西方合論

Chapter VII

REBIRTH

Only the Tathāgata realizes the ultimate fruit of nirvāṇa. Those of the Two Vehicles cling to emptiness and refute existence; theirs is but a quiescent cessation in name only. Although the bodhisattva gives rise to the true, undefiled wisdom, he must still eliminate ignorance portion by portion; how much more so those of dull faculties, whose understanding and awakening are as feeble as a single drop of water in the vast immensity of the ocean, yet who hastily boast of a wild and arrogant wisdom.

They flatly assert that they will receive a body in future lives no more. They take license and indulgence to be self-mastery, and take spiritual cultivation to be bondage. This is to kill oneself and also to kill others, like poisonous wine.

When the Buddha was still in the world, there was a bhikṣu who attained the fourth dhyāna and gave rise to the mind of overweening pride, believing he had attained the fruit of arhatship, and so was no longer diligent in spiritual cultivation. When his life was ending, he saw the intermediate-state body (antarābhava) of the fourth dhyāna, and immediately gave rise to wrong view, saying: "There is no nirvāṇa; the Buddha has deceived me." Because he gave rise to such a mistaken, evil view, when he lost the intermediate-state body of the fourth dhyāna, there immediately appeared the intermediate-state body of the Avīci hell.

When he passed away he immediately fell into the Avīci hell. That bhikṣu upheld the precepts and practiced seated meditation, yet because he gave rise to a single mistaken thought, believing he had realized the fruit, he therefore fell into the dark hell. Practitioners of meditation today, gaining but a little, take it to be enough, give rise to a mind of indulgence, and do not strictly uphold the precepts and disciplines—who knows what their evil retribution will be?

The ancients said: "If one is not reborn in the Pure Land, then in what realm will one be reborn?" The path of cultivation, spanning three immeasurable kalpas, is still distant and remote beyond measure. As for the other Dharma-gates, how many people have regressed and lost the mind of the Way! Therefore, from ancient times to now, the sages have all upheld the Dharma-gate of the Pure Land.

Now I set forth six kinds to serve as a compass:

1/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the human realm.

2/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the Tuṣita heaven.

3/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the heaven of Long Life.

4/ The bodhisattva is reborn outside the three realms.

5/ When first giving rise to the mind, the bodhisattva is reborn into the house of the Tathāgata.

6/ When the three immeasurable kalpas of cultivation are complete, the bodhisattva is reborn into the worlds of the ten directions to bring benefit to all sentient beings.

1/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the human realm

The Prajñā Sūtra records: "There is a bodhisattva in the human realm who, when his life is ended, is reborn again into the human realm." Apart from those of the non-retrogressing stage, bodhisattvas of dull and obtuse faculties cannot quickly accord with prajñāpāramitā, nor can the dhāraṇī-gates and samādhi-gates quickly manifest before them. To be in the human realm is like being in a burning house, for a hundred kinds of suffering bind one together; only the great bodhisattva, while in the human realm, is not defiled, like a goose swimming in water that is not soaked through.

If the lesser bodhisattva has not planted deep and thick roots of goodness, then he advances one step and retreats ten feet—how can he attain samādhi? Like Śāriputra, who cultivated the bodhisattva path through sixty kalpas: when he came to practice the perfection of giving, there was then a beggar who came to ask for his eye, and he immediately gouged out one eye and handed it over. In front of Śāriputra, the beggar sniffed the eye, spat upon it, threw it down on the ground, and trampled the eye underfoot. Śāriputra reflected: "Such wretched, evil beings are hard to deliver; it would be better for me to discipline myself and quickly free myself from the suffering of birth-and-death." Having so reflected, he regressed from the bodhisattva path and turned toward the Lesser Vehicle.

– Again, like the ṛṣi Sky-Walker, who lost his spiritual powers because he was touched by the hand of the king's consort.

– In the distant past, Śākyamuni was confounded by the pill of delight, and so became infatuated with a wanton woman.

