西方合論

Chapter X

RESOLVING DOUBTS

The essential meaning of the Western Pure Land is set forth in the sutras themselves. The treatises have fully explained the quintessential Dharma-gate of the Pure Land. Vasubandhu, Zhizhe, Haedong, Yuexi, and others all disclosed its profound and subtle points in order to elucidate the tenets of the school.

More recently, Master Yunqi composed the Commentary and Subcommentary on the Shorter Sutra, analyzing each point and category and explaining them with extraordinary breadth, subtlety, and precision. It is truly a great torch illuminating the way through the long, dark night, and a light vessel crossing the surging sea of suffering. Nothing remains to be added to what the great masters have expounded.

Yet the sutras established teachings appropriate to their respective times. Because their explanations accorded with particular capacities, they differed from one period to another, thereby giving rise to doubts among students. I shall now present an outline of selected passages from the treatises and, according to my limited understanding, reconcile them in one place for convenient reference.

1. An explanation of whether the land is distant or near.

2. An explanation of whether the body and city are large or small.

3. An explanation of whether the lifespan is long or short.

4. An explanation of whether lotuses like chariot wheels are large or small.

5. An explanation of whether the sun and moon exist.

6. An explanation of whether the Two Vehicles exist.

7. An explanation of whether women exist.

8. An explanation of whether the aspiration is great or small.

9. An explanation of birth in the womb of the City of Doubt.

10. An explanation of how those who commit the five heinous offenses attain rebirth.

1. An Explanation of Whether the Land Is Distant or Near

Question: The Infinite Life Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra both say, “The Land of Ultimate Bliss in the West lies one hundred thousand kotis of lands from here.” The Contemplation Sutra merely says, “Amitabha Buddha is not far from here.” Which of these two teachings is correct?

Explanation: Because distance and proximity are not fixed, it may be described as both distant and near. Why is this? To speak of a certain direction means to say how many cities or towns separate this place from that one.

Such measurements are established in relation to the physical body. Yet because bodily forms are illusory, calculations of direction and the mileage of a journey are likewise unreal. Therefore, one cannot definitively say which place is near and which is far.

A person in Yunnan regards the land of Yan as exceedingly remote. That is a measurement made from Yunnan; the land of Yan itself possesses no remoteness. A person in the state of Qi regards Yan as very near.

That is a measurement made from Qi; the land of Yan itself possesses no nearness. Again, an ant regards a distance of ten paces as far, while an elephant regards it as near. Therefore, distance and proximity should not be regarded as real.

Why? Because distance and proximity cannot be based upon the measurements of ants and elephants. It follows that even the measurement of ten paces is unreal.

Why? Because that distance is not established according to the measurements of ants, elephants, or human beings. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “Directions are spoken of in accordance with worldly convention, but directions have no true intrinsic nature.”

Question: Why do you say that directions do not exist? Directions both exist and are permanent. In the sutras, the Buddha says: “Where the sun rises is east; where the sun sets is west; where the sun travels is south; and where the sun does not travel is north.” Thus, each day has three conjunctions: the first conjunction, the middle conjunction, and the final conjunction. These divisions also depend upon the sun’s direction: where the first conjunction occurs is east, followed by south and west. Where the sun does not travel is the region without a division.

Answer: In truth, this is not so. Mount Sumeru stands amid the four continents. The sun circles Mount Sumeru and shines upon all four continents. When the sun is at the zenith over Uttarakuru, it is rising over Purvavideha, whose inhabitants call that direction east. When the sun is at the zenith over Purvavideha, it is rising over Jambudvipa, and its inhabitants call that direction east. Ultimately, there is no first direction. Why? Because every direction is east, every direction is south, every direction is west, and every direction is north. Your assertion that where the sun rises is east, where it sets is west, where it travels is south, and where it does not travel is north is therefore incorrect.

Question: I was speaking of the characteristics of direction within one country, yet you answered by referring to four continents. For this reason, east is precisely where the sun rises.

Answer: Within one country, if the place where the sun rises is called east, then it constitutes a conditioned boundary. Because it has a boundary, it is impermanent. Because it is impermanent, it cannot be all-pervasive. Thus, directions are merely names and have no true intrinsic nature. Since directions have no true intrinsic nature, how could there be an actual course along which the sun travels? Nevertheless, one should not abolish conventional positions and courses. Why? Because measurements should not ultimately be based upon Jambudvipa, yet they may conventionally be made within Jambudvipa. Although the sun does not truly rise in the east or set in the west, one may still say that it rises in the east and sets in the west.

