the mind originally wondrous and perfect, is not mind, not emptiness; not earth, water, fire, or wind; not eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; not form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas; not the realm of the eye, and so on up to not the realm of mind-consciousness; not ignorance, and so on up to not old age and death; not the ending of ignorance, and so on up to not the ending of old age and death; not suffering, accumulation, cessation, or the path; not wisdom, not attainment;

not dāna (giving), and so on up to not prajñā (wisdom); not tathāgata (the Thus-Come One); not arhat (the Worthy of Offerings); not samyak-saṃbodhi (right and universal knowing); not permanence, bliss, self, and purity." This is precisely the signlessness of the nature's measure, which is also the ultimate truth.

Yet the Tathāgata-garbha and the originally luminous wondrous mind are mind, are emptiness, are earth, water, fire, and wind; are the six ordinary realms, are the two vehicles, and so on up to being the Tathāgata's permanence, bliss, self, and purity. This is the nature's endowment of the ten realms, which is also the conventional truth.

The Tathāgata-garbha and the originally luminous wondrous mind depart from "is" and depart from "is not," yet are both "is" and "is not." This is the nature's essence, embracing all, called the truth of the Middle. It is also said: The Tathāgata-garbha is the nature of form, true emptiness; the nature of emptiness, true form—pure in its original suchness, pervading throughout the Dharma-realm. Earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness are all likewise so.

Earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness are the nature's endowment; pure in their original suchness is the nature's essence; pervading throughout the Dharma-realm is the nature's measure. Furthermore, earth, water, fire, wind, and space, pure in their original suchness and pervading throughout the Dharma-realm, are the nature's essence and the nature's measure of the lands of circumstantial retribution; consciousness, pure in its original suchness and pervading throughout the Dharma-realm, is the nature's essence and the nature's measure of the five aggregates of direct retribution.

Why does it bear immeasurable names? In sum, this mind-nature is sometimes called the Empty Tathāgata-garbha, sometimes called True Suchness or Buddha-nature, sometimes called the amala consciousness, sometimes called the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, sometimes called Bodhi or Nirvāṇa.

The nature's essence and nature's measure are called the Empty Tathāgata-garbha; precisely the nature that fully possesses the ten realms, the five aggregates, and the lands is called the Tathāgata-garbha. The nature's essence and nature's measure are called True Suchness and Buddha-nature; precisely the nature that fully possesses all things is called True Suchness and Buddha-nature. The nature's essence and nature's measure are called the amala consciousness; precisely this nature that fully possesses all consciousnesses is called the amala consciousness.

The nature's essence and nature's measure are called the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom; this nature that fully possesses all things is called the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom. The nature's essence and nature's measure are called Bodhi and Nirvāṇa; this nature that fully possesses all things is called Bodhi and Nirvāṇa.

Hence there is the verse:

Within the one true Dharma-nature,

The ten Dharma-realms are complete and full,

Embracing entirely both circumstantial and direct retribution,

How then is the Buddha different from ourselves?

Question: As for this One True Dharma-Realm, is the initial mind correct, or is the final mind correct? If the initial mind is correct, then there should be no seven names; if the final mind is correct, then there should be no nine realms; and if both the initial mind and the final mind are discarded, then the establishment of the doctrine cannot stand.

Answer: This is precisely the revealing of the initial mind. Because the initial mind is correct, only then is there the correctness of the final mind; and because the final mind is correct, only then is the correctness of the initial mind revealed.

Why is it that by the correctness of the initial mind there is only then the correctness of the final mind? Just as at the fruition-ground the circumstantial and direct retributions interpenetrate, form and mind are not two, and one bears the forms of the nine realms, using skillful means to deliver sentient beings—all of this is because of realizing that this fundamental mind inherently possesses them. Therefore it is said: the fruition-ground of the Buddhas interpenetrates because it merely realizes the fundamental principle of sentient beings; thus it accords with the nature in its operation, requiring no calculation yet producing responses.