If even the sages and worthies were thus, how much more so those who have newly given rise to the mind. Far better to single-mindedly recite Amitābha, so that samādhi swiftly manifests before one, and entrusting one's body to the realm of the Lotus Land, one forever departs from craving and desire! The Treatise records: "Because the bodhisattva does not see a present Buddha, his mind is therefore dim and dull. The bodhisattva should constantly draw near to the Buddha, for one of sharp faculties who draws near to the Buddha swiftly attains prajñā."

2/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the Tuṣita heaven

Bodhisattvas who, after cultivating one more lifetime, will become Buddha are all reborn in the Tuṣita heaven. The practitioner who wishes to follow such a bodhisattva should likewise seek rebirth in the Tuṣita heaven. The Treatise on the Ten Doubts records: "The Tuṣita celestial palace is within the desire realm, and there are many who regress there.

That realm still has women who strengthen the practitioner's mind of greedy attachment. The celestial maidens, exquisitely beautiful, cause the devas to become infatuated. Reborn in Tuṣita, one cannot oneself relinquish the desires; this is not equal to being reborn in the Pure Land of Amitābha, where all are pure good companions cultivating the Mahāyāna Dharma; afflictions and evil karma never arise, so the practitioner easily mounts to the stage of non-arising—like the bodhisattva Siṃha-Buddhi (Lion-Awareness), who, from the time he was reborn in Tuṣita, because he delighted in celestial music, was therefore unable to see Maitreya.

The lesser bodhisattvas are still defiled and attached to the five desires—how much more so an ordinary worldling." The Maitreya Upper-Rebirth Sūtra records: "The practitioner who enters deeply into right concentration may then be reborn in Tuṣita," meaning that the bodhisattva Maitreya has no skillful means to take one in and lead one along. If even the inner court of Tuṣita is not to be sought for rebirth, how much more so the seeking of rebirth in the heavens of the desire realm with their many exquisite kinds of desire.

One ought not, while thirsting for water, go into the desert; nor ought one, while wishing to avoid drowning, willingly sink to the bottom of the deep sea.

3/ The bodhisattva is reborn in the heaven of Long Life

The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom records: "There is a bodhisattva who has no skillful means in entering the first dhyāna, and so on, up to having no skillful means in cultivating the six pāramitās. When he enters the first dhyāna, the bodhisattva does not remember and think of sentient beings. When abiding in and emerging from the first dhyāna, he likewise does not remember and think of sentient beings.

Because the bodhisattva is merely attached to the savor of dhyāna, he therefore cannot harmonize prajñāpāramitā with the first dhyāna. Because his mind of loving-kindness and compassion and his merit are feeble, this bodhisattva is dragged by the retribution of the first dhyāna and reborn in the heaven of Long Life. This heaven is neither the realm of Perception nor the realm of Non-Perception.

Those beings live as long as eighty thousand great kalpas." Or some say: "All the formless concentrations are called the heaven of Long Life, for being without form and characteristic they cannot be taught and transformed, cannot spontaneously realize the Way, and are commonly the abode of ordinary worldlings." Or some say: "The heaven of Non-Perception is called the heaven of Long Life, and it too cannot spontaneously realize the Way." Or some say: "From the first dhyāna to the fourth dhyāna, excepting the heaven of the Pure Abode (Śuddhāvāsa), all are the heaven of Long Life.

Those beings find it hard to give rise to a wholesome mind, because they are attached to wrong views." A sūtra records: "The Buddha asked the bhikṣus:

– Is the earth upon the tip of my fingernail greater, or the earth upon this globe greater?

The bhikṣus addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One, the earth upon this globe is exceedingly great, beyond any possibility of comparison.

The Buddha taught:

– Of the devas in the heavens, those whose lives end and who are reborn back into the human realm are like the earth upon the tip of my fingernail, while the devas whose lives end and who fall into hell are like the earth upon this globe. Why is this? Because they had originally given rise to the supreme mind of bodhi, or had, within meditative concentration, accumulated merit, and so were able to be reborn back into the human realm to hear the Buddha-Dharma." If one is a person who has newly given rise to the mind and seeks rebirth in the Pure Land, then one constantly hears the Dharma and advances straight to the stage of non-retrogression—how could one fall into such faults as these.

