佛說觀無量壽佛經 中輩生想
上輩所憑的是三種心。中輩所憑的是戒——而最後一位，連戒也沒有。
戒要轉個方向
「若有眾生受持五戒，持八戒齋，修行諸戒，不造五逆，無眾過惡」。
一句觀想沒有，一句誦經也沒有。列的全是戒。
戒說完，經隨即轉了一個方向：「以此善根，迴向願求生於西方極樂世界。」
戒是所修，迴向是所向。少了後面那一步，前面那些不通到那裡去。
短到一日一夜
「若一日一夜持八戒齋，若一日一夜持沙彌戒，若一日一夜持具足戒，威儀無缺。」
三個「若」字並列，任取其一；每一個前面都只有一個時間單位。
時間可以短到一日一夜，而在那一日一夜裡，「威儀無缺」四個字沒有降。
來的人不一樣
「阿彌陀佛與諸比丘，眷屬圍繞，放金色光至其人所」。
上輩來的是佛與二大士、無數化佛；這一輩來的是佛與比丘眾。
他一生走的是哪一條路，最後來接他的就是哪一路人。
最後那一位
「若有善男子、善女人，孝養父母，行世仁義」。
戒沒有，經沒有，觀沒有，連想去那裡的念頭也沒有。
臨終才第一次聽見這件事——「聞此事已，尋即命終。譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。」
活了一輩子不曾聽過的事，臨終聽了這一遍。
低一次頭，伸一次手臂
「未舉頭頃即得往生極樂世界」，「譬如壯士屈伸臂頃」。
經上只說阿彌陀佛去此不遠；而寫從這裡到那裡所需的時間，用的是低一次頭、伸一次手臂。
What the highest grade relied on was three kinds of mind. What the middle grade relies on is the precepts — and the last of them has not even the precepts.
The Precepts Have to Be Turned in a Direction
“If there are sentient beings who receive and hold the five precepts, who keep the eight-precept fast, who cultivate the various precepts, who commit none of the five heinous acts and are without faults and evils.”
Not one line about forming images, not one line about reciting scriptures. What is listed is all precepts.
The precepts stated, the sūtra at once turns them in a direction: “With roots of good such as these they dedicate and direct them, vowing to seek birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.”
The precepts are what is cultivated; the dedicating and directing is where it is aimed. Without that second step, the first does not run through to that land.
As Short as One Day and One Night
“If for one day and one night they keep the eight-precept fast, or for one day and one night keep the śrāmaṇera precepts, or for one day and one night keep the full precepts, with no defect in deportment.”
Three ifs side by side; take any one of them. Before each of them stands only one unit of time.
The time may be as short as one day and one night, and within that one day and one night the four words “with no defect in deportment” are not lowered.
The Ones Who Come Are Not the Same
“Amitābha Buddha, with many bhikṣus and with his retinue surrounding him, sends forth a golden light and comes to that person’s place.”
For the highest grade there came the Buddha with the two great beings and countless manifested buddhas; for this grade there comes the Buddha with an assembly of bhikṣus.
Whichever road a person has walked all his life, that is the company that comes at the end to welcome him.
The Last of Them
“If there are good men or good women who are filial and care for father and mother, and who practise the humaneness and rightness of the world.”
No precepts, no scriptures, no contemplation, and not even the thought of wanting to go and be born there.
Only at the end of life does he hear of the matter for the first time — “Having heard of this, he straightway ends his life. As in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.”
A thing he had never heard in a whole lifetime, he heard through this once at the end.
A Single Lowering of the Head, a Single Stretching of the Arm
“In the very instant before he has raised his head, he attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss”; “as in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm.”
The sūtra says only that Amitābha Buddha is not far from here; and for the time needed to go from here to there it uses a single lowering of the head and a single stretching of the arm.
大正藏 T12n0365〔起 T12 0345b08〕。段／行首〔T12 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T12 0345b08〕佛告阿難及韋提希：「中品上生者，若有眾生受持五戒，持八戒齋，修行諸戒，不造五逆，無眾過惡；以此善根，迴向願求生於西方極樂世界。行者臨命終時，阿彌陀佛與諸比丘，眷屬圍繞，放金色光至其人所，演說苦、空、無常、無我，讚歎出家得離眾苦。行者見已，心大歡喜。自見己身坐蓮花臺，長跪合掌為佛作禮。未舉頭頃即得往生極樂世界，蓮花尋開。當華敷時，聞眾音聲讚歎四諦，應時即得阿羅漢道，三明、六通、具八解脫；是名中品上生者。 「中品中生者，若有眾生，若一日一夜持八戒齋，若一日一夜持沙彌戒，若一日一夜持具足戒，威儀無缺。以此功德，迴向願求生極樂國。戒香薰修，如此行者命欲終時，見阿彌陀佛與諸眷屬放金色光，持七寶蓮花至行者前，行者自聞空中有聲，讚言：『善男子！如汝善人，隨順三世諸佛教故，我來迎汝。』行者自見坐蓮花上，蓮花即合，生於西方極樂世界。在寶池中，經於七日蓮花乃敷。花既敷已，開目合掌，讚歎世尊。聞法歡喜，得須陀洹，經半劫已成阿羅漢；是名中品中生者。 「中品下生者，若有善男子、善女人，孝養父母，行世仁義，此人命欲終時，遇善知識為其廣說阿彌陀佛國土樂事，亦說法藏比丘四十八大願。聞此事已，尋即命終。譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。生經七日，遇觀世音及大勢至，聞法歡喜得須陀洹。過一小劫，成阿羅漢。是名中品下生者。是名中輩生想，名第十五觀。作是觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀。」
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
宋畺良耶舍譯《佛說觀無量壽佛經》T12n0365 十六觀之第十五，散善三輩之次，自「佛告阿難及韋提希」至「若他觀者，名為邪觀」。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔中品上生〕
〔一·告命·辨定其位〕（0345b08）佛告訴阿難和韋提希：『中品上生的那一種——
〔二·簡機·受法〕（0345b08）若有眾生受持五戒，持八戒齋，修行種種戒，不造作五逆，沒有種種過惡；
〔三·迴向〕（0345b10）以這樣的善根，迴向而願求生到西方極樂世界去。
〔四·臨終聖來迎接〕（0345b11）修行的人臨命終的時候，阿彌陀佛與許多比丘，眷屬圍繞著，放出金色的光來到那個人的處所，為他演說苦、空、無常、無我，讚歎出家能夠離開種種苦。修行人見了之後，心裡大為歡喜。自己看見自己的身坐在蓮花臺上，長跪合掌向佛作禮。頭還沒有抬起來的那一瞬間，就得以往生到極樂世界，
〔五·華開〕（0345b16）蓮花隨即就開。
〔六·華開之後得益〕（0345b16）當那花開敷的時候，聽見種種音聲讚歎四諦（苦、集、滅、道），應時就得到阿羅漢道（阿羅漢，這裡的意思是無生，也叫無著：因亡了所以無生，果喪了所以無著），三明（宿命明、天眼明、漏盡明）、六種神通、具足八解脫。這就叫做中品上生的人。
〔中品中生〕
〔七·位名·簡機受法〕（0345b18）中品中生的那一種——若有眾生，或是一日一夜持八戒齋，或是一日一夜持沙彌戒，或是一日一夜持具足戒，威儀沒有虧缺。
〔八·迴向〕（0345b21）以這樣的功德，迴向而願求生到極樂國去。
〔九·臨終聖來迎接〕（0345b21）戒香薰修著他。這樣的修行人命將要終的時候，見到阿彌陀佛與許多眷屬放出金色的光，手持七寶的蓮花來到修行人的面前；修行人自己聽見空中有聲音，讚歎說：『善男子啊！像你這樣的善人，因為隨順三世諸佛教誨的緣故，我來迎接你。』修行人自己看見自己坐在蓮花上，蓮花隨即合起來，生到西方極樂世界。
〔十·到彼華開〕（0345b27）在寶池之中，經過七天蓮花才開敷。
〔十一·得益〕（0345b27）花既然開敷了，他張開眼睛合起掌來，讚歎世尊。聽聞法而生歡喜，得到須陀洹（此名翻作修習無漏，又作逆流），經過半劫之後成阿羅漢。這就叫做中品中生的人。
〔中品下生〕
〔十二·位名·簡機受法〕（0345c01）中品下生的那一種——若有善男子、善女人，孝養父母，行世間的仁義；
〔十三·臨終遇善知識〕（0345c02）這個人命將要終的時候，遇到善知識為他廣說阿彌陀佛國土的種種樂事，也說法藏比丘的四十八大願。
〔十四·得生〕（0345c04）聽了這件事之後，隨即就命終了。譬如一位壯士屈伸手臂那樣短的時間，就生到西方極樂世界。
〔十五·華開·得益〕（0345c05）生到那裡經過七天，遇到觀世音和大勢至，聽聞法而生歡喜，得到須陀洹。過了一小劫，成阿羅漢。這就叫做中品下生的人。
〔十六·總結〕（0345c08）這就叫做中輩生想，名為第十五觀。
〔十七·判正邪〕（0345c08）作這樣的觀，名為正觀；若作其他的觀，名為邪觀。』
Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the fifteenth of the sixteen contemplations and the second of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
The Highest Birth of the Middle Grade
〔一 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345b08）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the highest birth of the middle grade —
〔二 · Sifting the Capacity; the Dharma Received〕（0345b08）if there are sentient beings who receive and hold the five precepts, who keep the eight-precept fast, who cultivate the various precepts, who commit none of the five heinous acts and are without faults and evils;
〔三 · The Dedicating and Directing〕（0345b10）with roots of good such as these they dedicate and direct them, vowing to seek birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.