If it were not so, how would it differ from the heterodox or the Hīnayāna who wish to obtain spiritual powers? Therefore the Great Master Fazhi said: "The meaning of the six identities of Buddha is not confined solely to the Buddha. All the provisional and the actual, the three vehicles, humans and devas, down to form and mind, dung beetles and hells, all are divided into before and after from the six identities of Buddha.

Speaking of the principle, the dung beetle proceeds from the verbal stage up to the ultimate. For the discussion of the ten realms all belongs to the principle-nature; if it were not the Dharma-realm, not a single thing could be altered. Therefore, to speak of discarding the verbal-letter stage is not merely to reveal the Buddha alone, but the nine realms are revealed together as well, all attaining the fruition; thus the ten realms are all ultimate." Why is it that by the correctness of the final mind the correctness of the initial mind is only then revealed?

Precisely because the fruition-ground of the initial mind completely realizes the fundamental principle of sentient beings, the seven categories of names at the stage of realizing the fruition are the beautiful designations of the virtue-nature of sentient beings. Only because sentient beings are in delusion, the virtue-nature is not revealed, and so these names are absent. But if one discusses the virtue-nature, how can one say sentient beings lack it?

Therefore the initial mind and the final mind are both wholesome, and so the establishment of the doctrine is accomplished.

2. The Dependent Arising of Body and Land

Opening verse:

Within the nature of the true Dharma-realm,

Unchanging, yet ever following conditions,

The three bodies and the four lands

Are produced at once by the mind.

The treatise says: As for the nature of the One True Dharma-Realm, the preceding text has already clearly explained the nature's essence, the nature's measure, and the nature's endowment. In the teaching it is said: "True Suchness is unchanging yet follows conditions; though it follows conditions it does not change," precisely because the nature's essence and nature's measure are identical with the nature's endowment. Just as a noble person is not a fixed vessel of a single kind, but can become a thing either good or bad.

Therefore the Jin-dynasty translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: "Able to follow defiled and pure conditions, it produces in full the ten Dharma-realms." This means that within the nature of True Suchness the nine Dharma-realms are fully possessed, and it can, following defiled conditions, produce the nine Dharma-realms; the nature of True Suchness fully possesses the Buddha Dharma-realm, and it can, following pure conditions, produce the Buddha Dharma-realm.

The reason it can produce them is that the original nature fully possesses them; if the nature did not fully possess them, how could it produce them? The Tiantai school says: "All things arise because the principle fully possesses them, and only then is there their phenomenal function." This is precisely this meaning.

One should know that within phenomena there are the ten Dharma-realms, the three bodies, and the four lands, all produced through transformation by True Suchness following conditions. Since it is said that True Suchness does not change yet follows conditions, and follows conditions yet does not change, then the body and land, defiled and pure, within phenomena, are in their very substance True; there cannot be any addition or subtraction therein, even by so much as a single thread.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: "The seeing-portion and the appearance-portion are both appearances grasped in imagination, like flowers in empty space, fundamentally having no existence. This seeing-portion and appearance-portion are originally the wondrous, pure, luminous essence of Bodhi." If this is so, then the Sahā world and the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the sentient beings of this present life being reborn in the nine grades, Amitābha Buddha having already attained Buddhahood, and my own mind now realizing the fruition—all are created by the mind-nature, fully possessed within the mind and thereby created.

How can one divide which is the active and which is the passive? Precisely the mind is the Buddha, and precisely the Buddha is the mind. Precisely the mind is the land, and precisely the land is the mind.

Precisely the mind is the fruition, and precisely the fruition is the mind. The active causes and conditions that create, and the passive dharmas that are created—both, in that very place, are the mind-nature. Therefore, one who understands this principle and seeks rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss—for such a person, birth and non-birth are both the ultimate Way.

3. The Mutual Connection of Mind and Land

Opening verse:

The Land of Peace and Bliss in the West,

A hundred thousand koṭis distant from here—

The ordinary being's mind is lowly and inferior,

Yet the mind is this very Pure Land.