4/ The bodhisattva is reborn outside the three realms

The bodhisattva reborn outside the three realms is of two ranks:

1/ The three grades of bodhisattvas within the Two Vehicles subdue the actively manifesting afflictions, cast off the body of segmented birth-and-death, and are reborn outside the three realms. Because their compassionate mind and their wisdom are narrow, they give rise to no mind of delight regarding the adornment of Buddha-lands or the benefiting of sentient beings, and so are reproached by the Tathāgata. If these beings do not turn their minds to cultivate the practices of the six pāramitās, then they will never enter the ocean of Mahāyāna wisdom.

2/ The Dharma-body bodhisattva

The Prajñā Sūtra records: "The Buddha told Śāriputra: There is a great bodhisattva who has attained the six spiritual powers yet is not reborn in the desire realm, the form realm, or the formless realm. From this Buddha-land to that Buddha-land, this bodhisattva reverently makes offerings to, honors, and praises the Buddhas. Śāriputra, there is a great bodhisattva who employs spiritual powers to visit from this Buddha-land to that Buddha-land, and in those lands there are no śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas, not even the names of the Two Vehicles. Śāriputra, those lands are precisely the land of the Buddha of Limitless Life (Amitāyus)."

It is explained that bodhisattvas are of two kinds:

a/ The birth-body bodhisattva.

b/ The Dharma-body bodhisattva.

The Dharma-body bodhisattva has wholly severed the fetters and afflictions and attained the six spiritual powers. The birth-body bodhisattva, however, has not wholly severed the fetters and afflictions, or else has separated from desire, and so attains the five spiritual powers or the six spiritual powers; he is not reborn in the three realms, and whatever world he reaches he is one who is purest in the One Vehicle, living for limitless, immeasurable kalpas.

The bodhisattva reborn in that land delights in accumulating the merit of the Buddhas. One should know that only a bodhisattva fully endowed with the six spiritual powers may be reborn in the land of the Buddha of Limitless Life. As for the ordinary worldling, it is by the power of the Buddha's original vows that he is received and gains rebirth in the land of the Buddha of Limitless Life.

How rare indeed this is!

Thus the power of mindful recitation is inconceivable, for within each and every thought-moment the six spiritual powers are fully present.

5/ When first giving rise to the mind, the bodhisattva is reborn into the house of the Tathāgata

For one of the very highest faculties, the fundamental wisdom is immediately revealed, while for one who has newly given rise to the mind, it is only upon mounting to the stage of the ten abodes that he becomes equal to the Buddhas. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra records: "There is a class of bodhisattvas who cultivate the six pāramitās throughout a hundred thousand koṭis of hundred millions of kalpas yet are not reborn into the house of the Tathāgata.

Such a bodhisattva is still a bodhisattva in name only, for although he sees the Buddha-nature, he has not yet clarified the work of wisdom." The Treatise of the Elder's Resolving of Doubts records: "Those at the abode of first giving rise to the mind clearly, by means of meditative concentration, reveal the gate of fundamental wisdom's emptiness. When the clouds and mist are swept clean, wisdom blazes forth in brightness, and one is then reborn into the house of the Tathāgata's wisdom—this is to dwell in the dwelling of the Buddha.

Thus one attains the Dharma-gate of the Light of Wisdom, seeing pervasively all the realms of the Buddhas that are held in recollection. By reason of this seeing of the Way, there is no clinging view regarding time or space." Passing through the five stages of cultivation-and-realization (the stage of provisions, the stage of intensified effort, the stage of seeing the Way, the stage of cultivating the Way, and the ultimate stage), the practitioner polishes away his habit-energies and increases his mind of loving-kindness and compassion—this is called the stage of cultivating the Way.

