Common Knowledge in Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
To Joyfully Become a Buddha in this Life
The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to enable all sentient beings to become Buddhas. What do you think is required to become a Buddha through cultivation? Our faces become scarred from upholding the precepts, doing seated meditation, reciting sutras, or being an ascetic in a cave, etc. People may run away when they see us from afar, and say, “ Do I want to become a Buddha in this way? Forget it, I don’t want to be a Buddha!” To become a Buddha in this way is not a simple matter. It is more like the master and his disciples who encountered the 81 jeopardies in their Journey to the West.
The Buddhist sutras say, “ A sentient being who aspires to become a Buddha must realize: the Ten Faiths, the Ten Dwellings, the Ten Practices, the Ten Transferences, and the Equal and Wonderful Enlightenment. There are 52 Bodhisattva stages in total. In this process, one must master all kinds of practices, no matter how difficult they are to practice or tolerate. It takes an almost infinite period of time.
Please note, this period of time is calculated on the assumption that the practitioner never retrogresses in the process. In this long period of time, he may: encounter demons and get stuck in demonic realms, or fall back to once again become an Arhat, or fall into the jeopardy of emptiness in the Seventh Ground of Bodhisattvas. Thus, the patriarch says with emotion,” To aspire to and seek the Buddhist Way is as difficult as lifting Three Thousand Great Cosmos.
Among all of the Buddha’s teachings, is there any one that enables us to become Buddhas in a joyful and secure way? Did Shakyamuni Buddha leave us a secret way to easily become Buddhas? I will tell you; the answer is “ Definitely!”
(to be continued tomorrow)
一生輕鬆成佛
佛教的終極目的是要讓一切眾生成佛。說到修行成佛,你想到了什麼?戒疤、打坐、誦經、深山、苦行......有人遠遠望見就嚇跑啦:「這樣子才能成佛,這佛不成也罷!」要成佛?談何容易!怎麼著也得像西遊記裏面師徒經歷九九八十一難吧?
通常來說,這麼理解也是對的,佛經上說:眾生從初發心成佛到最終成佛,要攀爬十信、十住、十行、十迴向、十地、等覺、妙覺,共計菩薩五十二個階位。這個過程中,需要經歷種種修法,難行能行,難忍能忍,總耗時累計長達三大阿僧祇劫。
注意,這可是以修行者只進不退為前提哦!在這漫長的時間裡,你可能招陰魔,可能撞魔境,或是中途退墮成阿羅漢,或是墮入七地沉空難。因此,祖師感慨說:發願求佛道,重於舉三千大千世界!
那麼佛教這麼多法門中,到底有沒有一個能夠輕輕鬆鬆、安安穩穩就成佛的?釋迦牟尼佛走之前沒給我們這樣的凡夫另闢蹊徑留下什麼簡單的成佛秘笈嗎?悄悄告訴你吧,答案是肯定的!
Namo Amituofo!
