佛說觀無量壽佛經 下輩生想
最後一觀所說的三種人，臨終所憑的都不是一堂作成的觀：是聞、是念、是稱名。
三次退讓
第一次：善知識來不及教他讀經，只「為讚大乘十二部經首題名字」——只讀題目。
第二次：讀題目還不夠，「智者復教合掌叉手，稱南無阿彌陀佛」。
第三次退到了底：善友所教的仍是「教令念佛」，然而——
「彼人苦逼不遑念佛。」
他不是不願念，是痛到念不出來。
於是那句話又往下讓了一階：「汝若不能念彼佛者，應稱歸命無量壽佛。」
從觀到聞，從聞到念，從念到稱。一寸一寸降下去，降到再無可降處，那扇門還開著。
反過來的數字
「稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪。」
上兩品算的是一次除多少，這一品算的是一念除多少。
欠得最重的那一位，一念之間所銷的反而最多。順著人情讀，這次序是倒的；經卻正是這樣寫下來。
代價沒有被抹掉
「經七七日蓮花乃敷」「經於六劫，蓮花乃敷」「於蓮花中滿十二大劫，蓮花方開」。
往生是同一件事，等待是三個長度。
一句沒有出現的話
前十五觀的末尾都有一句正邪之判。十四觀作：作是觀者，名為正觀。第二觀作：作此觀者，名為正觀——差一個字。
第十六觀沒有。經收在「是名下輩生想，名第十六觀」就停住了。
這一觀所說的人，臨終才遇善知識。經於此輩不出正邪之判——何以如此，經沒有說。
The three kinds of person spoken of in the last contemplation all rely, at the end of life, on something other than a contemplation brought to completion in a single sitting: on hearing, on recollecting, on uttering the Name.
Three Concessions
The first: there is no time for the good friend to teach him to read the scriptures, and he only “praises for him the title-names at the head of the twelve divisions of the Great Vehicle scriptures” — only the titles.
The second: reading the titles is still not enough, and “one who is wise then teaches him further to join his palms and fold his hands, and to utter Namo Amitābha Buddha.”
The third retreats to the floor: what the good companion teaches is still “teaching him to recollect the Buddha,” and yet —
“That person, pressed by pain, has no leisure to recollect the Buddha.”
It is not that he is unwilling to recollect; the pain is such that it cannot be got out.
And so the sentence gives way another step: “If you cannot recollect that Buddha, you should utter: entrusting my life to the Buddha of Measureless Life.”
From contemplating to hearing, from hearing to recollecting, from recollecting to uttering. It comes down inch by inch, and where there is no further to come down, that door is still open.
A Number That Runs Backwards
“Because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.”
The two grades above reckon how much is removed at one stroke; this grade reckons how much is removed at a single thought.
The one who owes the most has the most dissolved in the space of one thought. Read as human feeling would have it, the order is inverted; and yet the sūtra set it down exactly so.
The Cost Is Not Wiped Away
“When seven sevens of days have passed, the lotus flower then opens.” “When six kalpas have passed, the lotus flower then opens.” “Within the lotus flower twelve great kalpas are completed, and the lotus flower then opens.”
Birth in that land is one and the same thing; the waiting comes in three lengths.
A Line That Does Not Appear
At the end of each of the first fifteen contemplations there stands a judgment of right and wrong. Fourteen of them read: to make this contemplation is called right contemplation. The second states the same judgment with a different opening character.
The sixteenth has none. The sūtra closes at “this is called the image of birth in the lowest grade, and it is named the sixteenth contemplation,” and there it stops.
The people this contemplation speaks of meet a good friend only at the end of life. Here the sūtra gives no judgment of right and wrong for this grade — and why that should be, the sūtra does not say.
大正藏 T12n0365〔起 T12 0345c10〕。段／行首〔T12 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T12 0345c10〕佛告阿難及韋提希：「下品上生者，或有眾生作眾惡業，雖不誹謗方等經典，如此愚人，多造惡法，無有慚愧，命欲終時遇善知識，為讚大乘十二部經首題名字。以聞如是諸經名故，除却千劫極重惡業。智者復教合掌叉手，稱南無阿彌陀佛。稱佛名故，除五十億劫生死之罪。爾時彼佛，即遣化佛，化觀世音，化大勢至，至行者前，讚言：『善哉！善男子！汝稱佛名故諸罪消滅，我來迎汝。』作是語已，行者即見化佛光明，遍滿其室，見已歡喜，即便命終。乘寶蓮花，隨化佛後，生寶池中，經七七日蓮花乃敷。當花敷時，大悲觀世音菩薩，及大勢至菩薩，放大光明，住其人前，為說甚深十二部經。聞已信解，發無上道心。經十小劫，具百法明門，得入初地；是名下品上生者；得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生。」 佛告阿難及韋提希：「下品中生者，或有眾生，毀犯五戒、八戒及具足戒，如此愚人，偷僧祇物，盜現前僧物，不淨說法，無有慚愧，以諸惡法而自莊嚴。如此罪人，以惡業故應墮地獄。命欲終時，地獄眾火一時俱至，遇善知識以大慈悲，即為讚說阿彌陀佛十力威德，廣讚彼佛光明神力，亦讚戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見。此人聞已，除八十億劫生死之罪。地獄猛火化為涼風，吹諸天華。華上皆有化佛菩薩，迎接此人。如一念頃，即得往生七寶池中蓮花之內，經於六劫，蓮花乃敷。當華敷時，觀世音、大勢至，以梵音聲安慰彼人，為說大乘甚深經典。聞此法已，應時即發無上道心。是名下品中生者。」 〔T12 0346a12〕佛告阿難及韋提希：「下品下生者，或有眾生作不善業，五逆、十惡，具諸不善。如此愚人以惡業故，應墮惡道，經歷多劫，受苦無窮。如此愚人臨命終時，遇善知識，種種安慰，為說妙法，教令念佛，彼人苦逼不遑念佛。善友告言：『汝若不能念彼佛者，應稱歸命無量壽佛。』如是至心令聲不絕，具足十念，稱南無阿彌陀佛。稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪。命終之時見金蓮花，猶如日輪，住其人前，如一念頃，即得往生極樂世界。於蓮花中滿十二大劫，蓮花方開。當花敷時，觀世音、大勢至以大悲音聲，即為其人廣說實相，除滅罪法。聞已歡喜，應時即發菩提之心；是名下品下生者。是名下輩生想，名第十六觀。」