The treatise says: The Amitābha Sūtra teaches: "From here, going westward, passing a hundred thousand koṭis of Buddha-lands, there is a world named Ultimate Bliss." A hundred koṭis of suns and moons, a hundred koṭis of Mount Sumerus, a hundred koṭis of great oceans, and a hundred koṭis of Cakravāḍa mountains are called one Buddha-land. Ten thousands make one myriad; ten myriads make one koṭi. A single Buddha-land is already vast in itself—how much more one koṭi of Buddha-lands, how much more a hundred thousand koṭis.

Thus the realm of the Land of Ultimate Bliss is exceedingly distant. The ordinary being who recites the Buddha's name seeking rebirth arrives there in the mere snap of a finger, because within our mind all the Buddha-lands are fully possessed. To speak of the "lowly and inferior mind" is to speak of the mind of the ordinary being who recites the Buddha's name—called the momentary mind; it is exceedingly small and exceedingly weak, and so is called lowly and inferior.

To say that a hundred thousand koṭis of Buddha-lands lie distant from here is said from the standpoint of the lowly and inferior mind of the ordinary being. Precisely the mind is the land, and precisely the land is the mind; therefore it is said that there is no "there" and "here."

Question: The lowly and inferior mind exists within a single square inch—how can it embrace entirely all those distant Buddha-lands?

Answer: This lowly and inferior mind is small for one who is deluded; but for one who attains the Way and realizes the great contemplation, the true and the false are not two. For this false mind arises from the entire nature; since the nature has no bounds, the mind too has no limit. The nature is like the great ocean, and the mind is like a floating bubble: the entire ocean is the bubble, and the bubble returns again to the ocean. For True Suchness does not change yet follows conditions, and follows conditions yet does not change. Since it is said to follow conditions yet not change, how can one use "true" and "false" to confine it within "large" and "small"?

4. Sentient Beings and Buddha Are Not Two

Opening verse:

Amitābha and the ordinary being—

In delusion and awakening there is difference;

Yet the mind of sentient beings and that of the Buddha

Are ultimately truly not two.

The treatise says: Amitābha Buddha is one who has already realized the fruition, accomplishing the various kinds of merit such as the three bodies, the four wisdoms, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the eighteen exclusive dharmas. The ordinary being, by contrast, is one who creates causes, fully possessing immeasurable afflictions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, producing immeasurable binding karmas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and undergoing immeasurable marks of birth-and-death, delusion-and-awakening, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges—like a precious jewel buried deep in foul mud.

To say "ultimately not two" is, when based on appearance, to say "not two yet two"; but when discussed with regard to the nature, it is "two yet not two." For the Buddhas are those who have awakened to the Buddhas within the minds of sentient beings, while sentient beings are those deluded about the Buddhas within the minds of sentient beings. The reason it is called awakening is that they have awakened to the nature's endowment, the nature's essence, and the nature's measure inherently possessed by sentient beings; the reason it is called delusion is that they are deluded about the nature's essence, the nature's measure, and the nature's endowment realized by the Buddhas.

The wondrous point of the mind-nature is not merely to acknowledge that there is delusion, for it is deluded yet not deluded. There is clear evidence for this: because sentient beings inherently possess the nature's essence, which is the Dharma-body realized by the Buddhas; the nature's measure is the reward-body, and the nature's endowment is the response-body. The various merits—the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the eighteen exclusive dharmas—all issue forth from these three bodies.

The ancient virtuous ones taught: "The mind of the Buddhas dwells within sentient beings, and every mote of dust is the Land of Ultimate Bliss; the mind of sentient beings dwells within the Buddhas, and every thought realizes the True." Therefore Amitābha is my mind, and my mind is Amitābha. When the thought has not yet arisen, Buddhahood is already early accomplished; the moment the thought arises, the merit is perfectly fulfilled.

That stimulus and response correspond to one another issues from this principle. Therefore for the one who recites the Buddha's name, the effort is not in vain.

5. The Dharma-Realm Is a Single Thought

Opening verse:

The substance of the Dharma-realm, perfectly fused,

Is the single thought of my mind;

Therefore when my mind recites the Buddha's name,

The substance of the Dharma-realm appears.

