Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
13. Metaphor of a House – Amitabha’s Name Houses Myriad Merits
The myriad merits and virtues which Amitabha Buddha accumulated, through cultivation while in his causal ground, and his attainment of Buddhahood, are all contained in the six-character Name [Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo].
That’s why it is said that the Name is where the Buddha’s myriad virtues dwell. It is the crystallization of Amitabha’s merits and its value is beyond comparison. It gives Amitabha reciters countless blessings and turns them into beings with the most virtuous roots.
Here’s what the Infinite Life Sutra has to say: “By practicing a multitude of virtues, Bhikkhu Dharmakara enabled all sentient beings to partake of them.” I [Bhikkhu Dharmakara] will open the Dharma-store for the multitudes and endow them all with treasures of merit. Those who hear and rejoice in the Name of Amitabha Buddha, receive unsurpassed merits and virtues.”
These quotes mean that, while still Bhikkhu Dharmakara in his causal ground, Amitabha Buddha, cultivated a multitude of virtues (including the Paramitas) over countless eons. He then stored these immeasurable merits in his six-character Name and generously shared them with both ordinary and iniquitous beings of the ten directions.
Briefly, the myriad merits and virtues within Amitabha’s Name encompass those of Buddhas in the ten directions and the three time periods. These merits and virtues are inconceivable, boundless, and numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River.
This is because Amitabha’s Name completely contains achievements equal to those of all other Buddhas. These merits were accumulated in both the causal ground and during his attainment of Buddhahood. This includes the insights they have realized, the paranormal abilities they have gained, with direct and circumstantial karmic rewards that benefit sentient beings. All such achievements have been included without omission in Amitabha’s Name!
In conclusion, the six-character Name constitutes the most virtuous and unsurpassed Dharma path. This is why the merits and virtues gained by Amitabha-recitation are extraordinary and rare.
However, the situation isn’t the same with any of the other paths of practice, which “occupy only a small corner of the whole wide world.” The merits and virtues of any of these practices are fragmented and incomplete. There are no other practices that can compare with Amitabha-recitation.
13. 屋舍喻:名號總攝萬德
阿彌陀佛在因地的時候所修行,以及果上 — 也就是成佛的時候,所具足的一切功德,通通涵攝在六字名號之中,因此名號具足阿彌陀佛因位、果地的萬德,所以說為「萬德之所歸」。也就是:六字名號是萬德的結晶,有絕對性的價值,使稱念者擁有阿彌陀佛無邊勝德,具足大善根、大福德。
如《無量壽經》說:「令諸眾生,功德成就」「為眾開法藏,廣施功德寶。」又說:「具足無上功德」,意即阿彌陀佛在因位之時,代替一切善惡眾生、經過兆載永劫的時間廣修萬行,以及所有波羅蜜之行門,而將這些功德統統容納在六字名號,同時將這六字名號布施給我們十方善惡眾生,因此,名號具足十方三世一切諸佛的萬行、萬善、萬德。可說,因位果德、內證外用、依報正報 等等,恆河沙數無量無邊不可思議功德,無一遺漏地融攝在名號之中!所以,這句名號成為極善無上殊勝之法,故:稱名念佛功德最為殊勝。
而其他的行法就不是這樣,所謂「各守一隅」,它們只擁有一部分,不是整體的,不是圓滿的,所以跟名號來比較,就下劣了。
Namo Amituofo!