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 十六觀之末觀，散善三輩之下，自「佛告阿難及韋提希」至「名第十六觀」。本單元末無「作是觀者，名為正觀」一句，與前諸觀不同。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔下品上生〕
〔一·告命·辨定其位〕（0345c10）佛告訴阿難和韋提希：『下品上生的那一種——
〔二·簡機·造惡之相〕（0345c10）或有眾生造作種種惡業，雖然不誹謗方等經典，這樣的愚人多造惡法，沒有慚愧。
〔三·臨終遇善知識聞法〕（0345c12）命將要終的時候遇到善知識，替他讚說大乘十二部經的首題名字。因為聽聞這許多經名的緣故，除掉一千劫極重的惡業。有智慧的人又教他合掌叉手，稱『南無阿彌陀佛』（南是歸，無是命，阿是無，彌是量，陀是壽，佛是覺，所以說是歸命無量壽覺）。因為稱佛名的緣故，除掉五十億劫生死的罪。
〔四·化眾來迎〕（0345c16）那時候那位佛隨即派遣化佛、化觀世音、化大勢至，來到修行人的面前，讚歎說：『好啊！善男子！你因為稱佛名的緣故，種種罪都消滅了，我來迎接你。』說完這句話，修行人隨即見到化佛的光明遍滿他的屋子，見了之後歡喜，當下就命終。乘著寶蓮花，隨從在化佛的後面，生到寶池之中。
〔五·到彼華開之時節〕（0345c21）經過七七四十九天，蓮花才開敷。
〔六·華開之後得益〕（0345c21）當那花開敷的時候，大悲觀世音菩薩和大勢至菩薩，放出大光明，住立在那個人的面前，替他宣說甚深的十二部經。他聽了之後信解，發起無上道心。經過十小劫，具足百法明門，得以進入初地。這就叫做下品上生的人。
〔七·重舉行者之益〕（0345c25）得以聽聞佛的名、法的名，以及聽聞僧的名——聽聞三寶之名就得以往生。』
〔下品中生〕
〔八·告命·辨定其位〕（0345c26）佛告訴阿難和韋提希：『下品中生的那一種——
〔九·簡機·造業之相〕（0345c27）或有眾生毀壞違犯五戒、八戒以及具足戒，這樣的愚人偷取僧祇的物、盜取現前僧的物，說法而不清淨，沒有慚愧，用種種惡法來莊嚴自己。這樣的罪人，因為惡業的緣故應當墮入地獄。
〔十·終時善惡二相俱來〕（0346a02）命將要終的時候，地獄的眾火一時全都到來。遇到善知識以大慈悲心，隨即替他讚說阿彌陀佛的十力威德，廣讚那位佛的光明神力，也讚戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見。這個人聽了之後，除掉八十億劫生死的罪。地獄的猛火化為清涼的風，吹來許多天上的華；華上都有化佛與化菩薩，迎接這個人。如同一念的工夫，就得以往生到七寶池中的蓮花之內。
〔十一·華開之時節〕（0346a08）經過六劫，蓮花才開敷。
〔十二·華開之後得益〕（0346a09）當那花開敷的時候，觀世音、大勢至以清淨的梵音聲安慰那個人，替他宣說大乘甚深的經典。他聽了這法之後，應時就發起無上道心。這就叫做下品中生的人。』
〔下品下生〕
〔十三·告命·辨定其位〕（0346a12）佛告訴阿難和韋提希：『下品下生的那一種——
〔十四·簡機·造惡之相〕（0346a12）或有眾生造作不善的業，五逆、十惡，具足種種不善。這樣的愚人因為惡業的緣故，應當墮入惡道，經歷許多劫，受苦沒有窮盡。
〔十五·臨終遇善知識·十念稱名〕（0346a15）這樣的愚人臨命終的時候，遇到善知識種種安慰，替他宣說微妙的法，教他念佛；那個人被苦所逼，沒有工夫念佛。善友告訴他說：『你若不能念那位佛，應當稱歸命無量壽佛。』就這樣以至誠之心讓聲音不斷絕，具足十念（善心相續，直到十念），稱『南無阿彌陀佛』。因為稱佛名的緣故，在一念一念之中，除掉八十億劫生死的罪。
〔十六·金華來應·得生〕（0346a20）命終的時候見到金蓮花，好像日輪一樣，住立在那個人的面前；如同一念的工夫，就得以往生到極樂世界。
〔十七·華開之時節〕（0346a22）在蓮花之中滿十二大劫，蓮花才開。
〔十八·華開之後得益〕（0346a23）當那花開敷的時候，觀世音、大勢至以大悲的音聲，隨即替那個人廣說諸法實相、除滅罪的法。他聽了之後歡喜，應時就發起菩提之心。這就叫做下品下生的人。
〔十九·總結〕（0346a26）這就叫做下輩生想，名為第十六觀。』
Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the last of the sixteen contemplations and the lowest of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “it is named the sixteenth contemplation.” At the end of this unit there is no sentence “to make this contemplation is called right contemplation,” as there is at the end of the contemplations before it. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
The Highest Birth of the Lowest Grade
〔一 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345c10）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the highest birth of the lowest grade —
〔二 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Evil Done〕（0345c10）there may be sentient beings who commit every sort of evil karma. Though they do not slander the Vaipulya scriptures, such foolish people make much evil dharma and have no shame or conscience.
〔三 · At the End of Life, Meeting a Good Friend and Hearing the Dharma〕（0345c12）When his life is about to end he meets a good friend, who praises for him the title-names at the head of the twelve divisions of the Great Vehicle scriptures. Because he has heard the names of these many scriptures, the gravest evil karma of a thousand kalpas is removed. One who is wise then teaches him further to join his palms and fold his hands, and to utter Namo Amitābha Buddha (na is ‘to entrust,’ wu is ‘one’s life,’ a is ‘without,’ mi is ‘measure,’ tuo is ‘life,’ fo is ‘the awakened’; hence it is said, entrusting one’s life to the Awakened One of Measureless Life). Because he utters the Buddha’s name, the offences of fifty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.
〔四 · The Manifested Ones Come to Welcome Him〕（0345c16）At that time that Buddha at once sends a manifested Buddha, a manifested Avalokiteśvara, and a manifested Mahāsthāmaprāpta to come before the practitioner and praise him, saying: “Well done! Good man! Because you have uttered the Buddha’s name, your every offence has been extinguished; I have come to welcome you.” When these words have been spoken, the practitioner at once sees the light of the manifested Buddha filling his chamber; having seen it he rejoices, and thereupon his life ends. Riding a jeweled lotus flower, following behind the manifested Buddha, he is born in a jeweled pool.