2. An Explanation of Whether the Body and City Are Large or Small

Question: The Sutra of the Sage King states: “Amitabha Buddha assembles with the shravakas in a land called Serene Peace. The Sage King dwells in a city ten thousand yojanas in length and breadth.” The Contemplation Sutra states: “The Buddha’s body is six hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of yojanas tall. The white tuft between his eyebrows curls gracefully to the right like five Mount Sumerus.

His eyes are vast and boundless like the waters of the four great seas.” Now, one great sea is eighty-four thousand yojanas wide. Thus, the four great seas together are three hundred thirty-six thousand yojanas wide. The Buddha’s body is five hundred sixty times larger than his eyes.

By calculation, that city is three hundred twenty-six thousand yojanas smaller than the Buddha’s eyes, to say nothing of his body. Could the body and city truly differ so greatly in size?

Answer: Master Haedong’s commentary also raises this question. It says: “That Buddha has many cities. According to whether the assemblies are large or small, the cities are likewise large or small.

In a great city he manifests a great body, and in a small city he manifests a small body.” The ten thousand yojanas mentioned in the Sutra of the Sage King are the length and breadth of the city inhabited together with the shravakas. It should be understood that the Buddha dwells there in a corresponding body. When the Contemplation Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life describes his immense body, the city is likewise vast, providing a dwelling place for the entire great assembly.

An ancient master said: “In the Lotus Sutra, the Land Adorned with Pure Light reveals only the Sudden Teaching. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Buddha-land of Many Fragrances consists entirely of bodhisattvas. Therefore, that Buddha manifests only an immense body.”

If both the sudden and gradual teachings are proclaimed in the Land of Peace and Bliss, then both shravakas and bodhisattvas belong to the Sangha. Suppose the Buddha manifests the two kinds of form known as the birth-body and the Dharma-body. The thirty-two marks belong to the birth-body and are seen by both the Mahayana and Hinayana assemblies.

The eighty thousand marks belong to the Dharma-body and can be seen only by Mahayana sages. Therefore, for those who can obtain the four benefits through the marks of a superior response-body or an inferior response-body, the Buddha manifests the superior or inferior response-body in accordance with their capacities. For those who can obtain the four benefits through the eighty thousand marks of the superior response-body, the Buddha manifests those eighty thousand marks in accordance with their capacities.

For those who can obtain the four benefits through the thirty-two marks of the inferior response-body, the Buddha manifests those thirty-two marks in accordance with their capacities. Thus, although shravakas may hear of Vairocana, they cannot behold his honored countenance, while bodhisattvas see his immense body without obstruction. Why?

Because the Buddha’s body responds to and teaches beings according to their Mahayana or Hinayana capacities. It is like sunlight passing through openings and appearing in larger or smaller portions, though the light itself has never been divided into large and small.

3. An Explanation of Whether the Lifespan Is Long or Short

The sutra states: “The lifespan of that Buddha extends through immeasurable, incalculable kalpas.” It also says: “When that Buddha enters nirvana, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara will then attain Buddhahood.” To say that he will eventually enter cessation implies that his lifespan has a limit.

Explanation: An ancient master said: “According to the Tripitaka and Shared Teachings, a bodhisattva in the position of succession—one who will attain Buddhahood after one more lifetime—regards the Buddha’s lifespan as limited. According to the Distinct and Perfect Teachings, such a bodhisattva regards it as limitless, because all Tathagatas throughout the ten directions and the three periods are not opposed as this and that, but share one Dharma-body and one wisdom.” When a bodhisattva’s causal conditions reach fulfillment, the signs of the Tathagata’s response-body begin to appear.

This is called “succeeding to the Buddha’s position.” It differs completely from the Tripitaka and Shared Teachings, according to which the former Buddha necessarily enters cessation and the succeeding Buddha necessarily descends to be born. The Golden Light Sutra states: “Four Buddhas descended into the palace.” Its commentary explains: “If one sees the four Buddhas as one superior response-body, one body, and one wisdom, this is the permanently abiding body, because the assembly of disciples is one.