Therefore it is said that when one first gives rise to the mind one immediately attains right enlightenment, and this is called the stage of cultivating the Way—like the youth Sudhana who journeyed southward seeking the good and wise teachers. Those teachers all said: "Formerly, I gave rise to the supreme mind of bodhi. I asked how to study the practice of the bodhisattva, how to cultivate the path of the bodhisattva.

They did not say that the Buddha strengthens the Buddha-path, did not say that the fundamental wisdom is revealed by means of concentration, but spoke of non-action and non-cultivation. Whoever studies the practice of the bodhisattva, his fundamental wisdom is of itself bright, of itself manifest. If one does not attain the essence of right enlightenment, then all the practices are impermanent, all are but the karmic retribution of birth-and-death within the heavenly and human realms." It is further said: "Through this present single lifetime, when one gives rise to the mind in accordance, the practitioner attains right wisdom.

Right within the segmented body, the practitioner accomplishes the mind of contemplative practice, together with the cultivation of wholesome karma. In a future life, the practitioner enters the transformation-body." This is because the segmented body of this present life arises from the karma created in past lives. If, with the segmented body of this present life, one employs wisdom to cultivate the contemplative practice, then in a future life the practitioner attains the spiritual transformations—just as one who cultivates the ten wholesome deeds is reborn in the heavens and attains the karmic retribution of spiritual powers; as dragons and ghosts possess extraordinary strength—they still have the evil karma of ignorance yet still possess spiritual powers;

how much more one whose eye of the Way is opened, who possesses the power of the wholesome roots of the loving mind, and therefore has the wondrous function of spiritual powers and wisdom.

If such beings cultivate throughout their lives, how could they fail in a future life to attain the vast function of spiritual powers? The Records of the Mirror of the Source records: "When one first gives rise to the mind one becomes Buddha—this is to say that the merits are inherently complete." A sūtra records: "In the first lifetime, the youth Samantabhadra-vyūha (Universal Adornment) heard what is good and perfumed himself with what is good.

In the second lifetime, the youth accomplished the understanding and practice of those good things. In the third lifetime, the youth entered the ocean of the Buddha's merit." It is one and the same conditioned arising, yet these three lifetimes differ solely by a single thought—like a person who travels far and reaches the goal by reason of the first step. And yet, from this first step to the reaching of the goal, one cannot say it is not by reason of the later steps.

To say the youth entered the ocean of the Buddha's merit is also to say the youth had planted the roots of goodness long ago.

Question: Planting the roots of goodness over a long span of time, one then attains Buddhahood. Why say that in a single thought one becomes Buddha?

Answer: To say that planting the roots of goodness passes through a long span of time is to speak of what belongs to the teaching of the Three Vehicles, for from the Three Vehicles entering into the One Vehicle is but a single thought, and at the very first cultivation all is immediately complete. A sūtra records: "When one first gives rise to the mind one immediately attains right enlightenment"—like the myriad thousand rivers that in the end all pour and flow into the great ocean.

When a single drop of the water of the rivers flows into the great ocean, the moment it enters the great ocean that single drop of river water immediately becomes ocean water, with no before and after. The hundred other deep rivers do not equal one drop of the water of the river that flows into the great ocean. Just so, the Three Vehicles, though cultivating for many kalpas, still do not match a single thought of the One Vehicle.

Furthermore, this length or brevity of time is also not fixed; a single thought may be immeasurable kalpas. The Ten Profound Gates records: "Time and space are alike unobstructed." As for the Mahāyāna saying that in a single thought one becomes Buddha, there are two meanings:

– First, to gather all conditions and enter the real—the nature has no more or less, and therefore it is said that in a single thought one becomes Buddha.

– Second, having cultivated all the practices to perfect fullness, the final thought is called becoming Buddha in a single thought—like a person who travels ten thousand leagues, for whom the final step is the step that reaches the destination.

If the One Vehicle speaks of becoming Buddha in a single thought, then the Mahāyāna speaks of becoming Buddha in the final single thought, which is the Mahāyāna entering into the One Vehicle; for the final thought is precisely the first thought, and the first thought is precisely becoming Buddha. Why is this? Because cause and effect are mutually inclusive, because they correspond simultaneously.