〔五 · The Season When the Flower Opens after Arrival〕（0345c21）When seven sevens of days have passed — forty-nine of them — the lotus flower then opens.
〔六 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0345c21）When that flower opens, the greatly compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta send out a great light and stand before that person, and expound for him the twelve divisions of scripture in their profundity. Having heard them he trusts and understands, and gives rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path. When ten small kalpas have passed he is fully possessed of the hundred-dharma gate of illumination and is able to enter the first ground. This is called one of the highest birth of the lowest grade.
〔七 · The Practitioner’s Benefit Raised Again〕（0345c25）He is able to hear the name of the Buddha, the name of the Dharma, and to hear the name of the Saṅgha — hearing the names of the Three Jewels, he thereby obtains birth in that land.”
The Middle Birth of the Lowest Grade
〔八 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345c26）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the middle birth of the lowest grade —
〔九 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Karma Made〕（0345c27）there may be sentient beings who break and transgress the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the full precepts. Such foolish people steal the goods of the Saṅgha, take by theft the goods of the Saṅgha present, teach the Dharma without purity, and have no shame or conscience; with every sort of evil dharma they adorn themselves. Such offenders, because of their evil karma, ought to fall into the hells.
〔十 · At the End, the Two Appearances, Good and Evil, Come Together〕（0346a02）When his life is about to end, the many fires of the hells arrive all at once. He meets a good friend who, out of great kindness and compassion, at once praises and expounds for him the awesome virtue of the ten powers of Amitābha Buddha, praises at length the light and the divine power of that Buddha, and praises also morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. When this person has heard it, the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed. The raging fires of the hells turn into a cool wind that blows heavenly flowers; and upon the flowers there are manifested Buddhas and bodhisattvas, who come to welcome this person. In the space of a single thought he obtains birth within a lotus flower in the pool of the seven precious substances.
〔十一 · The Season When the Flower Opens〕（0346a08）When six kalpas have passed, the lotus flower then opens.
〔十二 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0346a09）When that flower opens, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta console that person with a pure Brahmā voice and expound for him the profound scriptures of the Great Vehicle. Having heard this Dharma, he thereupon gives rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path. This is called one of the middle birth of the lowest grade.”
The Lowest Birth of the Lowest Grade
〔十三 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0346a12）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the lowest birth of the lowest grade —
〔十四 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Evil Done〕（0346a12）there may be sentient beings who make unwholesome karma, the five heinous acts and the ten evils, and who are fully possessed of every sort of unwholesomeness. Such foolish people, because of their evil karma, ought to fall into the evil destinies and pass through many kalpas, undergoing suffering without end.
〔十五 · At the End of Life, Meeting a Good Friend; Ten Thoughts, Uttering the Name〕（0346a15）When such a foolish person draws near the end of his life he meets a good friend, who consoles him in every way and expounds the wondrous Dharma for him, teaching him to recollect the Buddha; but that person, pressed by pain, has no leisure to recollect the Buddha. The good companion tells him: “If you cannot recollect that Buddha, you should utter: entrusting my life to the Buddha of Measureless Life.” In this way, with a mind of utmost sincerity, he lets the sound go unbroken and is fully possessed of ten thoughts (a good mind continuing in succession up to ten thoughts), uttering Namo Amitābha Buddha. Because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.
〔十六 · The Golden Flower Comes in Answer; Birth Obtained〕（0346a20）At the time when his life ends he sees a golden lotus flower, like the orb of the sun, standing before him; and in the space of a single thought he obtains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss.
〔十七 · The Season When the Flower Opens〕（0346a22）Within the lotus flower twelve great kalpas are completed, and the lotus flower then opens.
