Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
Amitabha-Recitation Generates Abundant Merits and Blessings (continued)
The Metaphor of Purchasing a Big Building for Free
Let me ask you a question: suppose one day you’re out shopping, someone comes up to you and tells you that you can buy a big building for just one dollar. There isn’t the usual need to haggle over the price, and you think, Wow, I’ve hit the jackpot! Is this scenario possible? No way!
The only explanation for such a windfall is that it must really be a gift from the property owner. It is totally inconceivable for a piece of property to be purchased for only one dollar. It can only be an outright gift from the owner to you.
Many of us aspire to be reborn in the Western Land of Bliss. What is the ultimate reward of rebirth there? The answer is: attainment of Buddhahood.
In order to attain Buddhahood, some practitioners undertake extreme asceticism, say, a hundred thousand prostrations a day. Metaphorically, the value of the merits of such practice accrued over a hundred years are worth only one dollar. By comparison, the merits of practicing the arduous Bodhisattva Way for incalculable eons before achieving Buddhahood are worth more than the value of a building.
By employing such a metaphor, we can see that the attainment of Buddhahood is worth far more than a building. Lacking merits and virtues, we yearn for them. We hope to be able to cultivate enough merits and virtues for achieving Buddhahood. Sadly, we are only capable of accumulating evil karma by committing a variety of offenses. We have no hope of leaving the endless cycles of birth and death in the Six Realms. Amitabha Buddha takes pity on us. He opens his vast Dharma treasure trove in the most generous fashion and without discrimination, bestowing on us his precious merits and virtues.
Hence, the Infinite Life Sutra praises Amitabha for his generosity that “enables all sentient beings to acquire [sufficient] merits and virtues [for rebirth in the Pure Land].” The Buddha makes a promise to us all by saying, “If you aspire to be reborn in my land, simply recite my Name. Then all of my merits and virtues are yours. With this your rebirth is assured!
8C. 念佛即是多福德妙喻之三 - 買大樓喻
問大家一個問題:如果有一天,我們上街去買東西,遇到和平常不一樣的情形,平常買東西都要討價還價,這天掏了一塊錢,結果買來了整棟大樓,「哎呀,今天賺了,今天買得很值得,一塊錢買了一棟大樓......」會有這樣的事情嗎? 沒有!
如果真有這樣的事情,一定是大樓的主人主動送給你的。一塊錢不可能買一棟大樓,居然買到了,說明是人家要送給你的。
我們很多人求生西方極樂世界 —— 到西方極樂世界的果報是什麼呢?成佛。我們就是每天磕十萬個頭,磕一百年,這樣的苦行,要跟成佛的因行相比,值一塊錢,那麼,成佛簡直都不只一棟大樓。
我們沒有功德,我們盼望功德,我們希望自己成就功德。阿彌陀佛憐憫我們沒有功德法財,我們只有造罪造業,沒有出離之緣,無法脫離六道輪迴,阿彌陀佛為我們打開佛法的寶藏,普遍、平等地布施給我們功德之寶。所以《無量壽經》說:「令諸眾生,功德成就。」 阿彌陀佛說:「你想來往生,只要念名號,送給你,決定能往生!」
Namo Amituofo!