The treatise says: When the practitioner recites the Buddha's name, when contemplating the Buddha, when contemplating the various kinds of circumstantial and direct retribution, host and companions; when cultivating the three kinds of pure karma; when one-minded and undistracted; when reciting the name with a scattered mind—even though views and thoughts, the deluded confusions, pile up layer upon layer, and afflictions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges surround on every side—wherever there is a mind that practices, all issue from True Suchness that does not change, and the entire substance is precisely the Dharma-realm.

Therefore the Great Master Fazhi said: "The substance of the Dharma-realm is perfectly full and inconceivable. The practice of a single thought of my mind is likewise of the same fundamental substance, becoming sentient beings or becoming a Buddha, becoming circumstantial retribution or becoming direct retribution. If this is so, then even ordinary minds are capable of it—how much more the mind that recites the Buddha's name." Therefore the practitioner, when reciting the Buddha's name, this mind is perfectly fused, pure, and of precious enlightenment; using this wondrous mind to recite that Buddha Amitābha, then among the three bodies of that Buddha, which body is not recited?

And in seeking rebirth in those four lands, which land does one not attain birth in? It is only that, according to the depth or shallowness of one's practice, the grades and stations are high or low—that is all.

6. Object and Contemplation Harmonize

Opening verse:

There are sixteen objects of contemplation;

Phenomena and principle are made manifest;

Interweaving without obstruction,

Circumstantial and direct retribution are clearly not two.

The treatise says: Object and contemplation harmonize precisely because all things are without obstruction. The reason all things are without obstruction is that they share one and the same fundamental substance. Because the Dharma-realm fully possesses the various inconceivable substances, the contemplating mind of a single thought likewise gives rise to the fundamental substance, becoming sentient beings or becoming a Buddha, becoming circumstantial retribution or becoming direct retribution—all are produced from the entire substance, so what dharma is not the Dharma-realm?

Therefore one says: "A single mote of dust of the Dharma-realm is not small; the great ocean of the Dharma-realm is not large; the many are likewise the Dharma-realm, and the few are likewise the Dharma-realm." Thus the sixteen objects of contemplation of the Western Land, together with the two Dharma-realms of phenomena and principle within my mind—each in its entire substance is the Dharma-realm, like the net of Indra in the palace of Lord Śakra: although each spot, here and there, is a single jewel, yet its reflection enters into the mass of all the jewels; and although its image enters into the mass of all the jewels, its reflecting function, east and west, has differences.

Object and contemplation are likewise so: taking the object as phenomena, then the contemplation is principle. Principle can embrace phenomena—this is called using the contemplation to depart from the object; taking the contemplation as phenomena, then the object is principle, and principle can embrace phenomena—so this is called taking the object to harmonize with the contemplation. Whether contemplation or object, when one is phenomena, then the other is principle; when one is principle, then the other is phenomena.

There and here mutually harmonize and take each other up, like the net of Indra. If it is so, then when I contemplate, the circumstantial and direct retributions are already within my contemplation. My body and mind now dwell within the circumstantial and direct retributions.

Understanding this clearly, one seeks rebirth in the Land of Peace and Nurturing. It may be said: The wild goose flies across empty space, its shadow sinking into the cold water—the goose has no intention to leave a trace behind, and the water has no mind to retain the shadow.

7. The Three Contemplations Are Thus

Opening verse:

The contemplating subject is the three contemplations,

The contemplated object is the three truths;

Cultivation arises from the nature,

And the Dharma is still just so.

The treatise says: The three truths are the ultimate truth, the conventional truth, and the truth of the Middle Way. The three contemplations are the contemplation of emptiness, the contemplation of the provisional, and the contemplation of the Middle Way. To forget the affections and to cut off the bounds of conceptual understanding—nothing equals the True.

To follow conditions in application—nothing equals the conventional. To fuse and penetrate being and non-being—nothing equals the Middle. The nature is empty, numinous, and not dim: my mind here is of itself empty.

When a thing arrives here, it is clearly responded to: my mind here is of itself existent. When emptiness and existence are united, then my mind here is of itself the Middle. This nature is not obtained through cultivation.