〔四 · At the End of Life the Holy Ones Come to Welcome〕（0345b11）When the practitioner is about to end his life, Amitābha Buddha, with many bhikṣus and with his retinue surrounding him, sends forth a golden light and comes to that person’s place, and expounds for him suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and no-self, and praises the going forth from home as the leaving behind of all sufferings. When the practitioner has seen this, his mind greatly rejoices. He sees his own body seated upon a lotus-flower terrace, kneeling upright with palms joined and doing homage to the Buddha. In the very instant before he has raised his head, he attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss,
〔五 · The Flower Opens〕（0345b16）and the lotus flower opens straightway.
〔六 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0345b16）When that flower unfolds, he hears all manner of sounds praising the four truths (suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path), and at that very time attains the way of the arhat (arhat here means non-arising, and is also called non-attachment: because the cause is gone there is non-arising, and because the fruit is ended there is non-attachment), the three knowledges (the knowledge of former lives, the knowledge of the divine eye, and the knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows), the six supernormal powers, and completeness in the eight liberations. This is what is called one of the highest birth of the middle grade.
The Middle Birth of the Middle Grade
〔七 · The Name of the Position; Sifting the Capacity and the Dharma Received〕（0345b18）As for the middle birth of the middle grade — if there are sentient beings who for one day and one night keep the eight-precept fast, or for one day and one night keep the śrāmaṇera precepts, or for one day and one night keep the full precepts, with no defect in deportment.
〔八 · The Dedicating and Directing〕（0345b21）With merit such as this they dedicate and direct it, vowing to seek birth in the land of Ultimate Bliss.
〔九 · At the End of Life the Holy Ones Come to Welcome〕（0345b21）The fragrance of the precepts perfumes and cultivates him. When a practitioner such as this is about to end his life, he sees Amitābha Buddha with many of his retinue send forth a golden light and bear a lotus flower of the seven precious substances before the practitioner; and the practitioner hears for himself a voice in the air praising him and saying: “Good man! One good as you are, because you have followed and accorded with the teaching of the buddhas of the three times, I have come to welcome you.” The practitioner sees himself seated upon the lotus flower; the lotus flower then closes, and he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.
〔十 · The Flower Opens on Arrival There〕（0345b27）Within the jeweled pond, after seven days have passed the lotus flower unfolds.
〔十一 · The Benefit Obtained〕（0345b27）The flower having unfolded, he opens his eyes and joins his palms, praising the World-Honored One. Hearing the Dharma he rejoices, and becomes a stream-enterer (this name is rendered as cultivating the outflow-free, and also as going against the stream); and after half a kalpa has passed he becomes an arhat. This is what is called one of the middle birth of the middle grade.
The Lowest Birth of the Middle Grade
〔十二 · The Name of the Position; Sifting the Capacity and the Dharma Received〕（0345c01）As for the lowest birth of the middle grade — if there are good men or good women who are filial and care for father and mother, and who practise the humaneness and rightness of the world;
〔十三 · Meeting a Good Friend at the End of Life〕（0345c02）when this person is about to end his life, he meets a good friend who expounds for him at length the joyful things of the land of Amitābha Buddha, and also expounds the forty-eight great vows of the bhikṣu Dharmākara.
〔十四 · Attaining Birth There〕（0345c04）Having heard of this, he straightway ends his life. As in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.
〔十五 · The Flower Opens; the Benefit Obtained〕（0345c05）Born there, after seven days he meets Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta; hearing the Dharma he rejoices and becomes a stream-enterer. After one small kalpa has passed, he becomes an arhat. This is what is called one of the lowest birth of the middle grade.
〔十六 · General Conclusion〕（0345c08）This is called the image of birth in the middle grade, and it is named the fifteenth contemplation.
〔十七 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0345c08）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”
上輩三位講的是發三種心、讀誦大乘、修行六念的人。到中輩，經所說的人換了一批：他們所憑的不是心，是戒。而中輩的最後一位，連戒也沒有——他一生只做了一件事：孝養父母，行世仁義。
善導《觀經四帖疏》把中輩三位分別定為「小乘根性上善凡夫」「小乘下善凡夫」「世善上福凡夫」，一路往下；智顗《觀無量壽佛經疏》則把中品配在性種之位，並就中輩得阿羅漢一事，與《往生論》「二乘不得生」之說作了一番會通。兩家所判不同，各自的理由都在自己的書裡。此下所講的是經。
這一輩所憑的是戒
中品上生的因，經列得很具體：
「若有眾生受持五戒，持八戒齋，修行諸戒，不造五逆，無眾過惡」。
沒有一句是關於觀想的，也沒有一句是關於誦經的。全是戒。
而戒之後緊接一句：「以此善根，迴向願求生於西方極樂世界。」
持戒是因，迴向是門。歷來的讀法在此把中輩所修繫在三福的第二福——戒善——上面：受戒有具受、不具受，持戒有具持、不具持，而「但能迴向盡得往生」。
戒本身不會把人送到那個國土去；把它轉個方向，才會。
這一點在三輩之中是一貫的。上輩所修的是心與大乘之行，中輩所修的是戒，下輩什麼都沒有——而三輩的文字裡都有同一個動作：迴向。所修的東西可以差得很遠，那個轉身的動作是同一個。
一日一夜也算
中品中生的條件，短得讓人意外：
「若一日一夜持八戒齋，若一日一夜持沙彌戒，若一日一夜持具足戒，威儀無缺。」
三個「若」字並列，任取其一。而每一個前面都只有一個時間單位：一日一夜。
不是終身持戒，不是幾十年不犯。就一天一夜。
古來注家在此加了一句分寸：修戒的時候，或是終身，或一年一月一日一夜一時，時間本來就不定，大意都以畢命為期，只是不得毀犯。而這一日一夜之中，要「清淨無犯，乃至輕罪，如犯極重之過」——把最輕的過失當作最重的來守。
時間可以短到一日一夜，而在那一日一夜裡，標準沒有降。
你若把這一句和上輩的「一日乃至七日」放在一起看，會看見這部經對時間的一貫態度：它從不要求長，只要求那一段是實的。
來迎的隊伍不一樣
讀三輩九品，有一處極易讀過去：來迎的人不是每一品都相同。
上輩來的是阿彌陀佛與觀世音、大勢至，加上無數化佛與百千比丘。到中品上生，經文寫的是：
「阿彌陀佛與諸比丘，眷屬圍繞，放金色光至其人所」。
只有比丘眾，沒有提菩薩。
古來的讀法就此點明：這是由小乘根性還感小根之眾。
所感之眾隨所修之行而異——這一句不是在分高下，是在說一件很樸素的事：一個人一生所親近的是什麼，臨終所現前的就是什麼。
你若把上輩、中輩、下輩三段的來迎場面並排讀一次，會看見經在這件事上寫得很細。每一輩底下各有三品，來迎的場面逐品不同；單取每一輩最上的那一品為例：上品上生是佛與二大士、無數化佛以至百千比丘聲聞諸天，中品上生是佛與諸比丘眷屬圍繞，下品上生是化佛與化觀世音、化大勢至。同一位佛，三種現法。
而佛為他所說的法，也正是他所熟的那一套：「演說苦、空、無常、無我，讚歎出家得離眾苦。」
古來注家在「讚歎出家」四字上停了一停，說得極其具體：種種俗緣、家業、王官、長征遠防，出了家就仰於四輩，萬事不憂，逈然自在，去住無障，因此得以修道——所以說是離眾苦。
最下的那一位
中品下生一段，是三輩九品裡最特別的一段。
「若有善男子、善女人，孝養父母，行世仁義」。
沒有戒，沒有經，沒有觀，也沒有求往生的念頭。這個人一生所做的，只是好好待父母，行世間的仁義。
古來的讀法在此說得很清楚：這一品的人不曾見聞佛法，也不懂得希求出離，只是自行孝養而已。
那他怎麼去的？
「此人命欲終時，遇善知識為其廣說阿彌陀佛國土樂事，亦說法藏比丘四十八大願。」
臨終那一刻，才第一次聽見這件事。
「聞此事已，尋即命終。譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。」
聽完就走了。而從此界到彼國，經給的長度是一位壯士屈伸手臂那麼久。
一生沒有聽過的法，在最後一刻聽見了一次；而經說，這一次就夠。
到了之後還要走的路
經並沒有把中輩的果說得很高。
中品上生「應時即得阿羅漢道，三明、六通、具八解脫」；中品中生「聞法歡喜，得須陀洹，經半劫已成阿羅漢」；中品下生要「過一小劫，成阿羅漢」。
三位所得的都是小果，而快慢是三等：一個是應時就得，一個要半劫，一個要一小劫。
生後的遲疾也是三等。中品上生「蓮花尋開」——隨即就開；中品中生要「經於七日蓮花乃敷」；中品下生則是生到那裡「經七日」才遇見二位大士。前二等說的是華開的遲疾，第三等經只說了遇見二位大士的時節，沒有說華開。古來注家把中上華開之速歸在一處：這是由戒行精強的緣故。
經文在中品中生那一段還用了四個很好的字：「戒香薰修」。戒不是一條一條記在紙上的規矩，是一種薰出來的氣味——薰久了，人整個是那個味道，臨終所感的也是那個味道。
往生不是終點。它把一個人放到一個能繼續走下去的地方，而不是一步到底。
我們讀三輩九品，容易把注意力放在『去不去得成』上；而經在每一品的末尾都還接著寫了一段生後之事——見佛、聞法、得果、發心。去到只是那一段的開頭。
兩個很小的動作
這一段裡有兩個譬，都取自身體最小的動作。
一個在中品上生：那人自見己身坐蓮花臺，長跪合掌為佛作禮，而「未舉頭頃即得往生極樂世界」。頭還沒抬起來就到了。古來注家把這一句說得很妙：低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國。
另一個在中品下生：「譬如壯士屈伸臂頃」。
經自己說的是「阿彌陀佛去此不遠」；一部經費了那麼多文字寫六十萬億那由他恒河沙由旬的佛身，而寫從這裡到那裡所需的時間，用的卻是低一次頭、伸一次手臂。
承衍——兩副眼看同一批中輩人
上來是這一段經文自身的義。此下另以隋唐兩副眼旁照——鏡非經，只是同一批持戒與孝養之人，換兩種讀法來看。
善導一路是《觀經四帖疏》的讀法。他於中輩仍用上輩所立的十一門為通式，一位一位對過去。三位之定位他寫得極整齊：中上是「小乘根性上善凡夫人」，中中是「小乘下善凡夫人」，中下是「世善上福凡夫人」。他釋來迎之眾曰「二明彌陀與比丘眾來，無有菩薩，由是小乘根性還感小根之眾也」；釋華開之速曰「一明寶華尋發，此由戒行精強故也」；釋「未舉頭頃」曰「六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也」。中品下生之人，他斷得很直白：「四正明此品之人不曾見聞佛法，亦不解悕求，但自行孝養也。」本輩既竟，他以八句之讚收之，其首句是「中輩中行中根人，一日齋戒處金蓮」。
智顗一路是《觀無量壽佛經疏》的讀法。他於本輩最用力處不在行門，在會通：《往生論》說二乘不得生，而此經中輩明明是小乘得生，二者如何並立？他的答是——「正處小行不生，要由垂終發大乘種，爾乃得生。經說現今，論舉本始。」經所說的是現今這一刻，論所舉的是本來的根性。他又問：中品應時即得羅漢，何以不及九品之上？答曰這是退菩提的聲聞往生彼國，無漏道熟便證小果，而不守小位，還起大心，進行彌速，或五劫或十劫得成初地。至於名相，他逐一出目：五戒是不殺、盜、婬、妄語、飲酒；四諦是苦、集、滅、道；須陀洹翻作修習無漏，或逆流。
一路把中輩讀成戒行與所感之眾的相稱，一路把中輩讀成經論之間的一道會通。
而經自己只說了一句：譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。
The three positions of the highest grade spoke of persons who give rise to three kinds of mind, who read and recite the Great Vehicle, who cultivate the six recollections. At the middle grade the persons the sūtra speaks of change to another company: what they rely on is not mind but the precepts. And the last of the three positions of the middle grade has not even the precepts — in a whole lifetime he did one thing only: he was filial and cared for his father and mother, and practised the humaneness and rightness of the world.
