英語訳
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suddenly contracts with their original nature, truly understanding that all dharmas are mind-only—neither one nor many—all dharmas are originally unborn and are simply the Tathāgata's equal wisdom-body. They also experientially understand that all dharmas have no self-nature, yet due to defiled and pure dependent origination, delusion and awakening, suffering and joy, cause and effect are clearly manifest. Through this correct knowledge and view, the mind constantly delights in seeking the path of worthy sages, with true integrity and real practice departing from all flattery and crookedness, not following temporal currents to rise and fall. Even so, their minds have not yet corresponded with meditative concentration, so mindfulness and wisdom are not yet blazing. When encountering conditions and facing objects, they still give rise to false consciousness, and afflictions still arise from time to time—these are students in the nominal identity stage.
Those who have not yet achieved the understanding and practice of the nominal identity stage use conceptual consciousness to accept and calculate, and their three karmic activities often enter into unreasonableness. Even if they display mannerisms to dazzle ordinary eyes and clever words to startle the foolish, they cannot avoid being ordinary beings of principle identity.
Generally, the ālaya seeds of all sentient beings are like malaka fruits clustered together, and the opportunities for faith, understanding, practice, and realization are not uniform. Unless one is an ultimate sage, who can distinguish these? Now we merely make general assignments according to the common standards of nature and characteristics. Furthermore, I will cite the already-verified clear instructions of ancient worthies for verification.
Chan Master Yunmen Zhanran said: "I have always tested people with two things. I have never seen anyone who could penetrate them. What are these two things? First, testing through written texts. Written words are the dharma-body of all buddhas' verbal teachings. You claim to have awakened—this means awakening to your own mind. Your own mind is buddha. If the mind has awakened to buddha-mind, you should understand buddha's words. You should be able to see clearly without doubt all the sūtras and teachings spoken by buddhas and all the various causal conditions of the patriarchs. If this is perhaps the case, then what you call awakening may not necessarily be so. Second, testing through one's own mind.
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In daily interactions, you seem to have some mastery, but are moved by objects. This unconsciousness we'll set aside for now. Just consider when apart from objects in tranquility, during cross-legged sitting meditation—in between, something seems to move up and down. Can you attain peace regarding so-called right and wrong, gain and loss, doubt and grasping? If you can be at peace, then even if all the grass and trees in the entire world transformed into people, each person having countless tongues, each tongue having countless challenging questions, each question having countless distinctions, neither before nor after but all coming at once, you need only snap your fingers once and can answer them all," etc.
These words are a clear mirror for distinguishing the true from the false. Students should place this at their side for reference.
According to tradition, the First Patriarch used the four-fascicle Laṅkāvatāra to seal the mind, and Caoxi used the Diamond Sūtra to seal realization. This was simply to prevent students from departing from the boundaries of correct dharma. Those fortunate to awaken the mind should universally use all the great and small, provisional and real sūtras and treatises to seal what they have realized, like matching tally-tokens, and only then can it be called true awakening.
In this school, those who attain the correct essence are extremely good—they are truly the glue that continues the life of correct dharma. Those who enter deviant paths are extremely ugly—their errors could not be greater and should be distinguished.
Fifth, clarifying the Pure Land school. This is divided into five parts: 1) Dependent sūtras and treatises, 2) Transmission through three countries, 3) Clarifying the Pure Land, 4) Causal practices for rebirth, 5) Doctrinal classification and sectarian establishment.