If one sees the four Buddhas as having distinct bodies, these are response and transformation bodies, because the assemblies of disciples are many.” It should be understood that the body encompassing the entire Dharma-realm is neither born nor extinguished. How could it be divided into present and future in terms of time? How could it be discussed as here and there in terms of space?

Since the Dharma-realm body is neither born nor extinguished, the meaning of “immeasurable” is established. Moreover, in a pure Buddha-land, the waters, trees, and immeasurable worlds as numerous as motes of dust are all the Buddha’s body. The sutra states: “All those birds are transformations created by Amitabha Buddha.” The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “Sentient beings are exceedingly numerous.

If the Buddha manifested a Buddha-body everywhere, beings would disbelieve, regarding it as an illusion, and would not give rise to reverence. Some beings hear the Dharma from a human yet do not awaken, but upon hearing it from an animal, immediately believe and accept it.” A Jataka states: “The bodhisattva assumed the form of an animal and taught the Dharma to people. They considered such teaching exceedingly rare and felt compelled to believe and accept it.

Some regard animals as sentient but trees as insentient; if trees emit sounds teaching the Dharma, they all believe and accept it.”

For this reason, the waters, trees, and birds are all bodies manifested by the Buddha. If the Buddha’s lifespan had an end, then the bodhimanda, the land, and all the sounds of the waters and birds would also have an end. If they had an end, one should not speak of a successor. If they have no end, one should not speak of their extinction. It is like the extent of space: it cannot be said either to have an extent or not to have one. Only by employing inconceivable wisdom to illuminate this matter can it be understood.

4. An Explanation of Whether Lotuses Like Chariot Wheels Are Large or Small

The Amitabha Sutra states: “In the ponds are lotuses as large as chariot wheels.” The Contemplation Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life states: “Each pond contains six hundred million lotuses made of the seven precious substances, all perfectly round and equal in size, ... each twelve yojanas across.” The Infinite Life Sutra states: “The lotuses in the ponds range from one yojana to a hundred or a thousand yojanas in size.” An ordinary human chariot wheel is no larger than one zhang. Even the thousand-spoked golden wheel of a wheel-turning sage king is no more than one yojana in length or breadth. Why, then, is there such an enormous disparity in size?

Explanation: The varying sizes of lotuses like chariot wheels are analogous to the varying sizes of bodies and cities. Because sentient beings have greater or lesser capacities, the bodies, cities, waters, and trees that appear are likewise large or small. The lotuses are the same.

A bodhisattva of the first bhumi manifests a hundred Buddha-lands and lotuses with a hundred petals. One of the second bhumi manifests a thousand Buddha-lands and lotuses with a thousand petals. One of the third bhumi manifests lotuses with ten thousand petals.

One of the fourth bhumi manifests lotuses with a hundred million petals. At the fifth bhumi, the number is a hundred billion; at the sixth, ten trillion; at the seventh, a quadrillion kotis; at the eighth, as many as the motes of dust in a hundred thousand myriad trichiliocosms; at the ninth, as many as the motes of dust in a hundred thousand myriad kotis of incalculable lands; and at the tenth, as many as the motes of dust in a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, multiplied tenfold beyond all possibility of expression.

Because self-enjoyment bodies appear large or small, the lotuses manifested likewise appear large or small; it is not that lotuses themselves possess fixed large or small dimensions.

I once heard a monk say that on the seashore there was a stupa containing the Buddha’s relics, built by King Ashoka. Sentient beings who saw the relics’ light all perceived it differently. Some saw no light.

Some saw light the size of a bean. Some saw light the size of a jujube. Some saw light the size of a fingertip.

Some saw light the size of a peck measure. Although a thousand people looked, each saw something different. Even sentient beings possessing the same fleshly eyes see such differences; how much more so bodhisattvas, shravakas, devas, humans, and others.

Since their capacities differ so greatly, how could their perceptions of lotuses like chariot wheels be identical? In this land, noble kshatriyas have vermilion towers and purple pavilions throughout their cities and towns, wholly unlike impoverished people who live alone beneath the open sky with the earth as their mat. One should not ask why the difference between them is like the abyss and the heavens.

Each receives what accords with his own merit. The appearances of lotuses and jeweled ponds should be understood in the same way.

The foregoing account concerns King Ashoka’s stupa. Because I, Yinguang, had never personally witnessed such a numinous response, an account transmitted by hearsay might easily depart from the truth. I therefore add the following explanation to clarify this sacred site.