Shandao’s Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra in Four Fascicles fixes the three positions of the middle grade severally as “the ordinary person of the highest good whose faculties are of the Lesser Vehicle,” “the ordinary person of the lower good of the Lesser Vehicle,” and “the ordinary person of the higher merit of worldly good,” one below another. Zhiyi’s Commentary on the Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life instead assigns the middle grade to the position of the seed of the nature, and, on the matter of the middle grade’s attaining arhatship, works out a reconciliation with the account in the Treatise on Birth in That Land that those of the two vehicles do not attain birth there. The two houses judge differently, and each keeps its reasons in its own book. What is set out below is the sūtra.
What This Grade Relies On Is the Precepts
The cause of the highest birth of the middle grade the sūtra sets out very concretely:
“If there are sentient beings who receive and hold the five precepts, who keep the eight-precept fast, who cultivate the various precepts, who commit none of the five heinous acts and are without faults and evils.”
Not one line about forming images, not one line about reciting scriptures. It is all precepts.
And immediately after the precepts comes one sentence: “With roots of good such as these they dedicate and direct them, vowing to seek birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.”
Keeping the precepts is the cause; dedicating and directing is the gate. The readings handed down bind what the middle grade cultivates to the second of the three kinds of merit — the good of the precepts: there is receiving in full and receiving in part, there is keeping in full and keeping in part, and yet “if only they can dedicate and direct, all attain birth in that land.”
The precepts by themselves will not carry a person to that land; turned in a direction, they will.
This point runs through the three grades alike. What the highest grade cultivates is mind and the practice of the Great Vehicle; what the middle grade cultivates is the precepts; the lowest grade has nothing at all — and in the text of all three grades there is one and the same act: dedicating and directing. What is cultivated may differ very widely; that act of turning round is one and the same.
One Day and One Night Counts Too
The condition for the middle birth of the middle grade is startlingly short:
“If for one day and one night they keep the eight-precept fast, or for one day and one night keep the śrāmaṇera precepts, or for one day and one night keep the full precepts, with no defect in deportment.”
Three ifs side by side; take any one of them. And before each of them stands only one unit of time: one day and one night.
Not a lifetime of keeping the precepts, not decades without transgression. One day and one night.
The commentators of old add a measure here: as to the time of cultivating the precepts, it may be a whole lifetime, or a year, a month, a day and a night, an hour; the time was never fixed, and the general intent in every case takes the end of life as its term — only, they must not be broken. And within that one day and one night one must be “pure and without transgression, so that even a light offence is treated as though one had committed the gravest fault.”
The time may be as short as one day and one night, and within that one day and one night the standard is not lowered.
If you set this sentence beside the highest grade’s “one day or up to seven days,” you will see this sūtra’s constant attitude toward time: it never asks for length; it asks only that that stretch be real.
The Company That Comes to Welcome Is Not the Same
In reading the three grades and nine grades there is one thing very easily read past: the ones who come to welcome are not the same in every grade.
For the highest grade there came Amitābha Buddha with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and countless manifested buddhas and a hundred thousand bhikṣus besides. At the highest birth of the middle grade the sūtra writes:
“Amitābha Buddha, with many bhikṣus and with his retinue surrounding him, sends forth a golden light and comes to that person’s place.”
An assembly of bhikṣus only; no bodhisattvas are mentioned.
The readings of old point it out at once: this is because faculties of the Lesser Vehicle in turn call forth an assembly of lesser faculties.
That the assembly called forth differs according to the practice cultivated — this is not a ranking of high and low but the statement of something very plain: what a person has kept close to all his life is what appears before him at the end of it.
If you read the scenes of welcome in the three passages of the highest, middle, and lowest grade side by side, you will see how finely the sūtra writes this. Under each grade there are three positions, and the scene of welcome differs from position to position; taking only the topmost position of each grade as the example: for the highest birth of the highest grade it is the Buddha with the two great beings, countless manifested buddhas, and on to a hundred thousand bhikṣus, śrāvakas, and gods; for the highest birth of the middle grade it is the Buddha with many bhikṣus and his retinue surrounding him; for the highest birth of the lowest grade it is a manifested buddha with a manifested Avalokiteśvara and a manifested Mahāsthāmaprāpta. One and the same Buddha; three manners of appearing.
And the Dharma the Buddha expounds for him is precisely the set of things he is at home in: “he expounds for him suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and no-self, and praises the going forth from home as the leaving behind of all sufferings.”
The commentators of old pause over the words “praises the going forth from home,” and are extremely concrete about it: the manifold worldly ties, the family estate, service to king and office, long campaigns and distant garrison duty — once he has gone forth he looks to the fourfold assembly, has no anxiety in ten thousand affairs, is wholly at ease, and meets no obstruction in going or staying, and so is able to cultivate the path — and therefore it is said to be the leaving behind of all sufferings.
The Lowest of Them
The passage on the lowest birth of the middle grade is the most singular in the three grades and nine grades.
“If there are good men or good women who are filial and care for father and mother, and who practise the humaneness and rightness of the world.”
No precepts, no scriptures, no contemplation, and not even the thought of seeking birth in that land. All this person did in a lifetime was to treat his parents well and to practise the humaneness and rightness of the world.
The readings of old are very clear here: the person of this grade has never seen or heard the Buddha-Dharma, does not understand how to hope for release, and only practises filial care of himself.
Then how does he go?
“When this person is about to end his life, he meets a good friend who expounds for him at length the joyful things of the land of Amitābha Buddha, and also expounds the forty-eight great vows of the bhikṣu Dharmākara.”
At that one moment at the end of life he hears of the matter for the first time.
“Having heard of this, he straightway ends his life. As in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.”
He hears it through and is gone. And for the distance from this world to that land the sūtra gives the length of a strong man bending and stretching his arm.
A Dharma unheard in a whole lifetime is heard once at the last moment; and the sūtra says that this once is enough.
The Road Still to Be Walked after Arrival
The sūtra does not set the fruit of the middle grade very high.
The highest birth of the middle grade “at that very time attains the way of the arhat, the three knowledges, the six supernormal powers, and completeness in the eight liberations”; the middle birth of the middle grade, “hearing the Dharma he rejoices, and becomes a stream-enterer; and after half a kalpa has passed he becomes an arhat”; the lowest birth of the middle grade must wait until “after one small kalpa has passed, he becomes an arhat.”
What all three positions obtain is the lesser fruit, and the speed is of three ranks: one attains it at that very time, one must wait half a kalpa, one must wait a small kalpa.