First, the dependent sūtras and treatises: The sūtras are the three Pure Land sūtras and various translated versions, correctly explaining Amitābha Buddha's land, its dependent and primary aspects, and causes for rebirth, etc. The others include the Drum Sound Dhāraṇī Sūtra, Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra, Rebirth According to Vows Sūtra, Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Invocation of Avalokiteśvara Sūtra, etc., all praising Amitābha Buddha. For treatises, the Mahāyāna
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Śraddhotpāda Śāstra's section on cultivating faithful mind, in explaining the cessation-contemplation gate, shows this excellent expedient for those in the faith stage who become timid and fall back. The text is only a few lines, but the purport is clear and admirable. In the Easy Practice chapter of the Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā, it clarifies how extremely difficult it is to obtain the characteristics of non-retrogression, separately showing expedients and explaining the easy practice path: "The Buddha-dharma has countless gates. Worldly paths have difficult and easy ones. Walking on land is suffering; traveling by boat on water is pleasant. If people can recite the ten-direction buddhas, Amitābha Buddha, etc., they can quickly attain non-retrogression," etc. Master Vasubandhu composed the Sukhāvatīvyūha Upadeśa to propagate this path, etc. This will be clarified below.
Second, transmission through three countries: The three great masters Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Vasubandhu praised Pure Land but did not separately establish a school to propagate this dharma. In China, from Dharma Master Huiyuan of Mount Lu forming an association at Kuanglu and cultivating pratyutpanna practice, afterward Huichong, Daochang, Xuanzhong, Tiantai, Dixin, Yunhua, Jiacai, Xihe, Wuzhen, Jianfu and other worthies each praised the Pure Land dharma gate, but all relied on their original schools to encourage cultivation of this path without separately establishing a school. After the Song Dynasty, worthies of the Chan and Tiantai schools who propagated Pure Land were all likewise.
In Japan's propagation, the sacred emperor first praised this dharma. Gyōki, Kūya, Chikō, Chinkai, Eshin, Eikan and other worthies successively revered this dharma, practicing for themselves and teaching others, as seen in historical records. Later there was the Master of Yoshimizu who opened and expounded the path of exclusive nembutsu practice to guide and transform the difficult-to-tame sentient beings of the turbid age, sweeping across the times. Finally, during the Jōan era, the Pure Land school was first established. This was the beginning of separately transmitting sectarian lineage. This will be fully explained below.
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Third, clarifying Pure Land meaning is divided into two gates: first generally explaining buddha-lands, then separately distinguishing Amitābha Buddha's land. In the first part, four schools are briefly presented: 1) Jingying's explanation, 2) Huayan's explanation, 3) Tiantai's explanation, 4) Faxiang's explanation.
First, Jingying's explanation: The Mahāyāna Meaning Compendium, fascicle 19, divides into six gates to clarify Pure Land meaning. In the second gate of distinguishing characteristics, three lands are listed: 1) Phenomenal Pure Land, 2) Characteristic Pure Land, 3) True Pure Land.
First, phenomenal Pure Land refers to ordinary beings' contaminated wholesome karma inducing pure realms, with jeweled adornments and beautiful phenomenal characteristics called "phenomenal purity." However, when cultivating causes in this land, emotions have limitations and distinctions, grasping characteristics and maintaining fixed attachments, so when receiving retribution, the lands have boundaries and various characteristic differences. This also has two types: 1) Lands obtained by ordinary beings' wholesome karma seeking existence, like the various heavens above, where experienced realms still give rise to contaminated karma; 2) Pure lands obtained by ordinary beings' wholesome roots seeking transcendence, like the Land of Bliss, Fragrant World, etc., where experienced realms can generate the transcendent path, etc. Clarifying characteristics according to truth, etc.
Second, characteristic Pure Land refers to the lands inhabited by śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas. As Nāgārjuna explained, there are wonderful pure lands transcending the three realms where arhats should be reborn. These worthy sages cultivate dependent contemplation and antidotes, obtaining uncontaminated realms with wonderful characteristic adornments, pure lands free from defilement. Though pure, deluded thoughts arise like what is seen in dreams—false and untrue. Being free from defilement within characteristics, they are called "characteristic purity." When cultivating causes in this land, emotions have no limitations, minds have no fixed attachments, so obtained realms turn according to mind like magical transformations without fixed directions. This land naturally has distinctions between what is obtained through śrāvakas' and pratyekabuddhas' self-benefiting wholesome roots versus bodhisattvas' other-benefiting wholesome roots. Regarding mind, there are also distinctions of phenomenal consciousness, dependent contemplation, and uncontaminated