June 28

Jun 28, 2017
慧淨上人法語
專稱彌陀佛名

Regarding rebirth at “the nine levels”, I do think it exists because the sutras have talked about it. As far as our teaching is concerned, however, rebirth at the nine levels is equivalent to “rebirth in the womb” as told in the Infinite Life Sutra.

The nine levels are not mentioned in the 48 vows, and not either in the Infinite Life Sutra. This Sutra, however, does mention “rebirth in the womb”. By this observation, we can derive that rebirth at the nine levels means rebirth in the womb, just using different terms or nomenclature.

We know that the section on “rebirth in the womb” has not talked about rebirth at the three levels of the low tier, because that is a general classification. For further elaboration, it can be subdivided into nine levels, eighty-one levels, or immeasurable levels.

至於「九品」也是有的，因為經典有這樣講。但以我們這個法門來說，「九品」等同《無量壽經》的「胎宮」，因為四十八願裡面沒有談到「九品」，《無量壽經》裡面也沒有談到「九品」，可是有談到「胎宮」，可見「九品」就是「胎宮」，只是名字不一樣而已。

當然「胎宮」中沒有講到下三品的往生，不過，因為那都是概略的劃分，詳細的話，就有九品、八十一 品、無量品。

Namo Amitabha!