The three truths are not the three contemplations. The cultivator must accord with the nature and illuminate it clearly; therefore the substance penetrates this mind, thoroughly empty, and not a single thing exists—this is called emptiness. To illuminate clearly that this nature fully possesses the myriad dharmas—this is called the provisional.

To fuse and penetrate both sides, neither one nor other—this is called the Middle. If it is so, then precisely at the point of the empty and numinous it responds to things, and precisely in responding to things it is empty and numinous; thus emptiness is precisely the provisional and the Middle, the provisional is precisely emptiness and the Middle, and the Middle is precisely emptiness and the provisional. This is precisely cultivating in accord with the nature, illuminating with the absolute and the relative.

These three contemplations are truly inconceivable—they are the compass and guide for the great samādhi of Śūraṅgama. This is how it is when discussed separately; if discussed together, then one may take the empty and numinous mind as emptiness, take the contemplation of the myriad things as the provisional, and take mind and object being not two as the Middle. Things are the things of my mind—how then can the provisional not be empty?

The mind is the mind of all things—how then can emptiness not be provisional? Precisely the mind is things, and precisely things are the mind—how then can the Middle not contain emptiness and the provisional? Therefore, to contemplate the circumstantial and direct retributions of the Land of Ultimate Bliss is the three contemplations of the one mind issuing forth, illuminating a single object of the three truths, each precise and exact.

Using the one mind of our three contemplations to illuminate a single object of the three truths, each is precise and exact. Therefore the Great Master Huxi said: "The object is the wondrous provisional; the contemplation is emptiness. Object and contemplation both forgotten—this is precisely the true Middle.

Forgetting and illuminating have never had before or after. The one mind, fused and absolute, is clearly without end." If this is so, who would still say that the Dharma of the three contemplations is anything other than just so?

8. Stimulus and Response Are Interrelated

Opening verse:

My mind stimulates the Buddhas,

Amitābha responds clearly;

Both are mutually interrelated,

Like a magnet meeting iron.

The treatise says: The Buddhas and sentient beings share one source of enlightenment. Though there is difference between delusion and awakening, the principle is ever equal. Therefore the ancient virtuous ones said: "The Buddhas are the Buddhas within the minds of sentient beings; sentient beings are the sentient beings within the minds of the Buddhas." Based on this meaning, the Buddhas and sentient beings, within the mind, are at no moment without mutual communion.

The only difference is that the Buddhas, at every moment, wish to deliver sentient beings, while sentient beings keep chasing after delusion and never call the Buddha to mind. Therefore the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta said: "When one person constantly remembers and another person constantly forgets, then though they meet it is as if not meeting, and though they see it is as if not seeing; but if the child remembers the mother as the mother remembers the child, then though many lifetimes pass they will surely meet face to face.

If sentient beings, with their minds, remember the Buddha and recite the Buddha's name, then in the present and the future they will surely meet the Buddha, and the realm of the Buddha is not far."

Precisely because of this principle of equality, the nature naturally has the opening forth of mutual relation, and so it can pull out all suffering and bestow joy. How much more so Amitāyus Buddha (the Buddha of Immeasurable Life), who, while cultivating the causal ground, made forty-eight great vows, vowing to adorn the Land of Ultimate Bliss and to embrace and receive sentient beings. Now that the fruition of the Way is accomplished and the practice is perfectly fulfilled, sentient beings need not worry that the Buddha will not come at the proper moment of stimulus and response to receive and guide them.

It is only necessary that sentient beings have deep faith, remember and recite, and gradually give rise to the vow, vowing to be reborn in the Western Land—like a magnet meeting iron, freely drawn to it. Yet though a magnet can attract iron, it cannot attract such things as wood or brass, nor can it attract pearls and jewels. Likewise, the Buddha can deliver those who have affinity, but cannot deliver those without affinity.

Sentient beings who have excellent affinity easily stimulate Amitābha Buddha, but do not so easily stimulate the other Buddhas. Is this not precisely because, through his vows, Amitābha Buddha and sentient beings have many points of mutual relation? Therefore, one who seeks rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha cannot lack faith, vow, and practice.

