Common Knowledge in Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
“Nirvana is beyond comparison”
(continued)
“ Its people will be wonderful and unexcelled. The seat of Enlightenment shall be supreme. My land, being like Nirvana itself, Shall be beyond comparison.” - In the Pure Land, there are the Buddha and Bodhisattvas (Buddha is the master and bodhisattvas are companions) enjoying the same Pure Land. It is the foremost because Amitabha Buddha is the foremost among all Buddhas, and the sacred beings from the ten directions, who are reborn in the Land of Bliss, are also the foremost.
What is the wonder, the excellence and the uniqueness of the Land of Bliss? It enables ordinary beings, bearing greed, hatred, and delusion, to be reborn in the Pure Land without subduing these qualities. Moreover, they can quickly ascend to the Buddha assembly and attain the ultimate fruit of Buddhahood. Just as Amitabha vowed - “My land, being like Nirvana itself, shall be beyond comparison”.
泥洹無雙 (續)
「其眾奇妙,道場超絕;國如泥洹,而無等雙」,淨土裏面有佛、有菩薩(佛是主人,菩薩是伴),同時有淨土的境界。既然極樂世界國土是第一,表示主人 —— 阿彌陀佛是十方諸佛之第一;往生到極樂世界的聖眾,也是十方聖眾之第一。
極樂世界之奇妙、之超絕、之無等雙在哪裡?在使我們貪瞋癡的凡夫,於貪 瞋癡沒有降伏的情況下,能夠往生淨土,同時能夠快速、超越地坐道場、成佛果,這才是「國如泥洹,而無等雙」。
Namo Amituofo!
