Master Huijing’s Short Dharma Teaching of the Patriarchal Lineage of the Pure Land School – the 18th Vow
淨宗傳承之第十八願
(continued)
For a person who sets forth the Bodhi Mind and cultivates various merits and virtues, if he does not rely on the merits and virtues attained through his own practices; but, entirely relies on those of Amitabha’s Name, he is one with the aptitudes and capacities specified in the 18th Vow. He takes Amitabha-recitation as the fundamental that is the main cause of rebirth. In so doing, he doesn’t mean he abandons the Bodhi Mind or the cultivation of merits and virtues, however, he simply receives them through the exclusive recitation of Amitabha’s Name. Thus, in their deepest minds, he fully relies on Amitabha’s Name for rebirth, and not on the dedication of his own merit and virtues, andBodhi Mind for rebirth.
如果發菩提心、修諸功德這樣的人,他並不依靠自己修行的功德,而完全依靠名號的功德,那他就是第十八願的根機,不是十九願的根機。
第十八願的根機是取往生的正因──念佛為本,所以,並不是說他沒有發菩提心,也不是沒有修諸功德,只是他曉得往生的正因並非菩提心與功德,而是這一句彌陀名號,所以在他的內心是靠彌陀名號往生,而不是迴向自己的菩提心或其他功德往生的。
Namo Amituofo!
