English
English version: When delusion ceases, one can be reborn in the two Pure Lands of Co-dwelling and Expedient (the Pure Land where ordinary beings and sages dwell together, and the Expedient Land with Remainder). Because one is not disturbed by the two extremes (birth and death, and Nirvana), one can experience the Reward Body Buddha (the Sambhogakaya of the Buddha) and all the holy beings appearing before them. The mind no longer gives rise to the two inverted views of birth and death and Nirvana, and one can be reborn in the two Pure Lands of Real Reward and Tranquil Light (the Land of Real Reward and Adornment, and the Land of Eternal Tranquil Light). It should be known that although upholding the name is simple and direct, it is still the quickest and most complete Dharma method, because one thought in accordance is one thought of Buddha, and thought after thought in accordance is thought after thought of Buddha. There is no need for contemplation, no need for investigation, and one is immediately perfectly enlightened, without any deficiency. People of the highest capacity ultimately cannot surpass this method, and people of the lowest capacity can also reach this threshold. It can be said to horizontally encompass the Eight Teachings (the four teachings of Tripitaka, Common, Distinct, and Perfect, and the four teachings of Sudden, Gradual, Secret, and Indeterminate), and vertically penetrate the Five Periods (the Avatamsaka Period, the Agama Period, the Vaipulya Period, the Prajna Period, and the Lotus-Nirvana Period). Therefore, Amitabha Buddha, with thorough compassion, proactively proclaimed this Dharma method without being asked, and deeply sighed at its difficulty to believe. Question: 'When the Buddha appears at the time of death, how can one be sure it is not a demon?' Answer: 'If a practitioner does not engage in Buddha contemplation and the Buddha suddenly appears, it is not what was originally expected, so it is called a demonic event. Seeing the Buddha through mindfulness of the Buddha is already in accordance. Moreover, at the time of death, it is not a time when demonic events easily occur, so why worry!' Question: 'Does 'seven days without confusion' refer to ordinary times or the time of death?' Answer: 'It refers to ordinary times.' Question: 'If it refers to ordinary times, then if someone, after seven days without confusion, again gives rise to delusion and creates bad karma, can they still be reborn?' Answer: 'If one truly attains single-mindedness without confusion, there will definitely be no more instances of giving rise to delusion and creating bad karma.' Question: 'Do the ten recitations in the Larger Sutra (the Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra) and the one recitation in the Treasure King Treatise (the Samadhi Treatise of the Treasure King) refer to ordinary times or the time of death?' Answer: 'Ten recitations apply to both ordinary times and the time of death. If it is the ten recitations in the morning, it belongs to ordinary times. If ten recitations can lead to rebirth, it is the same as the ten utterances of the name in the Contemplation Sutra (the Contemplation Sutra of Immeasurable