〔十八 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0346a23）When that flower opens, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, with a voice of great compassion, at once expound at length for that person the real character of the dharmas and the Dharma by which offences are extinguished. Having heard it he rejoices, and thereupon gives rise to the aspiration for awakening. This is called one of the lowest birth of the lowest grade.
〔十九 · General Conclusion〕（0346a26）This is called the image of birth in the lowest grade, and it is named the sixteenth contemplation.”
十六觀的最後一觀，所觀的是三種人：一種造了種種惡業而不謗大乘，一種毀犯五戒八戒具足戒、偷僧祇物、不淨說法，一種具造五逆十惡。
三種人有一個共同點：到臨命終那一刻，經為他們所開的都不是觀——是聞、是念、是稱名。經走到這裡，前十三觀所教的坐法、境相、驗收，一句也用不上了。
善導《觀經四帖疏》把這三位分別定為「造十惡輕罪凡夫」「破戒次罪凡夫」「具造五逆等重罪凡夫」，並為五逆得生一事立了「抑止門」之解；智顗《觀無量壽佛經疏》則說下品「即是今時悠悠凡夫」，並以約人、約行二義會通同一個難處。兩家所答判然不同，各自的理由都在自己的書裡。此下所講的是經。
一路往下讓
讀這一段，最容易看漏的是經自己在做的一連串讓步。
第一次讓步在下品上生。這個人「多造惡法，無有慚愧」，臨終才遇到善知識。善知識所做的，不是教他觀，是「為讚大乘十二部經首題名字」——連經文都來不及讀，只讀題目。而「以聞如是諸經名故，除却千劫極重惡業」。
第二次讓步緊接著。讀了題目還不夠，「智者復教合掌叉手，稱南無阿彌陀佛」。從聞經轉到稱名。
第三次讓步在下品下生，而且退到了底。善知識照樣「為說妙法，教令念佛」，可是——
「彼人苦逼不遑念佛。」
苦逼得連念佛都來不及。這五個字寫的是一個人臨終最真實的狀態：不是不肯念，是疼得念不成。
於是善友再退一步：「汝若不能念彼佛者，應稱歸命無量壽佛。」
注意「念」與「稱」的分別。念是心裡的事，稱是口裡的事。苦到心裡做不了主的時候，經把行門移到了口上——「如是至心令聲不絕，具足十念」。你若在病床邊陪過人，大概明白這一步移得有多要緊：那個時候，能出聲已經是全部了。
從觀，到聞，到念，到稱。每一次退讓，都是把門檻再降低一寸；而降到最後那一寸，仍舊有門。
值得留意的是退讓的方向。它不是把要求換成別的更容易的要求，是把同一件事一層一層剝到最薄的一層：所觀的佛、所聞的名、所念的佛、所稱的名，自始至終是同一位。退的是行門的形式，不是所歸的對象。
那個數字
三品所除的罪，經給了三個數。
下品上生：聞十二部經題名，除卻千劫極重惡業；稱佛名故，除五十億劫生死之罪。
下品中生：聞彌陀十力威德、光明神力與戒定慧解脫解脫知見，「此人聞已，除八十億劫生死之罪」。
下品下生：「如是至心令聲不絕，具足十念，稱南無阿彌陀佛。稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪。」
注意末一句多出來的四個字：於念念中。前兩品是一次除多少，這一品是每一念除八十億劫。
罪最重的那一個，所除的最多。這個次序讀起來是反的，而經就是這樣寫的。
若把它當作『罪造得愈多愈划算』，那是讀反了。經所寫的不是一筆買賣，是一次搶救。
古來的讀法在此設過一問：同樣是臨終那一刻，何以聞十二部經只除千劫，稱佛一聲卻除得那樣多？其答不在名號本身有多大力，在能稱的那顆心：造罪之人障重，加上死苦來逼，善人雖說多經，聽的心是散的；散故除罪輕。而佛名只是一個，一個名能把散心收住，又教他正念稱名，心重故除罪多劫。
所以那個數字量的不是名，是心被收住的程度。
你若把這個答案放回下品下生那一段，會看見它正好對上：那個人苦逼得念不成，善友要他出聲稱名——出聲，正是把一顆散到極處的心強收回來的辦法。經在最後一刻所給的，不是一個更高的法，是一個更能抓得住的把手。
華開之前要等多久
經沒有把代價抹掉。
下品上生「經七七日蓮花乃敷」；下品中生「經於六劫，蓮花乃敷」；下品下生「於蓮花中滿十二大劫，蓮花方開」。
七七四十九天、六劫、十二大劫。往生是同一件事，等待卻是三個長度。
而華未開的時候是什麼情形？歷來的讀法列了三件失去的事：不得見佛與諸聖眾，不得聽聞正法，不得歷事供養。除此以外，別無諸苦。
隨即又補一句：雖然在華中多劫不開，總勝過在阿鼻地獄之中長時永劫受諸苦痛。
這句話沒有把等待說成獎賞。它只是把兩邊放在一起量了一次。
我們讀到這裡，容易生一個疑：既然稱一句名就除八十億劫之罪，何以還要在華中關十二大劫？經沒有答這個疑。它只是把兩件事並排寫著：罪除了，華還沒開。兩件事都真，而經不替它們調停。
一個沒有出現的句子
前十五觀的末尾，都有一句正邪之判。十四觀作：作是觀者，名為正觀；若他觀者，名為邪觀。第二觀作：作此觀者，名為正觀；若他觀者，名為邪觀——起頭差一個字。
第十六觀沒有。
經收在「是名下輩生想，名第十六觀」，就停住了。
這一觀所說的人，臨終才遇善知識。經於此輩不出正邪之判——何以如此，經沒有說，注家也沒有說。
承衍——兩副眼看同一個五逆之人
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，只是同一個臨終稱名的人，換兩種讀法來看。
善導一路是《觀經四帖疏》的讀法。他把下輩之文標作「觀善惡二行」，三位各定其罪：下上是造十惡輕罪之凡夫，下中是破戒次罪之凡夫，下下是具造五逆等重罪之凡夫。他於下品上生化眾來迎處，下了最重的一語：「然望佛願意者，唯勸正念稱名往生義疾。不同雜散之業，如此經及諸部中處處廣歎，勸令稱名，將為要益也。」
至於五逆何以此經得生而彼經不許，他立抑止門：如來恐眾生造此二過，方便說不得往生，「亦不是不攝也」；五逆已作，不可捨令流轉，還發大悲攝取往生，而謗法之罪尚未造，故止言若起謗法即不得生——這是就未造業而說的。已造者若生，華合經多劫；華中所失者三事而已，猶勝阿鼻。
他並在下品上生末的十八字上別立一段：「非但念佛獨得往生，法僧通念，亦得去也。」——經文說的是「得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生」，所以他說，能去的不只是念佛這一條，通念法與僧也一樣去得。
智顗一路是《觀無量壽佛經疏》的讀法。同一個難處，他答以兩義：約人，造罪有上有下——上根者如世王造逆，必有重悔，令罪消薄，容使得生；下根人造逆多無重悔，故不得生。約行，行有定散——觀佛三昧名定，修餘善業為散；散善力微，不能滅除五逆，故大本就此而言不生，此經明觀，故說得生。
十念他釋作「善心相續至於十念」，並說或一念成就即得往生，以念佛除滅罪障故，即以念佛為勝緣。而少時之心何以能勝終身之惡，他引《大論》之責而答：這心雖然只在少時，力卻猛利，如同垂死之人自知不免，諦心決斷，勝過百年的願力——「如人入陣不惜身命，名為健人也。」
一路把它讀成佛願之攝與止的兩面，一路把它讀成人根與行力的兩層。
而經自己只說了一句：稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪。
The last of the sixteen contemplations contemplates three kinds of person: one who has made every sort of evil karma and yet does not slander the Great Vehicle; one who has broken and transgressed the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the full precepts, who has stolen the goods of the Saṅgha and taught the Dharma without purity; and one fully possessed of the five heinous acts and the ten evils.
The three have one thing in common: at the very moment when life is ending, what the sūtra opens for them is not a contemplation — it is hearing, it is recollecting, it is uttering the Name. By the time the sūtra reaches this place, the manner of sitting, the objects to be seen, and the tests of accomplishment taught in the first thirteen contemplations are of no use at all, not one sentence of them.
Shandao’s Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra in Four Fascicles fixes the three positions respectively as “the ordinary person who has committed the ten evils, offences of the lighter sort,” “the ordinary person who has broken the precepts, offences of the next sort,” and “the ordinary person fully possessed of the five heinous acts and the like, offences of the grave sort,” and for the birth of those who commit the five heinous acts he sets up his explanation by the gate of restraint. Zhiyi’s Commentary on the Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life says instead that the lowest grade “is the drifting ordinary person of the present time,” and reconciles the same difficulty by the two senses of the person and of the practice. What the two houses answer is plainly not the same, and each keeps his reasons in his own book. What is set out below is the sūtra.
Giving Way, One Step at a Time
In reading this passage, what is most easily missed is a whole train of concessions the sūtra is making of itself.