The speed after birth there is likewise of three ranks. For the highest birth of the middle grade “the lotus flower opens straightway” — it opens at once; the middle birth of the middle grade must wait until “after seven days have passed the lotus flower unfolds”; for the lowest birth of the middle grade the sūtra says only that, born there, he waits “seven days” before meeting the two great beings. The first two ranks speak of the speed with which the flower opens; for the third the sūtra gives only the time of meeting the two great beings and says nothing of the flower opening. The commentators of old refer the speed of the flower’s opening for the highest of the middle to one place: it is because the practice of the precepts was pure and strong.
In the passage on the middle birth of the middle grade the sūtra also uses four very fine words: “the fragrance of the precepts perfumes and cultivates.” The precepts are not a set of rules noted down one by one on paper; they are a scent perfumed into a person — perfume him long enough and the whole man is that scent, and what he calls forth at the end of life is that scent too.
Birth in that land is not the end of the road. It sets a person down in a place where he can go on walking, rather than carrying him the whole way in one step.
In reading the three grades and nine grades we easily put all our attention on whether the going succeeds; and yet at the end of every grade the sūtra goes on to write a stretch about what happens after birth there — seeing the Buddha, hearing the Dharma, obtaining the fruit, arousing the mind. The arriving is only the beginning of that stretch.
Two Very Small Movements
There are two similes in this passage, and both are taken from the smallest movements of the body.
One is in the highest birth of the middle grade: the man sees his own body seated upon a lotus-flower terrace, kneeling upright with palms joined and doing homage to the Buddha, and “in the very instant before he has raised his head, he attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss.” Before his head has come up he has arrived. The commentators of old put it beautifully: he lowers his head here, and raising his head is already in that land.
The other is in the lowest birth of the middle grade: “as in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm.”
The sūtra says of itself, “Amitābha Buddha is not far from here”; and a sūtra that spends so many words on a buddha-body of six hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of yojanas, as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā, uses for the time needed to go from here to there a single lowering of the head and a single stretching of the arm.
Carrying Forward — Two Eyes on the Same Company of the Middle Grade
The above is the meaning of this passage of the sūtra itself. Below, two eyes, one of the Sui and one of the Tang, cast their light from the side — the mirror is not the sūtra; only the same company of persons keeping precepts and caring for parents, seen through two ways of reading.
The Shandao line is the reading of the Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra in Four Fascicles. For the middle grade he still uses the eleven articles set up for the highest grade as his common form, matching one position after another against them. The fixing of the three positions he writes with perfect evenness: the highest of the middle is “the ordinary person of the highest good whose faculties are of the Lesser Vehicle,” the middle of the middle “the ordinary person of the lower good of the Lesser Vehicle,” the lowest of the middle “the ordinary person of the higher merit of worldly good.” Of the assembly that comes to welcome he says, “the second clarifies that Amitābha comes with an assembly of bhikṣus and there are no bodhisattvas, because faculties of the Lesser Vehicle in turn call forth an assembly of lesser faculties”; of the speed of the flower’s opening, “the first clarifies that the jeweled flower opens straightway, and this is because the practice of the precepts was pure and strong”; of “in the very instant before he has raised his head,” “the sixth clarifies that the practitioner lowers his head here and, raising his head, is already in that land.” Of the person of the lowest birth of the middle grade he judges very bluntly: “The fourth directly clarifies that the person of this grade has never seen or heard the Buddha-Dharma, and does not understand how to hope for or seek it; he only practises filial care of himself.” This grade once finished, he gathers it up in a praise of eight lines, whose first line is: “Persons of the middle grade, middle practice, middle faculties, / by a single day of fasting and precepts are set upon the golden lotus.”
The Zhiyi line is the reading of the Commentary on the Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life. Where he puts out most strength within this grade is not on the gate of practice but on reconciliation: the Treatise on Birth in That Land says that those of the two vehicles do not attain birth there, while in this sūtra the middle grade is plainly of the Lesser Vehicle and does attain birth there — how can the two stand together? His answer is: “One squarely settled in the lesser practice is not born there; it is only because at the point of death the seed of the Great Vehicle is aroused that birth there is attained. The sūtra speaks of the present moment; the treatise raises the original beginning.” What the sūtra speaks of is this present moment; what the treatise raises is the original faculty. He asks further: if the middle grade attains arhatship at that very time, why is it not inferior to the upper of the nine grades? And answers that these are śrāvakas fallen back from awakening who are born in that land; their outflow-free path ripening they realize the lesser fruit, yet they do not hold to the lesser position but go back and forth and arouse the great mind, and their advance is all the swifter, so that in five kalpas or in ten they attain the first ground. As for the terms, he puts out the items one by one: the five precepts are not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in sexual conduct, not to speak falsely, not to drink liquor; the four truths are suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path; the stream-enterer is rendered as cultivating the outflow-free, or as going against the stream.
One line reads the middle grade as the answering of the assembly called forth to the practice of the precepts; the other reads the middle grade as a reconciliation between sūtra and treatise.
And the sūtra itself has said only this: as in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本單元為十六觀之第十五觀，散善三輩之次。三位所繫者：中品上生受持五戒八戒諸戒而不造五逆，中品中生一日一夜持八戒齋、沙彌戒或具足戒，中品下生不曾聞法而唯行孝養仁義、臨終方遇善知識。三位所得皆是小果——阿羅漢或須陀洹而後成阿羅漢。全段五百八十三字。中輩三品之機為小乘或世善之凡夫，抑或別當一位，二鏡所判不同；羅漢、三明二名之釋亦二鏡互異，並錄不判，見目五。
一、科判定位
善導《四帖疏》於中輩亦先立十一門為通式：
「十五、就中輩觀行善文前總料簡，即為十一門。」〔T37n1753 0275a16〕 「上來雖有十一門不同，廣料簡中輩三品竟。」〔T37n1753 0275a24〕
三位之開段與定位：
| 位 | 疏標段數（逐字） | 錨 | 疏之定位（逐字） | 錨 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 中品上生 | 「次就中品上生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其八。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275a26〕 | 「二從中品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是小乘根性上善凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275a27〕 |
| 中品中生 | 「次就中品中生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275c04〕 | 「一、從中品中生者，總舉行名辨定其位，即是小乘下善凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275c05〕 |
| 中品下生 | 「次就中品下生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275c29〕 | 「一、從中品下生已下，正明總舉行名，辨定其位，即是世善上福凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276a01〕 |
本輩既竟，疏以八句之讚收之：
「中輩中行中根人，一日齋戒處金蓮，孝養父母教迴向，為說西方快樂因。佛與聲聞眾來取，直到彌陀華座邊，百寶華籠經七日，三品蓮開證小真。」〔T37n1753 0276a20〕 「上來雖有三位不同，總解中輩一門之義竟。」〔T37n1753 0276a23〕
witness 分欄·智顗疏之科（誌錄不判）：
「第十五中品生觀。」〔T37n1750 0194a02〕
智顗於三位亦作標、釋、結三分，釋中復開為四——中上見〔T37n1750 0194a02〕，中中見〔T37n1750 0194a28〕，中下見〔T37n1750 0194b06〕。
二、異譯對勘
本經漢地無第二譯本——今檢大正藏第十二冊 T12n0360 至 T12n0396 諸經題名，題《觀無量壽佛經》者止此一本，無異譯可勘。誠實記之。