This monastery was originally called King Ashoka Monastery and was later renamed Guangli Monastery. Nevertheless, people still customarily call it King Ashoka Monastery. It stands on Mount Mao, about forty li from South Village, Yin County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, China.

Approximately one hundred years after the Buddha’s parinirvana, King Ashoka ruled in central India. His awe-inspiring virtue was immense, and even spirits served as his ministers. Wishing to benefit the people of the world extensively, he opened King Ajatashatru’s treasury and obtained eighty-four thousand relics of the Buddha.

He ordered spirits to pulverize the seven precious substances together with aromatic materials. In one night they built eighty-four thousand jeweled stupas, which were distributed throughout southern Jambudvipa. King Ashoka asked the Venerable Yashas to extend his arm and emit eighty-four thousand rays of light.

He commanded each spirit to hold a jeweled stupa in both hands and fly along one ray of light, placing the stupa beneath the earth where the ray ended. Nineteen were placed in eastern China. When the Buddhadharma spread eastward, these stupas appeared one after another, including those on Mount Wutai and Mount Ashoka, also called Mount Mao.

At Mount Wutai, the relics were securely enshrined inside a great stupa. The stupa at Mount Ashoka appeared as follows:

In the third year of the Taikang era (282 CE), during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin dynasty, Liu Sahe was a manifestation of the bodhisattva Libin. Sahe renounced the household life and received the Dharma name Huida. As he bowed and prayed, the jeweled stupa surged forth from the earth.

Sahe then built King Ashoka Monastery. To make offerings, one had to enter the stone reliquary in the inner sanctuary. Its door was always kept locked.

Anyone wishing to view the relic first had to notify the keeper of the stupa. Those wishing to bow to the Buddha and offer flowers entered the main hall. Those wishing to view the jeweled stupa knelt in order upon the steps outside the main hall, and the keeper brought it out.

He first showed its interior and then displayed the entire stupa. Even if someone came to view it two or three times in a single day, he did not become annoyed. The stupa was one chi and four cun high, about forty-two centimeters, and more than one chi in circumference, about thirty centimeters.

Its middle story was hollow. A solid bell hung at its center. A needle was fixed at the center of the bell’s base, and the relic was attached to the tip of the needle.

There were windows on all four sides, surrounded by patterned railings that prevented a hand from being inserted. Nevertheless, one could look inside through the spaces between the patterns.

The relic’s form and color—its size, number, motion, or stillness—were not fixed. Ordinarily, most people saw only one relic, though some saw two, three, or four. Some saw it fixed motionless to the bell’s base.

Some saw it floating one cun, about three centimeters, beneath the needle. Some saw it suddenly descend, rise, enlarge, or shrink. Some saw it as blue, yellow, red, or white, with a single color sometimes deep and sometimes pale.

Some saw two different colors. Some saw it as pitch-black. Some saw it shining brilliantly.

Not only did different people see different things, but a single person could also witness many changes and distinctions. Some saw the form of a lotus or images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Because of exceedingly heavy karma, some saw nothing at all.

After looking at the relic for about an hour, some saw it first as large as a mung bean and then gradually enlarge to the size of a red bean; others saw it begin as large as a soybean and gradually enlarge to the size of a jujube. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming dynasty, Lu Guangzu, Minister of Personnel, possessed profound faith and vigorously protected the Buddhadharma. He came with several friends to view the relic.

At first, he saw it as large as a red bean or soybean. It then gradually enlarged to the size of a jujube, a melon, and finally a chariot wheel, radiating brilliant light and filling his heart with joy. At that time, the relic hall was dilapidated and the stupa damaged.

Lu Guangzu immediately resolved to renovate the stupa and hall. His friends also had very auspicious visions of the relic, though none as wondrous as his.

It should be understood that the Tathagata, in his boundless compassion, wished to leave behind this true substance of the Dharma-body so that sentient beings of later ages might plant roots of supramundane goodness. Witnessing such wonders, they give rise to genuine faith. Thereafter, they abandon all evil, practice every good, sever wrong views, and maintain a mind of utmost sincerity so as to eradicate delusion, realize suchness, escape the abyss of birth and death, return directly to their own inherently complete Buddha-nature, and perfect unsurpassed wisdom.