Life), which refers to the time of approaching death. One recitation only refers to the time of death.' Question: 'Since both ten recitations and one recitation can lead to rebirth, why does this sutra (the Amitabha Sutra) emphasize seven days?' Answer: 'If there is no effort of seven days in ordinary times, where will the ten recitations and one recitation at the time of death come from? Even if the lowest level of the lowest grade mentioned in the Contemplation Sutra (the Contemplation Sutra of Immeasurable Life)' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese
生五逆十恶之人现世不曾修行，并是夙因成熟，故感临终得遇善友闻便信愿，如此等事万中无一，岂可不预辨资粮乃侥幸于万一哉！” 问：“西方去此十万亿土，何得即生？” 答：“十万亿土并不出我现前一念心性之外，以心性本无外故，又仗佛力接引，何难即生。” 问：“既判信愿属慧行、持名属行行，则执持名号应是助行，何名正行？何得一一声中皆悉具多善根福德？” 答：“依一心说信愿行，非有先后亦非定三。盖无愿无行不名真信，无行无信不名真愿，无信无愿不名真行，今全由信愿而持名号，故一一声中信愿行三皆悉圆具，所以名多善根福德因缘。《观经》所谓称佛名故于念念中除八十亿劫生死之罪，此之谓也。若使善根福德不多，安能除罪如此之大。” 问：“临终念力猛切故能除多劫罪，平日至心称名亦除罪否？” 答：“譬如日出群闇自消，称佛洪名万罪自灭。” 问：“散心称名亦能除罪并往生否？” 答：“亦必除罪，不定往生。必除罪者，名号功德真实不可思议故；不定往生，悠悠散善难敌无始积罪故。良由吾人无始劫来所造生死重罪，假使重罪有体相者，尽虚空界不能容受，故虽从生至死百年之中，一一昼夜弥陀十万，一一声中 现代汉语译本： ‘造作五逆（杀死父母、阿罗汉等）十恶（杀生、偷盗、邪淫、妄语、两舌、恶口、绮语、贪欲、嗔恚、邪见）之人，现世不曾修行，都是因为宿世的因缘成熟，所以才会在临终时遇到善友，听闻佛法便生起信愿。这样的事情万中无一，怎么可以不预先准备好往生的资粮，而侥幸地指望这万分之一的机会呢！’ 问：‘西方极乐世界距离这里有十万亿佛土之遥，怎么能够立刻往生呢？’ 答：‘十万亿佛土并不超出我现前一念心性之外，因为心性本来就没有内外之分。而且仰仗阿弥陀佛（Amitabha）的愿力接引，往生西方又有什么困难呢？’ 问：‘既然判定信愿属于慧行，持名属于行行，那么执持名号应该是助行，为什么说是正行呢？又为什么说每一声佛号都具足众多的善根福德呢？’ 答：‘依一心而说信愿行，不是有先后顺序，也不是固定不变的三者。因为没有愿，没有行，就不能称为真信；没有行，没有信，就不能称为真愿；没有信，没有愿，就不能称为真行。现在完全由信愿来执持名号，所以每一声佛号中，信愿行三者都圆满具足，所以才称为多善根福德因缘。《观经》（Visualization Sutra）中说，称念佛名，在每一个念头中都能消除八十亿劫生死之罪，说的就是这个道理。如果善根福德不多，怎么能够消除如此巨大的罪业呢？’ 问：‘临终时念佛的力量猛烈，所以能够消除多劫的罪业，那么平日至诚恳切地称念佛名，也能消除罪业吗？’ 答：‘譬如太阳出来，黑暗自然消散；称念阿弥陀佛（Amitabha）的洪亮名号，万种罪业自然消灭。’ 问：‘以散乱的心称念佛名，也能消除罪业并往生吗？’ 答：‘也必定能消除罪业，但不一定能往生。必定能消除罪业，是因为名号的功德真实不可思议；不一定能往生，是因为悠悠散漫的善行难以抵挡无始劫以来积累的罪业。要知道我们从无始劫以来所造的生死重罪，假如这些重罪有形体的话，那么整个虚空都不能容纳。所以即使从出生到死亡的百年之中，每一个昼夜都念诵十万声阿弥陀佛（Amitabha），每一声佛号中’
English
English version: 'Those who commit the five rebellious acts (killing one's parents, an Arhat, etc.) and the ten evils (killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, idle speech, greed, hatred, and wrong views) without cultivating in this life, do so because of the ripening of past causes. Therefore, they may encounter virtuous friends at the time of death and develop faith and vows upon hearing the Dharma. Such occurrences are one in ten thousand. How can one not prepare the provisions for rebirth in advance and instead rely on such a slim chance?' Question: 'The Western Pure Land is hundreds of thousands of millions of lands away from here. How can one be reborn there immediately?' Answer: 'Hundreds of thousands of millions of lands do not go beyond the present moment of my mind-nature, because the mind-nature is inherently without an outside. Moreover, relying on the power of Amitabha's (Amitabha) compassionate reception, what difficulty is there in being reborn immediately?' Question: 'Since faith and vows are classified as the wisdom practice and holding the name is classified as the practice practice, then holding the name should be a subsidiary practice. Why is it called the primary practice? And why is it said that each utterance of the name is fully endowed with many