智顗於本輩兩度以《無量壽經》相勘，本帙錄其語而不代為對勘：
「大本，上品明其出家，中品不明出家。此中所明是則中品，若其不出家，經云一日一夜持沙彌戒，故知有也。」〔T37n1750 0194a24〕 「而大本不明據長時始終為語，今言出家者就短時而論。」〔T37n1750 0194a27〕
誌錄不判——二經之對舉屬疏家之事，本帙不以彼本改此本。
三、經論宗依（眼）
九品之位在散善：
「從日觀下至十三觀已來名為定善。三福九品名為散善。」〔T37n1753 0247b23〕
中輩所修，善導繫於三福之第二福（戒善）：
「四明雖持小戒等不得有犯，設有餘愆，恒須改悔必令清淨，此即合上第二戒善之福也。」〔T37n1753 0275b04〕 「此三品戒皆同一日一夜，清淨無犯，乃至輕罪，如犯極重之過，三業威儀不令有失也。此即合上第二福。應知。」〔T37n1753 0275c10〕
而中品下生所繫者是第一福（世俗善）：
「二明孝養父母奉順六親，即合上初福第一第二句。」〔T37n1753 0276a05〕
智顗於本輩所引之論——以《往生論》二乘不生之說與本經中輩得生相質，並自為之釋：
「釋會經論者，問：依《往生論》二乘不得生，此經中輩小乘得生。」〔T37n1750 0193b12〕 「答：正處小行不生，要由垂終發大乘種，爾乃得生。經說現今，論舉本始。」〔T37n1750 0193b13〕 「釋會者，論明小乘不生者，決定不生。此中明生，退菩提心得生，至彼處無漏道熟，即證第四果。」〔T37n1750 0194a17〕
本段經文自身不引他經他論——所引皆在疏。誠實記之。
四、本段釋要（四帖疏逐文）
小戒不消五逆——疏於中品上生之簡機處立一界：
「三明小戒力微不消五逆之罪。」〔T37n1753 0275b03〕
持戒之時節不定，而大意畢命為期——
「然修戒時，或是終身，或一年一月一日一夜一時等，此時亦不定，大意皆畢命為期，不得毀犯也。」〔T37n1753 0275b06〕
來迎之眾隨機而異——中輩所感者無菩薩：
「二明彌陀與比丘眾來，無有菩薩，由是小乘根性還感小根之眾也。」〔T37n1753 0275b12〕
何以讚出家離眾苦——疏於此出一段極具體之語：
「四明佛為說法，又讚出家離多眾苦，種種俗緣家業王官、長征遠防等，汝今出家，仰於四輩，萬事不憂，逈然自在，去住無障，為此得修道業，是故讚云離眾苦也。」〔T37n1753 0275b14〕
「未舉頭頃」之速——
「六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也。」〔T37n1753 0275b20〕
華開之速繫於戒行——
「一明寶華尋發，此由戒行精強故也。」〔T37n1753 0275b24〕
中品下生之人不曾聞法——
「三明此人性調柔善不簡自他，見物遭苦起於慈敬。」〔T37n1753 0276a06〕 「四正明此品之人不曾見聞佛法，亦不解悕求，但自行孝養也。」〔T37n1753 0276a07〕
五、諸家異釋（分欄並錄·誌錄不判）
| 事 | 善導《四帖疏》（唐） | 錨 | 智顗疏（隋·天台） | 錨 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 中輩三品之機（三位之定位逐字見目一） | 「二從中品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是小乘根性上善凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275a27〕 | 「中品者，從外凡十信已下。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193b29〕 |
| 中輩之位次 | 疏於本輩不作位次之配 | — | 「上品位當道種，中品位當性種，下品位當習種。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193c03〕 |
| 「三明」之目 | 「言三明者，宿命明，天眼明，漏盡明也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 「「三明」者，過、現、未來明也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a10〕 |
| 「羅漢」之釋 | 「言羅漢者此云無生，亦云無著，因亡故無生，果喪故無著。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b26〕 | 「「羅漢」者，應供、不生、殺賊也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a09〕 |
| 「八解脫」之目 | 「言八解脫者。內有色外觀色，一解脫。內無色外觀色，二解脫。不淨相，三解脫。四空及滅盡，總成八也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 「「八解脫」者，一內有色相外觀色、二者內無色相外觀色、三者淨、四空處、五識處、六無所有處、七非非想處、八滅盡解脫也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a12〕 |
| 小乘得生與《往生論》之違 | 疏於本輩不設此問 | — | 「正處小行不生，要由垂終發大乘種，爾乃得生。經說現今，論舉本始。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193b13〕 |
| 中品證羅漢何以不及九品 | 疏不設此問 | — | 「是退菩提聲聞往生彼國，無漏道熟，便證小果，不守小位，而往還起大心，進行彌速，或五劫或十劫得成初地。如是階級，猶是其勝。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a21〕 |
第三、第四事之異——「三明」善導列宿命、天眼、漏盡，智顗列過、現、未來；「羅漢」善導釋無生、無著二義，智顗釋應供、不生、殺賊三義。二家所列不同，並錄不判；本帙白話括注依主鏡作宿命明、天眼明、漏盡明，前說錄而不廢（同本帙五苦括注之例）。
六、術語（首見名相·釋義皆自二鏡）
| 名相 | 疏釋逐字 | 錨 | 鏡 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 五戒 | 「「五戒」者，不殺、盜、婬、妄語、飲酒也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a06〕 | 智顗 |
| 八戒 | 「「八戒」者，加不上高床、不著華鬘瓔珞香塗身熏衣、不得歌舞作樂及往觀聽也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a07〕 | 智顗 |
| 具足戒 | 「「具足戒」者，二百五十戒、五百戒等。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194b04〕 | 智顗 |
| 四諦 | 「「四諦」者，苦、集、滅、道也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a09〕 | 智顗 |
| 阿羅漢 | 「言羅漢者此云無生，亦云無著，因亡故無生，果喪故無著。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b26〕 | 善導 |
| 三明 | 「言三明者，宿命明，天眼明，漏盡明也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 善導 |
| 六通 | 「「六神通」者，天眼、天耳、他心、宿命、漏盡、身得如意，此六悉皆無壅故為通。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194a10〕 | 智顗 |
| 八解脫 | 「言八解脫者。內有色外觀色，一解脫。內無色外觀色，二解脫。不淨相，三解脫。四空及滅盡，總成八也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 善導 |
| 須陀洹 | 「「須陀洹」者，翻修習無漏，或逆流也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194b05〕 | 智顗 |
本帙白話所用之括注，其所從逐條記此：四諦、須陀洹二條主鏡牒其名而不出其釋（善導於本輩曰「二明法音同讚四諦之德」〔T37n1753 0275b25〕，於玄義分曰「由到彼得須陀洹故」〔T37n1753 0248a02〕，皆牒名而已），其釋從智顗〔T37n1750 0194a09〕〔T37n1750 0194b05〕；阿羅漢、三明二條從主鏡善導〔T37n1753 0275b26〕〔T37n1753 0275b28〕。主鏡無說而取 witness 之說者，於此明記所從。
一事誠實記之：智顗於本輩釋一「十戒」之目——「「十戒」者，即前八戒，更足不捉金銀生像及不過中食，為十戒也。」〔T37n1750 0194b03〕——今檢本經全篇，「十戒」二字零命中；經文本段作「沙彌戒」。疏家蓋以十戒釋沙彌戒，而其標目所牒非經文之字。誌錄不判，不代為補經。
本段經文之梵語音寫有「阿羅漢」「須陀洹」二語，二疏於本段唯出漢釋（無生·無著／修習無漏·逆流）而未出梵形，本帙不代擬。
七、譬喻·修辭
經文自用之譬：
| 譬 | 經文逐字 | 錨 | 所顯 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 未舉頭頃 | 「未舉頭頃即得往生極樂世界」 | 〔T12n0365 0345b15〕 | 中上去時之速 |
| 壯士屈伸臂 | 「譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。」 | 〔T12n0365 0345c04〕 | 中下去時之速 |
鏡疏自立之語可記者二：
| 語 | 疏文逐字 | 錨 | 所顯 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 低頭舉頭 | 「六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275b20〕 | 就經文「未舉頭頃」而狀其速 |
| 戒香薰修 | 「四、從戒香熏修下，至七寶池中已來，正明第九門中行者終時聖來迎接去時遲疾。」 | 〔T37n1753 0275c14〕 | 疏以經語標段（「薰」疏作「熏」） |
修辭上可記者三：①中輩三品之因，一品比一品少：中上是受持五戒八戒諸戒而不造五逆，中中只是一日一夜之戒，中下連戒也沒有，唯有孝養父母、行世仁義。②所得之果亦一品比一品遲：中上「應時即得阿羅漢道」，中中「經半劫已成阿羅漢」，中下「過一小劫，成阿羅漢」。③二譬皆取身體之微動——舉頭、屈伸臂——以狀彼此兩土之間的距離。
八、徵引承衍
- 本帙以外諸帙徵引本單元經文者，零命中（「中品上生」「中輩生想」「戒香薰修」諸語，本帙以外之帙無一命中）。誠實記之。
- 本軸內部之對讀點：《無量壽經》帙之中輩（該帙 06 單元）與本經中輩，古德每相對舉；智顗於本段自云「大本，上品明其出家，中品不明出家」〔T37n1750 0194a24〕，即此類之語。二經之對舉屬彼帙之域，本帙不代為裁。
- 本輩之十一門承上輩而立——善導於上輩既立十一門為通式〔T37n1753 0270c09〕，中輩、下輩逕用之，故本段之料簡與上輩逐條相對。
九、校本定位
大正藏校記於本單元域內共十二條，另有一條承前條之＊例：
| 錨 | 底本 | 異讀 | 見證 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0345b08 | 「佛告」 | 復次 | 敦 |
| 0345b10 | 「惡」 | 患 | 宋·元·明·流布本 |
| 0345b11 | 「行者」 | 無此二字 | 宋·元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0345b19 | 「持」 | 受持 | 敦·流布本 |
| 0345b24 | 「聞」 | 見 | 敦 |
| 0345b27 | 「乃」 | 開 | 敦 |
| 0345c02 | 「義」 | 慈 | 宋·元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0345c04 | 「大」 | 無此字 | 元·明·流布本 |
| 0345c05 | 「生」 | 無此字 | 宋·元·明 |
| 0345c06 | 「遇」 | 已遇 | 宋·元·明 |
| 0345c06 | 「得須陀洹」 | 無此四字 | 敦·流布本 |
| 0345c07 | 「過」 | 經 | 流布本 |
| 0345c08（承前之＊） | 「作是觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀」十六字 | 無此十六字 | 宋·元·明·敦 |
第七條之異讀與主鏡所據相合——底本「行世仁義」，宋、元、明、敦、流布本皆作「行世仁慈」。善導所牒正作「慈」：其標中品下生第二段之起訖曰「二、從若有善男子下，至行世仁慈已來」〔T37n1753 0276a02〕。此為疏所據與底本異、而與諸本合之又一例（前例見第十二觀「想作心，自見」一條〔T12n0365 0344b15〕）。並錄不判，不以疏之所牒改底本。
第十一條可記者——底本中品下生作「遇觀世音及大勢至，聞法歡喜得須陀洹」，敦本與流布本無「得須陀洹」四字。善導所牒涵此一段之義，而其文不出此四字：其標第六段曰「六、從遇觀世音下，至成羅漢已來」〔T37n1753 0276a14〕，並釋為三事：「一明逕時已後得遇觀音、大勢。二明既逢二聖得聞妙法。三明逕一小劫已後始悟羅漢也。」〔T37n1753 0276a16〕——所釋唯遇二聖、聞妙法、逕一小劫始悟羅漢三事，科文與釋文皆無「得須陀洹」四字，是可證疏涵此段之義，不足據以斷其所據之本有無此四字。誌錄不判。
第一條之「復次」——敦本於中輩、下輩三處皆以「復次」代「佛告」（本單元一處，下一單元二處）。誠實記其分布。
gaiji：本單元零命中。
夾註（place="inline"）：本單元零命中。
全形空格（U+3000）：本單元零命中。
CBETA 新增校注：本單元零命中。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This unit is the fifteenth of the sixteen contemplations and the second of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind. What the three positions are bound to is this: the highest birth of the middle grade receives and holds the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the various precepts, and commits none of the five heinous acts; the middle birth of the middle grade keeps for one day and one night the eight-precept fast, or the śrāmaṇera precepts, or the full precepts; the lowest birth of the middle grade has never heard the Dharma and has only practised filial care and the humaneness and rightness of the world, meeting a good friend at the end of life. What all three positions obtain is the lesser fruit — arhatship, or stream-entry followed by arhatship. The whole passage runs to five hundred and eighty-three characters. Whether the capacity of the three grades of the middle is that of ordinary persons of the Lesser Vehicle or of worldly good, or answers rather to a position of its own, is judged differently by the two mirrors; and the glosses on the two names arhat and the three knowledges also differ between the two mirrors. Both are recorded without adjudication; see the fifth topic.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
For the middle grade too Shandao’s Commentary in Four Fascicles first sets up eleven articles as a common form:
「十五、就中輩觀行善文前總料簡，即為十一門。」—“Fifteenth: a general sifting made before the text on the contemplation and practice of the good of the middle grade; it comes to eleven articles” 〔T37n1753 0275a16〕. 「上來雖有十一門不同，廣料簡中輩三品竟。」—“Although the eleven articles above differ among themselves, the extensive sifting of the three grades of the middle is herewith finished” 〔T37n1753 0275a24〕.