This was the Tathagata’s original intent in manifesting these inconceivable signs as skillful means to guide sentient beings. May those who see or hear of them reflect deeply upon them; this would indeed be most fortunate. In the twenty-first year of the Guangxu era, I, Yinguang, had the good fortune to bow before the jeweled stupa for several weeks and read the entire Gazetteer of Mount Ashoka.

I therefore know that the foregoing account is accurate.

Respectfully recorded by the ever-ashamed monk Shakyamuni Yinguang on the first day of the first lunar month in the twentieth year of the Republic (1931, the Xinwei year).

5. An Explanation of Whether the Sun and Moon Exist

Some sutras say, “The sun and moon are suspended in space”; some say, “They remain motionless in space”; some do not address whether the sun and moon exist; and some state directly that they do not. A sutra says: “That Buddha’s light shines throughout immeasurable, incalculable, inconceivable Buddha-lands. Its radiance outshines the sun and moon. Each shravaka emits bodily light that illuminates one fathom. A bodhisattva’s light illuminates a hundred thousand fathoms. The radiance of every bodhisattva constantly illuminates a trichiliocosm.” Thus, even if the sun and moon exist, the sun is only as bright as a torch, and its light is hardly worthy of mention.

If the sun and moon cannot illuminate that land, there should be neither day nor night. Why, then, does the sutra speak of the six periods of day and night and of eating in the morning? This clearly shows that such words are only provisional.

The Buddha used the day and night of this world as an analogy for divisions of time in that land; they are not literal facts. Moreover, the continuous alternation of day and night occurs because sentient beings’ minds are governed by light and darkness and therefore perceive such appearances. The Pure Land has no such condition.

Even the heavens above Trayastrimsha do not depend upon the light of the sun and moon, much less the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Even if the sun and moon are said to exist, they appear only because beings in that transformed land have not completely purified their attachments to form and emptiness. In truth, a Buddha-land has neither sun nor moon.

The Great Treatise states: “Shakyamuni Buddha also possesses pure lands like Amitabha Buddha’s, and Amitabha Buddha also possesses lands not adorned and purified, like Shakyamuni Buddha’s.” Such descriptions are given according to the responsive capacities of sentient beings, and therefore there is no contradiction in saying that the sun and moon exist.

6. An Explanation of Whether the Two Vehicles Exist

Bodhisattva Vasubandhu’s Treatise on Infinite Life states: “It is a realm of Mahayana roots of goodness, wholly devoid of capacities deserving censure; even the names of the Two Vehicles are unheard, much less do they actually exist.” Yet the sutras all say: “The land contains assemblies of shravakas too numerous to count.” Do these two teachings not contradict each other?

Explanation: An ancient master said: “Those of the Two Vehicles who attain rebirth there are precisely those who, at the time of death, know to turn from the Lesser Vehicle toward the Great Vehicle.” Because their habituation to the Lesser Vehicle is profound, when they hear the Buddha teach, the sounds of the waters, wind, and tree branches all proclaim the Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle, enabling them temporarily to realize a lesser fruit. Gradually advancing until they reach the bodhisattva stage, they no longer remain attached to the lesser fruit. Therefore, the statement that the Two Vehicles do not exist has two meanings:

1/ Those fixed in the Two Vehicles are not born in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. In this sense, they truly do not exist there.

2/ No one abides in the Two Vehicles, for ultimately they are nonexistent.

It is like two people who temporarily receive the same office of Gentleman. The first remains in that office, while the second will be promoted. The one who remains may properly be called a Gentleman, since there is no further appointment for him. The second, who will be promoted, is not definitively a Gentleman, because that office will ultimately change.

Therefore, the Pure Land cannot be said to contain the Two Vehicles, because all ultimately reach the bodhisattva stage.

7. An Explanation of Whether Women Exist

The Sutra of the Sage King states: “Amitabha Buddha also has parents.” How, then, can it be said that there are no women?

Explanation: This too is a transformation, just as parrots are transformations. Master Haedong’s commentary states: “The Sutra of the Sage King says that Amitabha Buddha has parents in the World of Peace and Bliss. A female form was manifested through transformation; it was not the karmic result of womanhood.

Furthermore, although he has parents, he was not born from a womb.” In truth, parents are provisionally adopted for a transformation birth. That sutra says: “If members of the fourfold assembly collect their minds and recollect the Buddha’s name, then through this merit, when their lives end, Amitabha Buddha and the great assembly come before them and allow themselves to be seen. Having seen them, these people rejoice, and their merit doubles.