Although becoming Buddha in a single thought is precisely equal to the stage of Buddhahood, yet because the ultimate is not yet perfectly fulfilled there are countless distinctions—like a person who has just set foot out the door and a person who has long journeyed in a foreign land far from home: although both are alike within empty space, their distance, near and far, is vastly and infinitely different. Therefore, of the five stages of cultivation-and-realization—the ten faiths, the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications, the ten grounds—every stage speaks of becoming Buddha, and yet it clearly distinguishes the shallow and the deep therein.

Herein, the practitioner must skillfully and carefully ponder this. As for the words of the two great beings, one knows that the one who has awakened and penetrated within the Chan gate must not discard all practices, but must wear away the habit-energies and the fetters from the beginningless past. Alas!

In this evil, defiled world, as soon as one advances a single step, one regresses ten thousand steps. If the practitioner cannot draw near to the Buddha, then the filthy afflictions gather—how can the practitioner's cultivation be accomplished? When the youth Sudhana first gave rise to the mind and awakened to the Way, the bhikṣu Cloud of Virtue (Meghaśrī) taught the youth to cultivate the Dharma-gate of Recollecting all the Buddhas.

After he entered the tower-pavilion of Maitreya, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, for the youth's sake, set forth the ten great vows to take in and lead sentient beings to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is the golden rule and jade measure by which all the Tathāgatas enter the Way. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that the gate of the One True Dharma-realm is not the same as the other teachings, which have the provisional and the real.

Those who do not believe this sūtra are icchantikas. Even though Śākyamuni Buddha may praise it, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra may exhort and encourage, and the bodhisattva Maitreya may bear witness, for such people it is of no benefit whatsoever!

6/ When the three immeasurable kalpas of cultivation are complete, the bodhisattva is reborn into the worlds of the ten directions to bring benefit to all sentient beings

When merit is perfectly fulfilled, the bodhisattva naturally possesses inconceivable karma, able to respond and manifest in the worlds of the ten directions to bring benefit to sentient beings. The Treatise on Awakening of Faith records: "The bodhisattva who has realized the giving-rise of the mind can, in an instant, reach the worlds of the ten directions without remainder to make offerings to the Buddhas and to request the Buddhas to turn the wheel of the Dharma—solely in order to mark out the path and point the way to bring benefit to sentient beings, and not out of any clinging to letters and words." For sentient beings who are timid and weak, the bodhisattva points out a path of cultivation that surpasses the stages, swiftly accomplishing right enlightenment.

For sentient beings who are lazy and arrogant, the bodhisattva says: "Throughout immeasurable, innumerable kalpas, I shall accomplish the Buddha-path." But in truth, the bodhisattva plants the roots and nature, and so forth, gives rise to the mind in equality, and the object realized is likewise equal, with not a single dharma transcending—for all bodhisattvas in their cultivation pass through three immeasurable kalpas.

The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom records: "In the past of the World-Honored Śākyamuni: from the time of Śākyamuni Buddha to the time of Śikhin Buddha was one immeasurable kalpa; from the time of Śikhin Buddha to the time of Dīpaṃkara Buddha's bestowal of the prediction was two immeasurable kalpas; from the time of Dīpaṃkara Buddha to the time of Vipaśyin Buddha was three immeasurable kalpas." The Mahāvibhāṣā records: "Passing through three immeasurable kalpas cultivating the practice of the six pāramitās, and through one hundred kalpas planting the cause of the excellent marks.

Thereafter one accomplishes the five-part Dharma-body." The Vijñaptimātra (Consciousness-Only) says: "Before the first ground is the passage of one immeasurable kalpa; from the first ground to the seventh ground is the second immeasurable kalpa; from the eighth ground to equal enlightenment is the third immeasurable kalpa; thereafter one attains the ultimate Dharma-body."

