Nov 30, 2021
上人法語
淨宗判教 - 總顯其義
Before the time of Master Honen, Japan had various Mahayana and Theravada schools of Buddhism ; but, not the Pure Land School. Thus, there was no Pure Land Sangha. There were no Pure Land Sutras chosen for practitioners to rely on, and no theoretical framework established for defining the Pure Land teaching. Because of this, no one knew about the specific sutras to rely on or the practices that led to rebirth in the Pure Land.
For generations after generations, practitioners who aspired to be reborn in the Western Pure Land had to attach themselves to other schools, mixing [Amitabha-recitation] with other irrelevant practices, which are then dedicated to others. This is known as an ‘affiliated school.’ Teachings of other schools were used to define the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. As a result of this situation the dependent conditions, the resultant beings of the Pure Land, as well as the main cause of rebirth, were interpreted differently and changed from one school to another.
(to be continued tomorrow)
法然上人以前的日本佛教，雖有大小乘各宗派，卻獨缺淨土宗派，所以沒有淨土門的教團，也沒有確立淨土門正依的經典與教相上的理論架構，因此也不知道往生的行體。
雖然當時願生西方淨土的行者，代不乏人，但都依附在各宗門下，雜行雜修，然後迴向，謂之「寓宗」，並且以其各宗之教理來判別彌陀的淨土，因而淨土依正及往生正因，隨各宗的宗義而轉。
Namo Amitufo!