The first concession is in the highest birth of the lowest grade. This man “makes much evil dharma and has no shame or conscience,” and meets a good friend only at the end. What the good friend does is not to teach him a contemplation; it is to praise for him “the title-names at the head of the twelve divisions of the Great Vehicle scriptures” — there is no time even to read the scriptures, only the titles. And “because he has heard the names of these many scriptures, the gravest evil karma of a thousand kalpas is removed.”
The second concession follows at once. Reading the titles is still not enough: “one who is wise then teaches him further to join his palms and fold his hands, and to utter Namo Amitābha Buddha.” From hearing the scriptures the thing turns into uttering the Name.
The third concession is in the lowest birth of the lowest grade, and it retreats all the way to the floor. The good friend still “expounds the wondrous Dharma for him, teaching him to recollect the Buddha” — and yet:
“That person, pressed by pain, has no leisure to recollect the Buddha.”
Pressed by pain until there is no time even to recollect the Buddha. Those few words set down the truest state of a person at the end: it is not that he is unwilling to recollect, but that the pain will not let the recollecting be done.
And so the good companion gives way one step further: “If you cannot recollect that Buddha, you should utter: entrusting my life to the Buddha of Measureless Life.”
Note the difference between recollecting and uttering. Recollecting is a matter of the mind; uttering is a matter of the mouth. When the pain is such that the mind can no longer be master of itself, the sūtra moves the gate of practice to the mouth — “in this way, with a mind of utmost sincerity, he lets the sound go unbroken and is fully possessed of ten thoughts.” If you have ever sat by a sickbed, you probably know how much turns on that shift: at such a time, being able to make a sound is already everything.
From contemplating, to hearing, to recollecting, to uttering. Every giving way lowers the threshold another inch; and at the last inch to which it is lowered, there is still a door.
The direction of the giving way is worth noticing. It does not exchange one requirement for some other, easier requirement; it pares the same one thing down, layer by layer, to its thinnest layer. The Buddha contemplated, the name heard, the Buddha recollected, the Name uttered — from first to last it is one and the same. What gives way is the form of the gate of practice, not the one to whom one turns.
That Number
For the offences removed in the three births, the sūtra gives three figures.
The highest birth of the lowest grade: hearing the title-names of the twelve divisions of scripture removes the gravest evil karma of a thousand kalpas; and because he utters the Buddha’s name, the offences of fifty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.
The middle birth of the lowest grade: he hears the awesome virtue of the ten powers of Amitābha, the light and divine power of that Buddha, and morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation — “when this person has heard it, the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.”
The lowest birth of the lowest grade: “In this way, with a mind of utmost sincerity, he lets the sound go unbroken and is fully possessed of ten thoughts, uttering Namo Amitābha Buddha. Because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.”
Note the four words added at the end: in thought after thought. The first two grades tell how much is removed at one stroke; this grade removes eighty koṭis of kalpas at every single thought.
The one whose offences are heaviest has the most removed. Read straight through, the order runs backwards; and the sūtra has written it exactly so.
To take this as meaning the more offences one makes the better the bargain is to read it upside down. What the sūtra writes is not a piece of trade; it is a rescue.
The readings handed down set a question here: at that same last moment, why does hearing the twelve divisions of the scriptures remove only a thousand kalpas, while a single utterance of the Buddha’s name removes so much more? The answer lies not in how great the power of the Name is in itself, but in the mind that is able to utter it: one who has made offences is heavy with obstruction, and the suffering of death presses upon him besides; though the good person expounds many scriptures, the mind that hears is scattered, and because it is scattered the offences removed are light. But the Buddha’s name is only one, and one name can gather a scattered mind and hold it; he is taught besides to utter the Name in right mindfulness, and because the mind is weighty, many kalpas of offences are removed.
So what that number measures is not the Name; it is the degree to which the mind has been gathered in.
Put that answer back into the passage of the lowest birth of the lowest grade, and you will see it fit exactly: the man is pressed by pain until the recollecting cannot be done, and the good companion has him make a sound and utter the Name — making a sound is precisely the way to force back a mind scattered to its furthest. What the sūtra gives at the last moment is not a higher method; it is a handhold that can better be gripped.
How Long the Wait Before the Flower Opens
The sūtra does not wipe away the cost.
The highest birth of the lowest grade: “when seven sevens of days have passed, the lotus flower then opens.” The middle birth of the lowest grade: “when six kalpas have passed, the lotus flower then opens.” The lowest birth of the lowest grade: “within the lotus flower twelve great kalpas are completed, and the lotus flower then opens.”
Seven sevens of days, forty-nine of them; six kalpas; twelve great kalpas. Birth in that land is one and the same thing, but the waiting comes in three lengths.
And what is the case while the flower has not opened? The readings handed down list three things lost: he cannot see the Buddha and the holy assembly, he cannot hear the right Dharma, he cannot go about serving and making offerings. Apart from these there is no further suffering.
Then a further line is added at once: though he is within the flower for many kalpas and it does not open, this is still better than undergoing every pain within the Avīci hell for long ages and endless kalpas.
That line does not turn the waiting into a reward. It only sets the two sides side by side and measures them once.
Reading this far, one easily raises a doubt: if a single utterance of the Name removes the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas, why must one still be shut in the flower for twelve great kalpas? The sūtra does not answer that doubt. It merely writes the two things down side by side: the offences are removed; the flower has not yet opened. Both are true, and the sūtra does not reconcile them for us.
A Sentence That Does Not Appear
At the end of each of the first fifteen contemplations there stands a judgment of right and wrong. Fourteen of them read: to make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation. The second contemplation states the same judgment with a different opening character.
The sixteenth contemplation has none.
The sūtra closes at “this is called the image of birth in the lowest grade, and it is named the sixteenth contemplation,” and there it stops.
The people this contemplation speaks of meet a good friend only at the end of life. Here the sūtra gives no judgment of right and wrong for this grade — and why that should be, the sūtra does not say, and the commentators do not say either.
Carrying Forward — Two Eyes on the Same Man Who Committed the Five Heinous Acts
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 man uttering the Name at the end of his life, seen through two ways of reading.
The Shandao line is the reading of the Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra in Four Fascicles. He marks the text of the lowest grade as the contemplation of the two courses of conduct, good and evil, and fixes the offences of each of the three positions: the highest of the lowest is the ordinary person who has committed the ten evils, offences of the lighter sort; the middle of the lowest is the ordinary person who has broken the precepts, offences of the next sort; the lowest of the lowest is the ordinary person fully possessed of the five heinous acts and the like, offences of the grave sort. At the coming to welcome by the manifested ones in the highest birth of the lowest grade he lets fall his weightiest words: “Yet if one looks to the intent of the Buddha’s vow, it only urges the uttering of the Name in right mindfulness, the meaning being that birth in that land comes swiftly thereby. It is not like the acts that are mixed and scattered. So it is that in this sūtra and throughout the various collections it is praised at length everywhere, and the uttering of the Name is urged as the essential benefit.”