The opening of the segments and the fixing of the position for each of the three:
| Position | The commentary’s marking of the segments (verbatim) | Anchor | The commentary’s fixing of the position (verbatim) | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The highest birth of the middle grade | 「次就中品上生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其八。」—“Next, taking the position of the highest birth of the middle grade, here too there is first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are eight in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0275a26〕 | 「二從中品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是小乘根性上善凡夫人也。」—“Second, from ‘the highest birth of the middle grade,’ the fixing of the position is directly clarified: this is the ordinary person of the highest good whose faculties are of the Lesser Vehicle.” | 〔T37n1753 0275a27〕 |
| The middle birth of the middle grade | 「次就中品中生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」—“Next, taking the position of the middle birth of the middle grade, here too there is first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are seven in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0275c04〕 | 「一、從中品中生者，總舉行名辨定其位，即是小乘下善凡夫人也。」—“First, from ‘the middle birth of the middle grade,’ the name of the practice is raised as a whole and the position fixed: this is the ordinary person of the lower good of the Lesser Vehicle.” | 〔T37n1753 0275c05〕 |
| The lowest birth of the middle grade | 「次就中品下生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」—“Next, taking the position of the lowest birth of the middle grade, here too there is first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are seven in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0275c29〕 | 「一、從中品下生已下，正明總舉行名，辨定其位，即是世善上福凡夫人也。」—“First, from ‘the lowest birth of the middle grade’ onward directly clarifies the raising of the name of the practice as a whole and the fixing of the position: this is the ordinary person of the higher merit of worldly good.” | 〔T37n1753 0276a01〕 |
This grade once finished, the commentary gathers it up in a praise of eight lines:
「中輩中行中根人，一日齋戒處金蓮，孝養父母教迴向，為說西方快樂因。佛與聲聞眾來取，直到彌陀華座邊，百寶華籠經七日，三品蓮開證小真。」—“Persons of the middle grade, middle practice, middle faculties, / by a single day of fasting and precepts are set upon the golden lotus; / filial and caring for father and mother, they are taught to dedicate and direct, / and the causes of the joys of the West are expounded for them. / The Buddha and the assembly of śrāvakas come to take them, / straight to the side of Amitābha’s Flower Throne; / in a bower of a hundred jeweled flowers seven days pass, / the lotuses of the three grades open, and the lesser truth is realized” 〔T37n1753 0276a20〕. 「上來雖有三位不同，總解中輩一門之義竟。」—“Although the three positions above differ among themselves, the general explanation of the meaning of the single gate of the middle grade is herewith finished” 〔T37n1753 0276a23〕.
The witness column · Zhiyi’s outline (recorded without adjudication):
「第十五中品生觀。」—“The fifteenth, the contemplation of birth in the middle grade” 〔T37n1750 0194a02〕.
For the three positions Zhiyi likewise makes the threefold division of marking, explanation, and conclusion, and within the explanation opens four further items: for the highest of the middle see 〔T37n1750 0194a02〕, for the middle of the middle 〔T37n1750 0194a28〕, for the lowest of the middle 〔T37n1750 0194b06〕.
II. Collation with the Alternate Translations — recorded without adjudication
There is no second Chinese translation of this sūtra. The titles of the sūtras in the twelfth volume of the Taishō canon, T12n0360 through T12n0396, have now been searched: of works entitled The Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life this is the only one, and there is no alternate translation against which to collate. Recorded honestly.
Twice within this grade Zhiyi collates against The Sūtra of Measureless Life; this edition records his words and does not collate in his stead:
「大本，上品明其出家，中品不明出家。此中所明是則中品，若其不出家，經云一日一夜持沙彌戒，故知有也。」—“In the larger sūtra, the highest grade makes clear their going forth from home, while the middle grade does not make going forth clear. What is clarified here is the middle grade; and if they did not go forth from home, the sūtra says ‘for one day and one night keep the śrāmaṇera precepts’ — hence we know that there is such going forth” 〔T37n1750 0194a24〕. 「而大本不明據長時始終為語，今言出家者就短時而論。」—“Yet the larger sūtra, not making it clear, speaks with reference to the whole of a long term from beginning to end, whereas the going forth spoken of here is discussed with reference to a short term” 〔T37n1750 0194a27〕.
Recorded without adjudication — the setting of the two sūtras over against each other is the commentator’s affair, and this edition does not use that text to alter this one.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)
The position of the nine grades lies in the good done in a scattered mind:
「從日觀下至十三觀已來名為定善。三福九品名為散善。」—“From the contemplation of the sun down to the thirteenth contemplation is called the good done in concentration. The three kinds of merit and the nine grades are called the good done in a scattered mind” 〔T37n1753 0247b23〕.
What the middle grade cultivates Shandao binds to the second of the three kinds of merit, the good of the precepts:
「四明雖持小戒等不得有犯，設有餘愆，恒須改悔必令清淨，此即合上第二戒善之福也。」—“The fourth clarifies that although one keeps the lesser precepts and the rest, there must be no transgression; and should there be any remaining fault, one must always amend and repent of it and make oneself pure. This matches the merit of the good of the precepts, the second above” 〔T37n1753 0275b04〕. 「此三品戒皆同一日一夜，清淨無犯，乃至輕罪，如犯極重之過，三業威儀不令有失也。此即合上第二福。應知。」—“These three ranks of precepts are alike for one day and one night: pure and without transgression, so that even a light offence is treated as though one had committed the gravest fault, and the deportment of the three kinds of karma is not allowed to fail. This matches the second merit above. This should be known” 〔T37n1753 0275c10〕.
While what the lowest birth of the middle grade is bound to is the first merit, worldly good:
「二明孝養父母奉順六親，即合上初福第一第二句。」—“The second clarifies being filial and caring for father and mother and serving and according with the six kinds of kin; this matches the first and second lines of the first merit above” 〔T37n1753 0276a05〕.
The treatise Zhiyi cites within this grade — he sets the account of the Treatise on Birth in That Land, that those of the two vehicles are not born there, against this sūtra’s attaining of birth by the middle grade, and glosses it for himself:
「釋會經論者，問：依《往生論》二乘不得生，此經中輩小乘得生。」—“Reconciling sūtra and treatise. Question: according to the Treatise on Birth in That Land, those of the two vehicles do not attain birth there, while in this sūtra the middle grade, of the Lesser Vehicle, does attain birth there” 〔T37n1750 0193b12〕. 「答：正處小行不生，要由垂終發大乘種，爾乃得生。經說現今，論舉本始。」—“Answer: one squarely settled in the lesser practice is not born there; it is only because at the point of death the seed of the Great Vehicle is aroused that birth there is attained. The sūtra speaks of the present moment; the treatise raises the original beginning” 〔T37n1750 0193b13〕. 「釋會者，論明小乘不生者，決定不生。此中明生，退菩提心得生，至彼處無漏道熟，即證第四果。」—“As for the reconciling: what the treatise clarifies in saying that those of the Lesser Vehicle are not born there is that they decidedly are not born there. What is clarified here as birth is that one who has fallen back from the mind of awakening attains birth there, and on reaching that place his outflow-free path ripens and he realizes the fourth fruit” 〔T37n1750 0194a17〕.
This passage of the sūtra cites no other sūtra and no treatise of its own — what is cited is cited in the commentaries. Recorded honestly.
IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage (the Commentary in Four Fascicles, line by line)
The lesser precepts do not dissolve the five heinous acts — the commentary sets a boundary where the capacity of the highest birth of the middle grade is sifted:
「三明小戒力微不消五逆之罪。」—“The third clarifies that the power of the lesser precepts is slight and does not dissolve the offence of the five heinous acts” 〔T37n1753 0275b03〕.
The season and time of keeping the precepts is not fixed, while the general intent takes the end of life as its term —
「然修戒時，或是終身，或一年一月一日一夜一時等，此時亦不定，大意皆畢命為期，不得毀犯也。」—“Now, as to the time of cultivating the precepts, it may be a whole lifetime, or a year, a month, a day and a night, an hour, and the like; this time is likewise not fixed, and the general intent in every case is to take the end of life as the term, and not to break or transgress them” 〔T37n1753 0275b06〕.