Question: The Combined Treatise on the Avataṃsaka by the elder Li Tongxuan records: "Without departing from a single thought, one passes through immeasurable kalpas." How can one cling fixedly to a long span of kalpas, contrary to the supreme truth?

Answer: The Combined Treatise on the Avataṃsaka only says that the three immeasurable kalpas are fundamentally empty—this is to say that time has no real, true substance, not to say that there is no time, just as at present a human being has eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. To say that the six sense-faculties are fundamentally empty is not to abolish the six faculties—just as a child sees the moon's reflection in the water and gives rise to a mind of delight, wishing to grasp the moon's reflection, yet the moon's reflection has no real, true substance.

The wise person tells the child that the eye can indeed behold that moon's reflection, but one can never grasp it. Therefore, one need only refute the object of clinging, not the object of seeing. The practices and deeds of the Buddhas and of the bodhisattvas throughout the three times are likewise so.

Although all are without real, true substance, this is not to say there is no cultivation. Moreover, Nāgārjuna and Aśvaghoṣa are two great bodhisattvas, and are also patriarchs to whom the robe and bowl were transmitted within the Chan gate—could they have been willing to deceive themselves, deceive others, and mislead those of later generations? One must know that the matter of birth-and-death is utterly vast; it is not by understanding a single portion and practicing halfway that one can leap free of the abyss of birth-and-death.

The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom records: "There is a bodhisattva of keen and sharp faculties whose mind is firm and solid. Before giving rise to the mind, this bodhisattva had already accumulated immeasurable merit and wisdom. The bodhisattva meets the Buddha, hears the Mahāyāna Dharma, gives rise to the supreme mind of bodhi, immediately cultivates the six pāramitās, enters the stage of the bodhisattva, and realizes the stage of non-retrogression." Why is this so?

Because formerly this bodhisattva had accumulated immeasurable merit, because his faculties were keen and sharp, his mind firm and solid, and he heard the Dharma from the Buddha—like a person traveling ten thousand leagues, who goes either by riding a goat, or by riding a horse, or by employing spiritual powers. The one riding a goat takes a very long time to arrive; the one riding a horse arrives faster than the one riding a goat.

As for the one who employs spiritual powers, the moment he gives rise to the intention, in an instant he arrives. Then one must not ask why, in the interval of giving rise to the intention, he immediately arrives. The character of spiritual powers is just so; one should give rise to no further doubt.

The bodhisattva is likewise: when he first gives rise to the supreme mind of bodhi he immediately enters the stage of the bodhisattva. There is a bodhisattva who has newly given rise to the mind, whose initial mind is good, but who afterward mingles in evil thoughts. The bodhisattva often thinks: "I seek the Buddha-path; I vow to take this merit and dedicate it to the supreme fruit of bodhi." This bodhisattva, passing through immeasurable, innumerable kalpas, may or may not attain the supreme fruit of bodhi, because the causes and conditions of his merit in former lives are feeble and his faculties are dull, his will and resolve not firm—like a person traveling by riding a goat.

There is a bodhisattva who in former lives had a little root of goodness and merit, who gives rise to the mind and gradually cultivates the six pāramitās; in three, or ten, or a hundred immeasurable kalpas, this bodhisattva too attains the supreme fruit of bodhi—like a person traveling by riding a horse, who will of course reach the destination. Again there is a bodhisattva who knows that gradual cultivation and sudden realization, the various dharmas, are not identical.

This bodhisattva longs for the stage of Buddhahood and attains it swiftly—like a person traveling by employing spiritual powers.

A former worthy said: "Although the nature of awakening is equal to the Buddha's, until one reaches the fruit-stage of Buddhahood it is not yet the ultimate." Therefore, the practitioner who has awakened and penetrated resolutely seeks rebirth in the Pure Land, cultivating in accordance with the Dharma so as to avoid leading to a state of falling and lapsing. Waiting until the power of forbearance is firm and solid, the practitioner enters the defiled world to bring benefit to sentient beings. Only this is the ultimate fruit of Buddhahood.