As for why those who commit the five heinous acts obtain birth by this sūtra when the other sūtra does not permit it, he sets up the gate of restraint: the Tathāgata, fearing lest sentient beings commit these two faults, said by expedient means that they cannot obtain birth in that land, and yet “it is not that they are not embraced”; the five heinous acts having already been done, they cannot be abandoned and left to turn in transmigration, and great compassion still gathers them in to birth in that land, while the offence of slandering the Dharma has not yet been made, and so it is said, to restrain them, that if slander of the Dharma arises there is no birth — this is spoken in terms of karma not yet made. For one who has made them and is born, the flower stays closed for many kalpas; and what is lost within the flower is three things only, which is still better than the Avīci hell.
He also sets up a separate segment upon the eighteen characters at the end of the highest birth of the lowest grade: “it is not that recollecting the Buddha alone obtains birth in that land: recollecting the Dharma and the Saṅgha as well, one may likewise go.” What the sūtra says there is that he is able to hear the name of the Buddha, the name of the Dharma, and to hear the name of the Saṅgha, and that hearing the names of the Three Jewels he thereby obtains birth in that land; and so, he says, the road that can be gone is not the recollecting of the Buddha alone — recollecting the Dharma and the Saṅgha goes there just as well.
The Zhiyi line is the reading of the Commentary on the Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life. To the same difficulty he answers with two senses. In terms of the person, those who make offences are of the higher sort and of the lower: one of the higher faculties, as when King Ajātaśatru committed a heinous act, will certainly repent gravely, so that the offence is dissolved and thinned, and he may be allowed to obtain birth; people of the lower faculties who commit heinous acts mostly have no grave repentance, and therefore do not obtain birth. In terms of the practice, practice is of two kinds, concentrated and scattered — the samādhi of contemplating the Buddha is called concentrated, and the cultivation of other good karma is scattered; the power of the good done in a scattered mind is slight and cannot extinguish the five heinous acts, and so the larger sūtra, speaking with reference to this, says there is no birth, while this sūtra clarifies contemplation and therefore says that birth is obtained.
The ten thoughts he glosses as “a good mind continuing in succession up to ten thoughts,” and he says that a single thought accomplished may obtain birth in that land, since recollecting the Buddha extinguishes the obstruction of offences, and so recollecting the Buddha is taken as the superior condition. As for how the mind of so short a time can prevail over a whole life of evil, he answers the challenge raised in the Great Treatise: though this mind lasts but a short time, its force is fierce and keen, like a man on the point of death who knows for certain that he cannot escape, whose mind is fixed and whose resolve is settled, surpassing the power of a hundred years of vows — “it is like a man entering the battle line who does not spare his own life; he is called a stout man.”
One line reads it as the two faces, the gathering in and the restraining, of the Buddha’s vow; the other reads it as the two layers, the faculties of the person and the force of the practice.
And the sūtra itself has said only this: because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本單元為十六觀之末觀，散善三輩之下。三位所繫者：下品上生造眾惡而不謗方等，下品中生毀犯諸戒、偷盜僧物、不淨說法，下品下生具造五逆十惡。三位皆臨終方遇善知識，所憑者唯聞法與稱名。全段八百七十一字。「稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪」〔T12n0365 0346a19〕一句在本單元，是全經稱名除罪之極處；經文於此不出觀想之法而唯出稱名，其與定善諸觀之關係，二鏡所繫各異，並錄不判。本單元末無「作是觀者，名為正觀」一句，與前十五觀不同——經文自身如此，非闕文，見目九。