For this reason, wherever they are born, they forever leave behind the defiled, desire-bound form born from a womb. They dwell solely within supremely wondrous jeweled lotuses, where they are spontaneously born through transformation, complete with supernormal powers and radiant, resplendent light.” It should therefore be understood that the designation of parents is merely provisional. Some hold that the parents mentioned in the Sutra of the Sage King reveal a defiled land in which that Buddha dwells.

This interpretation is incorrect. Why? Because that sutra already states that beings are born through transformation from jeweled lotuses.

It also says: “Two bodhisattvas attend him on his right and left.” All these are features of the Pure Land and do not differ from those described in the Contemplation Sutra. It should be understood that Devadatta, spirit kings, and others mentioned in that sutra are all transformations from the Pure Land. Their presence does not make it an impure land, just as the manifestation of animals does not make it a defiled land.

8. An Explanation of Whether the Aspiration Is Great or Small

The Wei translation of the Infinite Life Sutra says: “All three classes of people—those of superior, intermediate, and inferior capacities—give rise to bodhicitta.” When discussing the lowest grade, the Contemplation Sutra speaks directly of ten recollections. Thus, the sutras appear to differ. We shall now reconcile them.

The sutras all teach that “giving rise to vast bodhicitta is the cause.” Why? If a person had not originally planted a Mahayana cause, he would give rise to doubt even upon reading and reciting the scriptures; how could he hear and immediately believe? Therefore, it should be understood that the ten recollections described for the lowest grade in the Contemplation Sutra refer to one who planted a great cause in a previous life but later regressed.

At the time of death, however, he encounters a good spiritual friend. It is like a withered rice shoot that, when drenched by rain, suddenly becomes fresh and green. Without such a cause, he could never encounter a good spiritual friend, much less believe and accept the teaching.

It is like a nobleman without official rank: the more people hear of him, the less they believe in his nobility. It should be understood that immediately reciting the Buddha’s name upon hearing a good spiritual friend’s instruction is no minor condition. We should not hastily conclude from one lifetime of evil that a person lacks a great cause.

A sutra states: “When people of the world hear the name Amitabha, if compassion stirs in their hearts, they become joyful and exhilarated, their hair stands on end, and tears flow, know that they practiced the Buddha Way for many lifetimes or formerly served as bodhisattvas in Buddha-lands of other directions.” Therefore, whether ignorant or intelligent, those who recite the Buddha’s name with utmost sincerity have planted profound roots of goodness through many kalpas and have given rise to vast bodhicitta.

Why? Because roots of goodness do not refer exclusively to wisdom. Without roots of goodness, one is like a scorched grain of rice that can never sprout.

Consider even a trifling worldly matter such as playing chess: some lowly and uneducated people become master players as soon as they learn, while some intellectuals practice all their lives yet remain inept. It should be understood that even in such a minor skill, one cannot excel without a corresponding cause, much less in the wondrous Buddhadharma. One who believes in that rare and difficult-to-believe Dharma is a bodhisattva who has given rise to a vast and boundless aspiration.

9. An Explanation of Birth in the Womb of the City of Doubt

– The Tang translation of the Infinite Life Sutra states: “Some people, because they have not awakened to their own mind, fall into the abyss of doubt and regret. Nevertheless, they know to accumulate roots of goodness in seeking the Buddha’s wisdom, universal wisdom, inconceivable wisdom, unequaled wisdom, awe-inspiring wisdom, and vast wisdom. Because they have not awakened regarding their own roots of goodness, they cannot give rise to genuine faith. Upon hearing the Buddha’s name, however, they give rise to faith and seek birth in the Pure Land. Through these causes and conditions, they are born within a lotus womb, where they remain for five hundred years as though dwelling in a palace or garden, without seeing the Buddha or hearing the Dharma. This is womb birth.”

– The Wei translation of the Infinite Life Sutra states: “Although such people have not awakened to the Buddha’s wisdom, they believe in offenses and blessings, cultivate roots of goodness, and aspire to birth in that land. This is womb birth.”

– The Song translation of the Infinite Life Sutra states: “Some people plant roots of goodness but cannot relinquish attachment to characteristics and do not seek unsurpassed wisdom. Through deluded discrimination, they crave human blessings and worldly pleasures. This is womb birth.”