The assembly that comes to welcome differs according to the capacity — what this grade calls forth has no bodhisattvas in it:
「二明彌陀與比丘眾來，無有菩薩，由是小乘根性還感小根之眾也。」—“The second clarifies that Amitābha comes with an assembly of bhikṣus and there are no bodhisattvas, because faculties of the Lesser Vehicle in turn call forth an assembly of lesser faculties” 〔T37n1753 0275b12〕.
Why the going forth from home is praised as the leaving behind of all sufferings — here the commentary puts out a passage of the utmost concreteness:
「四明佛為說法，又讚出家離多眾苦，種種俗緣家業王官、長征遠防等，汝今出家，仰於四輩，萬事不憂，逈然自在，去住無障，為此得修道業，是故讚云離眾苦也。」—“The fourth clarifies that the Buddha teaches the Dharma for him and further praises the going forth from home as leaving behind many and various sufferings: the manifold worldly ties, the family estate, service to king and office, long campaigns and distant garrison duty, and the rest. You have now gone forth from home; you look to the fourfold assembly, you have no anxiety in ten thousand affairs, you are wholly at ease, and there is no obstruction to your going or staying, and it is for this that you can cultivate the work of the path. Therefore the praise says, leaving behind all sufferings” 〔T37n1753 0275b14〕.
The speed of 「未舉頭頃」, ‘in the very instant before he has raised his head’ —
「六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也。」—“The sixth clarifies that the practitioner lowers his head here and, raising his head, is already in that land” 〔T37n1753 0275b20〕.
The speed of the flower’s opening is bound to the practice of the precepts —
「一明寶華尋發，此由戒行精強故也。」—“The first clarifies that the jeweled flower opens straightway, and this is because the practice of the precepts was pure and strong” 〔T37n1753 0275b24〕.
The person of the lowest birth of the middle grade has never heard the Dharma —
「三明此人性調柔善不簡自他，見物遭苦起於慈敬。」—“The third clarifies that this person’s nature is tempered, gentle, and good, that he does not sift self from other, and that seeing a creature meet with suffering he gives rise to kindness and respect” 〔T37n1753 0276a06〕. 「四正明此品之人不曾見聞佛法，亦不解悕求，但自行孝養也。」—“The fourth directly clarifies that the person of this grade has never seen or heard the Buddha-Dharma, and does not understand how to hope for or seek it; he only practises filial care of himself” 〔T37n1753 0276a07〕.
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators (in parallel columns — recorded without adjudication)
| Point | Shandao, Commentary in Four Fascicles (Tang) | Anchor | Zhiyi’s commentary (Sui, Tiantai) | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The capacity of the three grades of the middle (the fixing of the three positions verbatim is in the first topic) | 「二從中品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是小乘根性上善凡夫人也。」—“Second, from ‘the highest birth of the middle grade,’ the fixing of the position is directly clarified: this is the ordinary person of the highest good whose faculties are of the Lesser Vehicle.” | 〔T37n1753 0275a27〕 | 「中品者，從外凡十信已下。」—“Those of the middle grade are from the ten faiths of the outer ordinary and below.” | 〔T37n1750 0193b29〕 |
| The rank of the middle grade | The commentary assigns no rank within this grade | — | 「上品位當道種，中品位當性種，下品位當習種。」—“The position of the highest grade answers to the seed of the path, that of the middle grade to the seed of the nature, that of the lowest grade to the seed of practice.” | 〔T37n1750 0193c03〕 |
| The items of 「三明」, the three knowledges | 「言三明者，宿命明，天眼明，漏盡明也。」—“As for ‘the three knowledges,’ they are the knowledge of former lives, the knowledge of the divine eye, and the knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 「「三明」者，過、現、未來明也。」—“As for ‘the three knowledges,’ they are knowledge of the past, the present, and the future.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a10〕 |
| The gloss on 「羅漢」, the arhat | 「言羅漢者此云無生，亦云無著，因亡故無生，果喪故無著。」—“As for ‘arhat,’ it is here rendered non-arising, and is also rendered non-attachment: because the cause is gone there is non-arising, and because the fruit is ended there is non-attachment.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b26〕 | 「「羅漢」者，應供、不生、殺賊也。」—“As for ‘arhat’: worthy of offerings, not born again, slayer of the thieves.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a09〕 |
| The items of 「八解脫」, the eight liberations | 「言八解脫者。內有色外觀色，一解脫。內無色外觀色，二解脫。不淨相，三解脫。四空及滅盡，總成八也。」—“As for ‘the eight liberations’: having form within and contemplating form without is the first liberation; having no form within and contemplating form without is the second; the appearance of the impure is the third; and the four formless states together with cessation make eight in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | 「「八解脫」者，一內有色相外觀色、二者內無色相外觀色、三者淨、四空處、五識處、六無所有處、七非非想處、八滅盡解脫也。」—“As for ‘the eight liberations’: first, having the mark of form within and contemplating form without; second, having no mark of form within and contemplating form without; third, the pure; fourth, the station of space; fifth, the station of consciousness; sixth, the station of nothing whatever; seventh, the station of neither perception nor non-perception; eighth, the liberation of cessation.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a12〕 |
| The birth of those of the Lesser Vehicle, against the Treatise on Birth in That Land | The commentary raises no such question within this grade | — | 「正處小行不生，要由垂終發大乘種，爾乃得生。經說現今，論舉本始。」—“One squarely settled in the lesser practice is not born there; it is only because at the point of death the seed of the Great Vehicle is aroused that birth there is attained. The sūtra speaks of the present moment; the treatise raises the original beginning.” | 〔T37n1750 0193b13〕 |
| Why realizing arhatship in the middle grade is not inferior to the nine grades | The commentary raises no such question | — | 「是退菩提聲聞往生彼國，無漏道熟，便證小果，不守小位，而往還起大心，進行彌速，或五劫或十劫得成初地。如是階級，猶是其勝。」—“These are śrāvakas fallen back from awakening who are born in that land; their outflow-free path ripening, they realize the lesser fruit, yet they do not hold to the lesser position but go back and forth and arouse the great mind, and their advance is all the swifter, so that in five kalpas or in ten they attain the first ground. A gradation such as this is still the superior one.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a21〕 |
The divergence in the third and fourth points — for 「三明」 Shandao lists former lives, the divine eye, and the exhaustion of the outflows, while Zhiyi lists the past, the present, and the future; for 「羅漢」 Shandao glosses two meanings, non-arising and non-attachment, while Zhiyi glosses three, worthy of offerings, not born again, and slayer of the thieves. What the two houses list is not the same, and both are recorded without adjudication; the parenthetical glosses of the Plain Reading of this edition follow the principal mirror in giving the knowledge of former lives, the knowledge of the divine eye, and the knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows, and the former account is recorded and not discarded (as in the parenthetical gloss on the five sufferings in this edition).
VI. Terms (first occurrences — all glosses drawn from the two mirrors)
| Term | The commentary’s gloss, verbatim | Anchor | Mirror |
|---|---|---|---|
| The five precepts | 「「五戒」者，不殺、盜、婬、妄語、飲酒也。」—“As for ‘the five precepts’: not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in sexual conduct, not to speak falsely, not to drink liquor.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a06〕 | Zhiyi |
| The eight precepts | 「「八戒」者，加不上高床、不著華鬘瓔珞香塗身熏衣、不得歌舞作樂及往觀聽也。」—“As for ‘the eight precepts’: there are added not to mount a high bed, not to wear flower garlands or necklaces or to anoint the body with fragrance or perfume one’s robes, and not to sing, dance, or make music, nor to go and watch or listen to such things.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a07〕 | Zhiyi |
| The full precepts | 「「具足戒」者，二百五十戒、五百戒等。」—“As for ‘the full precepts’: the two hundred and fifty precepts, the five hundred precepts, and the like.” | 〔T37n1750 0194b04〕 | Zhiyi |
| The four truths | 「「四諦」者，苦、集、滅、道也。」—“As for ‘the four truths’: suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a09〕 | Zhiyi |
| Arhat | 「言羅漢者此云無生，亦云無著，因亡故無生，果喪故無著。」—“As for ‘arhat,’ it is here rendered non-arising, and is also rendered non-attachment: because the cause is gone there is non-arising, and because the fruit is ended there is non-attachment.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b26〕 | Shandao |
| The three knowledges | 「言三明者，宿命明，天眼明，漏盡明也。」—“As for ‘the three knowledges,’ they are the knowledge of former lives, the knowledge of the divine eye, and the knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | Shandao |
| The six supernormal powers | 「「六神通」者，天眼、天耳、他心、宿命、漏盡、身得如意，此六悉皆無壅故為通。」—“As for ‘the six supernormal powers’: the divine eye, the divine ear, the minds of others, former lives, the exhaustion of the outflows, and the body’s attaining of whatever it wills. These six are all without obstruction, and therefore they are powers.” | 〔T37n1750 0194a10〕 | Zhiyi |
| The eight liberations | 「言八解脫者。內有色外觀色，一解脫。內無色外觀色，二解脫。不淨相，三解脫。四空及滅盡，總成八也。」—“As for ‘the eight liberations’: having form within and contemplating form without is the first liberation; having no form within and contemplating form without is the second; the appearance of the impure is the third; and the four formless states together with cessation make eight in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b28〕 | Shandao |
| Stream-enterer | 「「須陀洹」者，翻修習無漏，或逆流也。」—“As for ‘the stream-enterer’: it is rendered as cultivating the outflow-free, or as going against the stream.” | 〔T37n1750 0194b05〕 | Zhiyi |
Whence the parenthetical glosses used in the Plain Reading of this edition are taken, recorded item by item: for the two items the four truths and the stream-enterer the principal mirror cites the names but gives no gloss of them (of this grade Shandao says 「二明法音同讚四諦之德」—“the second clarifies that the sounds of the Dharma alike praise the virtue of the four truths” 〔T37n1753 0275b25〕, and in the Section on the Profound Meaning he says 「由到彼得須陀洹故」—“because on reaching that place he attains stream-entry” 〔T37n1753 0248a02〕, in both places citing the name and no more), and their glosses follow Zhiyi 〔T37n1750 0194a09〕〔T37n1750 0194b05〕; the two items arhat and the three knowledges follow the principal mirror, Shandao 〔T37n1753 0275b26〕〔T37n1753 0275b28〕. Where the principal mirror has no account and the account of the witness is taken, what is followed is here plainly recorded.