roots of goodness and blessings?' Answer: 'Faith, vows, and practice are spoken of based on the one mind; they are not sequential, nor are they fixed as three separate entities. For without vows and practice, it cannot be called true faith; without practice and faith, it cannot be called true vows; without faith and vows, it cannot be called true practice. Now, holding the name is entirely based on faith and vows, so each utterance of the name is fully endowed with faith, vows, and practice. Therefore, it is called the cause of many roots of goodness, blessings, and conditions. The Visualization Sutra (Visualization Sutra) says that by reciting the Buddha's name, one eliminates the sins of eighty billion kalpas of birth and death in each thought. This is what it means. If the roots of goodness and blessings were not abundant, how could one eliminate such great sins?' Question: 'Because the power of mindfulness is intense at the time of death, it can eliminate the sins of many kalpas. Can sincerely reciting the name on weekdays also eliminate sins?' Answer: 'It is like the sun rising and darkness disappearing on its own. Reciting Amitabha's (Amitabha) great name eliminates myriad sins on its own.' Question: 'Can reciting the name with a scattered mind also eliminate sins and lead to rebirth?' Answer: 'It will certainly eliminate sins, but rebirth is not assured. It will certainly eliminate sins because the merit of the name is truly inconceivable. Rebirth is not assured because casual and scattered good deeds are difficult to match the accumulated sins from beginningless time. Know that the heavy sins of birth and death that we have created since beginningless kalpas, if these heavy sins had a physical form, the entire space would not be able to contain them. Therefore, even if one recites Amitabha (Amitabha) hundreds of thousands of times every day and night during the hundred years from birth to death, each utterance of the name' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese
尽灭八十亿劫生死重罪，然所灭罪犹如爪土，所未灭罪如大地土，惟能念至一心不乱，则如健人突围而出，非复三军所能制耳！” 问：“既不定生，称名何益？” 答：“一称佛名便为成佛种子，犹如金刚终不可坏。故佛世有一老人欲求出家，五百圣众以道眼观，皆谓从无善根，不肯剃度。后至佛所，佛即度之。弟子问佛因缘，佛言：‘此人于无量劫前，入山采薪为虎所逼，上树避之，虎复绕树跑哮，以怖急故失声称南无佛。今此善根成熟，值我得道，非诸二乘道眼所能知也。’由此观之，《法华．方便品》中所明，若于过去佛所，散乱称名皆已成佛。岂不信哉！伏愿若缁若素、若智若愚，于此简易直捷无上圆顿法门，勿视为难而辄生退诿，勿视为易而漫不策勤，勿视为浅而妄致藐轻，勿视为深而弗敢承任。盖所持之名号真实不可思议，能持之心性亦真实不可思议，持一声则一声不可思议，持十声百声乃至无量无数等声，则声声皆悉不可思议故也。” 二、总结劝。 “舍利弗！我见是利，故说此言。若有众生闻是说者，应当发愿生彼国土。” 佛眼所见究尽明了，以信愿而执持名号，的确是多善根福德，以此善根福德因缘，的确能感佛及圣众来迎，的确能生四种极乐世界，是为不 现代汉语译本 ‘（念佛）能够灭除八十亿劫的生死重罪，然而所灭除的罪业就像指甲上的尘土，所未灭除的罪业就像大地上的尘土。只有能够念到一心不乱，就像健壮的人突破重围而出，不再受三军所能控制！’ 问：‘既然不能决定往生，称念佛名有什么用处？’ 答：‘称念一声佛名，就种下成佛的种子，就像金刚一样永远不会损坏。所以佛在世的时候，有一位老人想要出家，五百位阿罗汉用他们的道眼观察，都说他没有善根，不肯为他剃度。后来到了佛陀那里，佛陀就为他剃度了。弟子问佛陀其中的因缘，佛陀说：‘这个人于无量劫以前，进山砍柴被老虎逼迫，上树躲避，老虎又绕着树跑叫，因为惊慌害怕的缘故失声称念“南无佛（Namo Buddha，皈依佛陀）”。现在这个善根成熟了，遇到我得道，不是那些二乘圣者的道眼所能知道的。’由此看来，《法华经．方便品》中所说，如果在过去佛那里，散乱称念佛名都已经成就佛道。难道不值得相信吗！希望无论是出家人还是在家人、无论是聪明人还是愚笨人，对于这个简易直接、无上圆满的法门，不要认为困难就轻易退缩推诿，不要认为容易就随便不努力，不要认为浅显就胡乱轻视，不要认为深奥就不敢承担。要知道所持念的名号真实不可思议，能持念的心性也真实不可思议，持念一声就一声不可思议，持念十声百声乃至无量无数等声，那么声声都完全不可思议啊。’ 二、总结劝导。 ‘舍利弗（Sariputra，佛陀的十大弟子之一，以智慧著称）！我看到这个利益，所以说这些话。如果有人听到这些话，应当发愿往生那个国土。’ 佛眼所见究竟明了，以信愿而执持名号，的确是多善根福德，以此善根福德因缘，的确能感得佛及圣众前来迎接，的确能往生四种极乐世界，这是不