一、科判定位
善導《四帖疏》於下輩亦先立十一門，而標其文為善惡二行：
「十六、就下輩觀善惡二行文前料簡，即為十一門。」〔T37n1753 0276a25〕 「上來雖有十一門不同，總料簡下輩三位竟。」〔T37n1753 0276b03〕
三位之開段與定位：
| 位 | 疏標段數（逐字） | 錨 | 疏之定位（逐字） | 錨 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 下品上生 | 「次就下品上生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其九。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276b05〕 | 「二、從下品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是造十惡輕罪凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276b06〕 |
| 下品中生 | 「次就下品中生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276c17〕 | 「二、從下品中生者，正明辨定其位，即是破戒次罪凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276c18〕 |
| 下品下生 | 「次就下品下生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277a12〕 | 「二、從下品下生者，正明辨定其位，即是具造五逆等重罪凡夫人也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277a13〕 |
本輩既竟，疏以十二句之讚收之：
「下輩下行下根人，十惡五逆等貪瞋，四重偷僧謗正法，未曾慚愧悔前愆。終時苦相如雲集，地獄猛火罪人前，忽遇往生善知識，急勸專稱彼佛名。化佛菩薩尋聲到，一念傾心入寶蓮，三華障重開多劫，於時始發菩提因。」〔T37n1753 0277b26〕 「上來雖有三位不同，總解下輩一門之義竟。」〔T37n1753 0277c02〕
本輩既是正宗分之末，疏於此總收定散兩門：
「前明十三觀以為定善，即是韋提致請、如來已答。後明三福九品名為散善，是佛自說。雖有定散兩門有異，總解正宗分竟。」〔T37n1753 0277c04〕
witness 分欄·智顗疏之科（誌錄不判）：
「第十六下品生觀。下品上生者有三：初、標；第二、從「或有眾生」下，釋；第三、從「是名」下，結。」〔T37n1750 0194b10〕
智顗於三位皆作標、釋、結三分，釋中復開為四（因·緣·得生·生後獲利）——下上見〔T37n1750 0194b10〕，下中見〔T37n1750 0194b14〕，下下見〔T37n1750 0194b17〕。
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。
本段與《無量壽經》第十八願「唯除五逆、誹謗正法」之間，古德有會通之說，二鏡各出其解——善導立抑止門〔T37n1753 0277a25〕，智顗立約人約行二義〔T37n1750 0193b22〕，二說見目五。本帙錄二鏡之說，不代為對勘二經，亦不以彼經改此經。誌錄不判。
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〕
稱名之力何以勝於聞經——善導於下品上生設一問答，是本單元最要之一處：
「問曰：「何故聞經十二部但除罪千劫，稱佛一聲即除罪五百萬劫者，何意也？」」〔T37n1753 0276b19〕 「答曰：「造罪之人障重，加以死苦來逼，善人雖說多經，食受之心浮散。由心散故，除罪稍輕。又佛名是一，即能攝散以住心，復教令正念稱名，由心重故，即能除罪多劫也。」」〔T37n1753 0276b21〕
望佛願意之語——善導於下品上生化眾來迎之處出一斷語：
「然望佛願意者，唯勸正念稱名往生義疾。不同雜散之業，如此經及諸部中處處廣歎，勸令稱名，將為要益也。」〔T37n1753 0276c02〕
「南無阿彌陀佛」六字之釋——善導於玄義分逐字釋之，是本段稱名之所本：
「言南無阿彌陀佛者，又是西國正音。又南者是歸，無者是命，阿者是無，彌者是量，陀者是壽，佛者是覺，故言歸命無量壽覺。」〔T37n1753 0246b28〕 「言南無者即是歸命，亦是發願迴向之義。言阿彌陀佛者即是其行。以斯義故必得往生。」〔T37n1753 0250a28〕
智顗於十念所繫之義，並引《大論》為證：
「「稱無量壽佛至於十念」者，善心相續至於十念。或一念成就即得往生，以念佛除滅罪障故，即以念佛為勝緣也。」〔T37n1750 0194b20〕 「問：云何行者以少時心力，而能勝於終身造惡耶？《大論》有此責。是心雖少時，而力猛利，如垂死之人必知不免，諦心決斷，勝百年願力，是心名為大心，以捨身事急故。」〔T37n1750 0194b23〕
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）
下品上生之簡機——疏列五事：
「三明雖作眾罪，於諸大乘不生誹謗。」〔T37n1753 0276b11〕 「五明此等愚人雖造眾罪，總不生愧心。」〔T37n1753 0276b13〕
稱名之六段——疏於臨終遇善一節開為六，其五、其六即稱名：
「五明智者轉教稱念彌陀之號。」〔T37n1753 0276b18〕 「六明以稱彌陀名故除罪五百萬劫。」〔T37n1753 0276b19〕
下品上生末之十八字，疏別立一段釋之：
「九、從得聞佛名已下，重舉行者之益。非但念佛獨得往生，法僧通念，亦得去也。」〔T37n1753 0276c14〕
下品中生之罪相——
「六明兼造眾罪內心發惡，外即身口為惡。既自身不善，又見者皆憎，故云諸惡心自莊嚴也。」〔T37n1753 0276c24〕 「七明驗斯罪狀，定入地獄。」〔T37n1753 0276c26〕
善惡二相俱來之際——疏於下品中生終時列九事，其中二至六即獄火與善知識之交會：
「二明獄火來現。三明正火現時遇善知識。四明善人為說彌陀功德。五明罪人既聞彌陀名號即除罪多劫。六明既蒙罪滅火變為風。」〔T37n1753 0276c29〕
下品下生之十事——疏於臨終一節開為十，其五、其六、其七最要：
「五明罪人死苦來逼，無由得念佛名。六明善友知苦失念，轉教口稱彌陀名號。七明念數多少聲聲無間。」〔T37n1753 0277b14〕
華中多劫之三障——疏明華未開時所失者三，而斷其猶勝地獄：
「一者不得見佛及諸聖眾。二者不得聽聞正法。三者不得歷事供養。除此已外更無諸苦。」〔T37n1753 0277b06〕 「雖在華中多劫不開，可不勝阿鼻地獄之中長時永劫受諸苦痛也。」〔T37n1753 0277b09〕
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 下輩三品之機 | 「即是造十惡輕罪凡夫人也。」（下上） | 〔T37n1753 0276b07〕 | 「下品，即是今時悠悠凡夫。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193c01〕 |
| 下輩之位次 | 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〕 |
| 五逆得生與大本「唯除五逆」之違 | 「此義仰就抑止門中解。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277a25〕 | 「釋：有兩義。約人，造罪有上有下。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193b22〕 |
| 抑止之義 | 「但如來恐其造斯二過，方便止言不得往生，亦不是不攝也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277a28〕 | 「上根者，如世王造逆，必有重悔，令罪消薄，容使得生。下根人造逆，多無重悔，故不得生。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193b23〕 |
| 逆與謗之分 | 「取五逆、除謗法者，其五逆已作，不可捨令流轉，還發大悲攝取往生；然謗法之罪未為，又止言若起謗法即不得生，此就未造業而解也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277b01〕 | 「二者約行。行有定散，觀佛三昧名定，修餘善業說以為散。散善力微，不能滅除五逆，不得往生，大本就此故言不生。此經明觀，故說得生。」 | 〔T37n1750 0193b25〕 |
