Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
8A. Amitabha-Recitation is Like a Cheque for 10 Billion Dollars (continued)
Amitabha Buddha gives us a most precious gift - his unsurpassed merits and virtues in the form of his Name, to enable us to achieve Buddhahood. However, we do not have the wisdom to appreciate the value of that precious gift. Often, after practicing Amitabha-recitation for a little while, we are inclined to put it aside and moan, “Oh, how tedious and boring it is to recite only the six characters!
Reciting the full text of a sutra is much more interesting ......” Like the son in the previous story, who values a sweet potato more than a cheque worth 10 billion dollars, we also need the wisdom to distinguish what’s truly valuable. “Look! I’ve just accomplished a tangible meritorious deed, obvious for all to see. Here’s a very thick sutra I’ve just finished reciting. That’s substantial! This six-character Name (Namo Amituofo) is all too flimsy. A single recitation of those six characters is over in a flash!”
We think like this because we don’t understand the meaning of genuine merits. May this metaphor inspire us all to cherish the six-character Name. Just as Master Ouyi considers Amitabha-recitation “the most precious practice”, I urge you not to give up or discard this practice.
Amitabha Buddha, our loving father, generously gives us the six-character Name he cultivated arduously for an incalculably long time. However, we are too shallow to appreciate the true value of the Name. Instead of holding fast to Amitabha-recitation, we compare it to assorted self-power practices and say, “Recitation of the six-character name is fine. However, if I practice generosity, precepts, meditation, rites of repentance and so on, aren’t those merits and virtues valuable as well?” Little do we know that the merits of such practices are tiny. At most, they are just a sweet, an apple, or a sweet potato. They can never be compared to the six-character Name, which can dwarf even a cheque of a trillion dollars!
8A. 念佛即是多福德妙喻之一 - 支票喻 (續)
我們沒有智慧,阿彌陀佛把他的六字名號 —— 無上功德的結晶布施給我們,令我們功德成就。但是,我們念念佛號,就把它擺在旁邊,「哎呀,這句六字名號乾巴巴的,空洞洞的,哪有我去誦一部經有味道......」就好像比喻中的那個兒子,智慧沒有開,他只認識地瓜,而不認識百億支票。我們也一樣,「你看,我做了某樁功德了,我看得到;我讀了一部經,厚厚一本,多實在!一句南無阿彌陀佛,六個字一念,就沒了!」這是因為我們不瞭解什麼是真實功德。
希望這個比喻能夠讓大家珍惜六字名號,所謂「寶此一行」,不再捨棄, 不再丟掉。阿彌陀佛老爸那麼辛辛苦苦修來的六字名號給我們,結果我們都漫不經心的,然後把它跟別的比,「這個六字名號嘛,也不錯,但是如果我布施、持戒、打坐、拜懺,這樣種種的修行,這樣的功德應該也差不多吧!」不知那些都 很小,頂多是一顆糖、一個地瓜、一個蘋果,跟這句百千萬億支票都不能比喻的六字名號,那是無法相比的。
Namo Amituofo!