– Wang Rixiu’s recension states: “Some people cultivate merit and aspire to birth in that land. Later, however, they give rise to doubt and regret. They do not believe that the Buddha-land exists or that doing good brings blessings. Thus, their minds alternate between belief and disbelief. At the time of death, the Buddha manifests a form for them to see. Because they feel remorse, their offenses are diminished, and they are also born in that land. This is womb birth.”

The first two translations say that failing to believe in one’s own nature, in the Tang translation, or failing to awaken to the Buddha’s wisdom, in the Wei translation, results in womb birth.

The Song translation says directly that cultivating good deeds in order to seek birth among humans or devas is womb birth, since no literal womb birth exists in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Wang Rixiu’s recension says that disbelief in the Buddha-land and in offenses and blessings, together with alternating belief and doubt, is called womb birth. This differs from the kinds of rebirth described in the preceding translations, which result from hearing the Name and giving rise to faith, in the Tang translation, and from cultivating roots of goodness, in the Wei and Song translations.

The Pure Land is generally said to have nine grades. If explained in detail, however, even thousands or tens of thousands of grades could not exhaust them. In this human world, the varieties of blessings and karmic offenses differ in countless ways.

Therefore, although the translations differ, all their statements are true. Among them, the Tang translation possesses an especially profound and subtle meaning. Because people do not trust their own roots of goodness and rely upon others to arouse faith, it is called the City of Doubt.

If one believes in the wholesome fruit of one’s own nature, one immediately awakens to one’s own mind and does not obtain this realization from another. Only by entering this gate of awakening can one escape the net of doubt. Thus, one who practices without awakening is ultimately enclosed by the womb of doubt.

“Womb” means something that encloses and obstructs. Those who have not awakened have not yet destroyed their obstructions. In accordance with this result, they enter the middle grade of the intermediate level or the highest grade of the lowest level.

Why? Because those of the middle and lowest grades of the lowest level must pass through six or twelve kalpas before their lotuses open, whereas here it is said that they remain in the lotus womb for only five hundred years. According to Wang Rixiu’s recension, these people’s faith in the Buddha is weaker than that of those in the middle and lowest grades of the lowest level.

Furthermore, those born in the border region of that land do not necessarily wait five hundred years before seeing the Buddha.

10. An Explanation of How Those Who Commit the Five Heinous Offenses Attain Rebirth

The Infinite Life Sutra states: “Excluded are only those who commit the five heinous offenses and revile the true Dharma and the sages.” The Contemplation Sutra states: “Those who commit the five heinous offenses and the ten evils can all attain rebirth if, at the time of death, they recollect the Buddha ten times.” It should be understood that the Infinite Life Sutra excludes those who both commit the five heinous offenses and revile the true Dharma.

Why? Because entry into the Pure Land takes faith as one’s guiding master. Revilement is the opposite of faith.

Water can contain all things but cannot contain fire, because fire inherently opposes water. Wind can blow everywhere but cannot blow through stone, because stone itself obstructs the wind. Those who revile and destroy the true Dharma are like raging flames; their obstruction of the Buddha’s wisdom is like an iron wall.

Therefore, the ocean of Dharma and the wind of wisdom cannot receive them. The Contemplation Sutra excludes those who revile the true Dharma but does not exclude those who commit the five heinous offenses. The principle is the same, though the wording differs.

The five heinous offenses, though supremely evil, do not necessarily entail an obstinate view of disbelief, and therefore their perpetrators are not excluded. A person of great capacity may initially disbelieve but later meet a good spiritual friend whose instruction immediately shatters his former mistaken understanding. Thus Han Changli first denounced the Buddha’s relics but later took refuge with Dadian.

Likewise, Zhang Wujin initially opposed Buddhist writings and intended to compose a Treatise on the Nonexistence of the Buddha. Later, upon reading the Vimalakirti Sutra, he was startled into awakening and ultimately became an outstanding figure in the Chan school. Such events are rare within the Buddhadharma.

Therefore, gifted and distinguished Confucian scholars may formerly have erred and reviled the Buddhadharma, yet if they swiftly repent and reform, this itself is a wholesome deed. Their former revilement of the Buddhadharma should not be regarded as an insurmountable obstacle.