9. There and Here Are Ever One

Opening verse:

There are those who, at the moment of death,

Do not let right mindfulness be lost;

Whether they see light or flowers,

They have already been reborn in the jeweled ponds.

The treatise says: In the Treatise on Rebirth there is a story: The Hanlin Academician Wang Shangshi made a vow to recite the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī a hundred thousand times, vowing to be reborn in the Western Land. One day he fell ill and merely recited the Buddha's name. Suddenly he called the members of his household to him and said: "The Western Pure Land is right beside the house, on the western side. Amitābha Buddha sits upon a lotus throne. I see, within the lotus pond, upon golden ground, my grandson Gong-er, who died many years ago, now bowing in worship and smiling with joy." Having said this, a moment later he passed away while reciting the Buddha's name.

This story shows that the world of Ultimate Bliss is a land within my mind, and the Sahā world is also a land within my mind. Reckoning with regard to the land, from here to there are a hundred thousand koṭis of differing lands; but reckoning by contemplating the mind, fundamentally there is no far or near. It is only because sentient beings, from the time they received birth until now, have had their true nature constricted by the five aggregates and do not accord with the source of the mind.

For the one who recites the Buddha's name, when the karmic reward has ripened and one is about to cast off the present aggregate-body to be reborn in the lotus flower of the Pure Land, suddenly, before one's eyes, the realm of mind-only appears, with no marks of "there" and "here," coming and going. Therefore the Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: "When life is about to end, before the warm sensation has departed, the good and evil of a whole lifetime simultaneously appear.

If thinking is pure, one ascends and is straightway reborn in the heavens; and if, when the mind ascends, one has cultivated merit, wisdom, and the pure vow, then naturally the mind opens and becomes clear, and one sees the Buddha-lands of the ten directions; in all the Pure Lands, in accordance with one's original vow, one attains rebirth." The Great Master Fazhi said: "One should know that when life is about to end, to see oneself seated upon a golden lotus dais is already to be the birth-aggregate in the Land of Ultimate Bliss." This is precisely this meaning.

10. The Present and the Future Harmonize Together

Opening verse:

Now the practitioner recites the Buddha's name;

The merit is ever complete and full.

Within the cause the fruition already exists,

Like a flower opening to reveal its stamen.

The treatise says: One of the perfect-and-sudden class, suddenly awakening to the mind-nature, cultivates without cultivating, cultivating toward that Land of Bliss; within the nature the Land of Ultimate Bliss is already fully possessed, and through cultivation it is brought to manifestation. This mind-nature extends throughout the three times and spreads across the ten realms: the dharmas of the Buddha and the dharmas of sentient beings, the dharma of direct retribution and the dharma of circumstantial retribution, the dharma of cause and the dharma of fruition—all are perfectly accomplished in a single thought.

Therefore the one who recites the Buddha's name is said to cultivate by arising from the entire nature, the entire cultivation residing within the nature. Cultivating by arising from the entire nature, though called the cause; the entire cultivation residing within the nature is the fruition existing within the cause. Using the place that fully possesses the dharma of cause together with the place that fully possesses the dharma of fruition, both residing in one nature, the mind-nature is fused and penetrating, and there is no dharma that is not fully possessed—like a lotus flower just opening, within the flower the fruit already exists.

How much more so when this mind ever abides, without arising, ceasing, coming, or going. Today, using the mind to recite the Buddha's name is the very moment of receiving birth within the lotus pond in the future. Therefore it is said that the one who first gives rise to the mind has already planted a lotus seed in the seven-jeweled pond of the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

If one is diligent and does not retreat, then the flower grows day by day, the flower gradually opening; in accordance with the merit of the cultivator, the flower is large or small, with more or less radiance. In the case where the cultivation retreats, the flower withers day by day. If one recognizes the fault of indolence and strives to advance in cultivation, the flower again becomes fresh and beautiful as before.

But if one does not abandon indolence, and does not know to repent and strive to cultivate again, then the sprout perishes and the seed rots. As for one who plants the seed of the lotus flower, the present and the future ever endure—this is to speak of one who has a place to return to.