One matter recorded honestly: within this grade Zhiyi glosses an item of 「十戒」, the ten precepts — 「「十戒」者，即前八戒，更足不捉金銀生像及不過中食，為十戒也。」—“As for ‘the ten precepts’: they are the foregoing eight precepts, with the further addition of not handling gold, silver, or images cast from them, and not eating past midday, making ten precepts” 〔T37n1750 0194b03〕 — yet on searching the whole of this sūtra, the two characters 「十戒」 yield nothing at all; the text of this passage reads 「沙彌戒」, the śrāmaṇera precepts. The commentator presumably glosses the śrāmaṇera precepts by the ten precepts, and what his heading cites is not the character of the sūtra. Recorded without adjudication; nothing is supplied to the sūtra in his stead.
The Sanskrit transcriptions in this passage of the sūtra are the two words 「阿羅漢」, arhat, and 「須陀洹」, stream-enterer; the two commentaries give here only Chinese glosses (non-arising and non-attachment; cultivating the outflow-free and going against the stream) and no Sanskrit form, and this edition does not supply one in their stead.
VII. Similes and Rhetoric
Similes the sūtra uses of itself:
| Simile | The sūtra verbatim | Anchor | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the instant before the head is raised | 「未舉頭頃即得往生極樂世界」—“in the very instant before he has raised his head, he attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss” | 〔T12n0365 0345b15〕 | The speed of the going of the highest of the middle |
| A strong man bending and stretching his arm | 「譬如壯士屈伸臂頃，即生西方極樂世界。」—“As in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.” | 〔T12n0365 0345c04〕 | The speed of the going of the lowest of the middle |
Two expressions set up by the mirror commentary may be recorded:
| Expression | The commentary verbatim | Anchor | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowering the head, raising the head | 「六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也。」—“The sixth clarifies that the practitioner lowers his head here and, raising his head, is already in that land.” | 〔T37n1753 0275b20〕 | It figures the speed by way of the sūtra’s own 「未舉頭頃」, ‘in the very instant before he has raised his head’ |
| The fragrance of the precepts perfuming and cultivating | 「四、從戒香熏修下，至七寶池中已來，正明第九門中行者終時聖來迎接去時遲疾。」—“Fourth, from ‘the fragrance of the precepts perfumes and cultivates’ down to ‘within the lotus pond of the seven precious substances’ directly clarifies, under the ninth article, the coming of the holy ones to welcome the practitioner when his life ends and the speed of his going.” | 〔T37n1753 0275c14〕 | The commentary marks the segment by the sūtra’s own words (for 「薰」 the commentary writes 「熏」) |
Three things may be recorded as rhetoric. First, the cause of the three grades of the middle grows less from grade to grade: the highest of the middle receives and holds the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the various precepts and commits none of the five heinous acts; the middle of the middle has only a single day and night of the precepts; the lowest of the middle has not even the precepts, and has only filial care of father and mother and the practice of the humaneness and rightness of the world. Second, the fruit obtained is likewise later from grade to grade: the highest of the middle 「應時即得阿羅漢道」, ‘at that very time attains the way of the arhat’; the middle of the middle 「經半劫已成阿羅漢」, ‘after half a kalpa has passed becomes an arhat’; the lowest of the middle 「過一小劫，成阿羅漢」, ‘after one small kalpa has passed becomes an arhat.’ Third, both similes take the smallest movements of the body — raising the head, bending and stretching the arm — to figure the distance between this land and that.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Editions outside this one that cite the scriptural text of this unit: nothing found (the expressions 「中品上生」 (the highest birth of the middle grade), 「中輩生想」 (the image of birth in the middle grade), and 「戒香薰修」 (the fragrance of the precepts perfumes and cultivates) yield not a single hit in any edition outside this one). Recorded honestly.
- The point of cross-reading within this axis: the ancient masters constantly set the middle grade of the edition of The Sūtra of Measureless Life (unit 06 of that edition) over against the middle grade of this sūtra; Zhiyi himself says in this passage 「大本，上品明其出家，中品不明出家」—“in the larger sūtra, the highest grade makes clear their going forth from home, while the middle grade does not make going forth clear” 〔T37n1750 0194a24〕, which is a saying of just this kind. The setting of the two sūtras over against each other belongs to the domain of that edition, and this edition does not adjudicate it in its stead.
- The eleven articles of this grade are set up in succession to the highest grade — Shandao having already set up the eleven articles as a common form for the highest grade 〔T37n1753 0270c09〕, the middle grade and the lowest grade use them directly, and so the sifting of this passage corresponds article by article with that of the highest grade.
IX. Placement Among the Recensions
The Taishō collation notes within the domain of this unit come to twelve in all, with one further item carrying the asterisk of a preceding note:
| Anchor | Base text | Variant | Witnesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0345b08 | 「佛告」 (the Buddha told) | 復次 (moreover) | Dunhuang |
| 0345b10 | 「惡」 (evils) | 患 (afflictions) | Song · Yuan · Ming · current-circulation printing |
| 0345b11 | 「行者」 (the practitioner) | These two characters absent | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345b19 | 「持」 (keep) | 受持 (receive and keep) | Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345b24 | 「聞」 (hears) | 見 (sees) | Dunhuang |
| 0345b27 | 「乃」 (only then) | 開 (opens) | Dunhuang |
| 0345c02 | 「義」 (rightness) | 慈 (kindness) | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345c04 | 「大」 (great) | This character absent | Yuan · Ming · current-circulation printing |
| 0345c05 | 「生」 (born) | This character absent | Song · Yuan · Ming |
| 0345c06 | 「遇」 (meets) | 已遇 (has met) | Song · Yuan · Ming |
| 0345c06 | 「得須陀洹」 (becomes a stream-enterer) | These four characters absent | Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345c07 | 「過」 (after passing) | 經 (after going through) | current-circulation printing |
| 0345c08 (carrying the asterisk of the preceding note) | The sixteen characters 「作是觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀」 (to make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation) | These sixteen characters absent | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang |
The seventh note agrees with what the principal mirror had before it — the base text reads 「行世仁義」, practise the humaneness and rightness of the world, while the Song, Yuan, Ming, Dunhuang, and current-circulation witnesses all read 「行世仁慈」, practise the humaneness and kindness of the world. What Shandao cites has precisely 「慈」: marking the beginning and end of the second segment of the lowest birth of the middle grade he says 「二、從若有善男子下，至行世仁慈已來」—“Second, from ‘if there are good men’ down to ‘practise the humaneness and kindness of the world’” 〔T37n1753 0276a02〕. This is one more instance in which what the commentary had before it differs from the base text and agrees with the other witnesses (for an earlier instance see the item 「想作心，自見」 at the twelfth contemplation 〔T12n0365 0344b15〕). Both are recorded without adjudication, and the base text is not altered by what the commentary cites.
What may be recorded of the eleventh note — the base text of the lowest birth of the middle grade reads 「遇觀世音及大勢至，聞法歡喜得須陀洹」, he meets Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and hearing the Dharma he rejoices and becomes a stream-enterer, while the Dunhuang witness and the current-circulation printing lack the four characters 「得須陀洹」. What Shandao cites contains the sense of this passage, yet his text does not put forth these four characters: marking the sixth segment he says 「六、從遇觀世音下，至成羅漢已來」—“Sixth, from ‘he meets Avalokiteśvara’ down to ‘becomes an arhat’” 〔T37n1753 0276a14〕, and glosses it as three matters: 「一明逕時已後得遇觀音、大勢。二明既逢二聖得聞妙法。三明逕一小劫已後始悟羅漢也。」—“The first clarifies that after the passing of that time he meets Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta. The second clarifies that having met the two holy ones he gets to hear the wondrous Dharma. The third clarifies that only after the passing of one small kalpa does he awaken to arhatship” 〔T37n1753 0276a16〕 — what he glosses is only the three matters of meeting the two holy ones, hearing the wondrous Dharma, and awakening to arhatship after one small kalpa, and neither the outline nor the gloss has the four characters 「得須陀洹」, so that this may prove that the commentary contains the sense of this passage but is not enough to determine whether the recension he had before him held those four characters. Recorded without adjudication.
The 「復次」 of the first note — in three places within the middle and the lowest grade the Dunhuang witness has 「復次」, moreover, in place of 「佛告」, the Buddha told (one place in this unit, two in the next). Its distribution is recorded honestly.
Gaiji: nothing found in this unit.
Inline glosses (place="inline"): nothing found in this unit.
Ideographic space (U+3000): nothing found in this unit.
Newly added CBETA collation notes: nothing found in this unit.