| 稱名之力何以勝 | 「又佛名是一，即能攝散以住心，復教令正念稱名，由心重故，即能除罪多劫也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276b23〕 | 「是心雖少時，而力猛利，如垂死之人必知不免，諦心決斷，勝百年願力，是心名為大心，以捨身事急故。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194b25〕 |
第三、第五事為本單元二鏡所異之要——同一問（大本除五逆謗法而本經攝五逆，何故），善導答之以抑止門：如來恐眾生造此二過，方便止言不得往生，非是不攝；已造五逆者，大悲還攝，唯華合多劫。智顗答之以約人、約行二義：約人則上根造逆必有重悔而得生，下根無悔故不生；約行則散善力微不能滅五逆，故大本言不生，本經明觀故說得生。二家所答判然不同，本帙並錄，不設調停，不以一家為正。
第六事之異在著眼——善導自所稱之名如何攝心說起：佛名是一，故能攝散以住心，而除罪多劫之所由，疏自結為「由心重故」〔T37n1753 0276b25〕——名是攝散之具，力在稱名者之重心。智顗自能稱之心自身之力說起：心雖少時而力猛利，如垂死之人諦心決斷，勝百年願力，「以捨身事急故」〔T37n1750 0194b27〕。二家一自名說入，一自心說入，非以名心相對。並錄不判。
六、術語（首見名相·釋義皆自二鏡）
| 名相 | 疏釋逐字 | 錨 | 鏡 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 南無阿彌陀佛（六字） | 「又南者是歸，無者是命，阿者是無，彌者是量，陀者是壽，佛者是覺，故言歸命無量壽覺。」 | 〔T37n1753 0246b29〕 | 善導 |
| 南無（歸命·發願迴向） | 「言南無者即是歸命，亦是發願迴向之義。言阿彌陀佛者即是其行。」 | 〔T37n1753 0250a28〕 | 善導 |
| 十念 | 「「稱無量壽佛至於十念」者，善心相續至於十念。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194b20〕 | 智顗 |
| 抑止門 | 「此義仰就抑止門中解。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277a25〕 | 善導 |
| 華中三障 | 「一者不得見佛及諸聖眾。二者不得聽聞正法。三者不得歷事供養。」 | 〔T37n1753 0277b06〕 | 善導 |
| 諸惡心自莊嚴 | 「既自身不善，又見者皆憎，故云諸惡心自莊嚴也。」 | 〔T37n1753 0276c25〕 | 善導 |
本帙白話所用之括注，其所從逐條記此：「南無」六字之釋從主鏡善導〔T37n1753 0246c01〕；「十念」一目二鏡俱有說而所詳不同——主鏡善導於本段釋其念數與稱聲之相續，作「念數多少聲聲無間」〔T37n1753 0277b16〕，而不別出「十念」二字之釋；「十念」二字之釋從智顗，作「善心相續至於十念」〔T37n1750 0194b21〕。二說並錄；主鏡於某目不別出其釋而取 witness 之說者，於此明記所從。
「十二部經首題名字」「僧祇物」「現前僧物」「不淨說法」諸語——善導於下品中生之簡機處逐一標之（「三明偷盜僧物。四明邪命說法。」〔T37n1753 0276c23〕），而未別釋其目。本帙不代擬——疏未傳者不補。
本段經文之梵語音寫有「南無阿彌陀佛」一語，善導以梵漢相對逐字釋之（見上），本帙唯錄其所傳，不另作還原。
七、譬喻·修辭
經文自用之譬：
| 譬 | 經文逐字 | 錨 | 所顯 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 日輪 | 「命終之時見金蓮花，猶如日輪，住其人前」 | 〔T12n0365 0346a20〕 | 金蓮花之相 |
| 一念頃 | 「如一念頃，即得往生七寶池中蓮花之內」 | 〔T12n0365 0346a07〕 | 下中去時之速 |
鏡疏自立之譬（非經文所有，錄以備考，不與經譬相混）：
| 譬 | 疏文逐字 | 錨 | 所顯 | 鏡 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 三禪之樂 | 「經云：『猶如比丘入三禪之樂也。』」 | 〔T37n1753 0277b08〕 | 華中多劫非苦 | 善導 |
| 苦相如雲集 | 「終時苦相如雲集，地獄猛火罪人前」 | 〔T37n1753 0277b27〕 | 臨終惡相 | 善導 |
| 入陣健人 | 「如人入陣不惜身命，名為健人也。」 | 〔T37n1750 0194b27〕 | 少時心力何以勝 | 智顗 |
修辭上可記者三：①下輩三品之罪一品比一品重（作眾惡而不謗方等·毀犯諸戒偷盜僧物·五逆十惡），而所除之罪數一品比一品大（千劫與五十億劫·八十億劫·於念念中八十億劫）；罪愈重而所除愈多，是本段最顯之對比。②華開之遲一品比一品久：七七日、六劫、十二大劫。③下品下生一段中，能念之事一路退讓——先教念佛，苦逼不遑念佛，乃轉教稱名；經文以「不遑」二字寫出行門之底線。
八、徵引承衍
- 本帙以外諸帙徵引本單元經文者，本軸內有命中：《無量壽經》帙之考據層與義疏層三處以曇鸞《往生論註》、憬興《連義述文贊》、慧遠《無量壽經義疏》會通第十八願「唯除五逆、誹謗正法」與本經下品下生之攝五逆。該處屬彼帙之域，本帙不代為裁，亦不轉錄其錨。
- 「下品上生」「下輩生想」「抑止門」諸語於本帙以外之帙零命中。誠實記之。
- 本輩在本經內部之承衍：善導以本段之稱名為「望佛願意」之所在〔T37n1753 0276c02〕，其語與流通分「持是語者，即是持無量壽佛名」〔T12n0365 0346b15〕相為首尾——彼處疏亦出「望佛本願，意在眾生一向專稱彌陀佛名」之語，在本帙第十七單元之域。
九、校本定位
大正藏校記於本單元域內共二十三條，另有二條承前條之＊例：
| 錨 | 底本 | 異讀 | 見證 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0345c10（承前之＊） | 「佛告」 | 復次 | 敦 |
| 0345c12 | 「惡法」 | 眾惡 | 敦·流布本 |
| 0345c13 | 「讚」 | 說 | 宋·元·明 |
| 0345c17 | 「化佛」 | 無此二字 | 敦 |
| 0345c18 | 「善哉」 | 無此二字 | 宋·元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0345c18 | 「汝」 | 以汝 | 宋·元·明 |
| 0345c19 | 「已」 | 日 | 明 |
| 0345c22 | 「及大勢至菩薩」 | 無此六字 | 敦 |
| 0345c25 | 「得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生」十八字 | 無此十八字 | 宋·元·明 |
| 0345c26（承前之＊） | 「佛告」 | 復次 | 敦 |
| 0346a01 | 「法」 | 業 | 宋·元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0346a03 | 「即為讚」 | 為 | 敦·流布本 |
| 0346a04 | 「讚」 | 為（敦）／說（流布本） | 敦／流布本 |
| 0346a06 | 「涼」 | 清涼 | 元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0346a09 | 「當華敷時」 | 無此四字 | 宋·元·明·敦 |
| 0346a15 | 「此」 | 以 | 敦 |
| 0346a16 | 「彼」 | 此 | 流布本 |
| 0346a17 | 「彼佛」 | 無此二字 | 敦·流布本 |
| 0346a18 | 「歸命」 | 無此二字 | 元·明·敦·流布本 |
| 0346a19 | 「阿彌陀」 | 無此三字 | 敦 |
| 0346a21 | 「時」 | 後 | 敦 |
| 0346a22 | 「往」 | 生 | 宋 |
| 0346a23 | 「開」 | 聞 | 元 |
| 0346a23 | 「當花敷時」 | 無此四字（元·明·敦·流布本）／時（宋） | 元·明·敦·流布本／宋 |
| 0346a24 | 「即為其人廣說」 | 為其廣說諸法 | 元·明·敦·流布本 |
第九條為本單元最重之異讀——底本下品上生末有「得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生」十八字，校記唯出宋、元、明三本無之（敦本與流布本不在此條見證之列）。主鏡所據有此十八字，且據之別立一段：善導於下品上生開九段，其第九段即「九、從得聞佛名已下，重舉行者之益。非但念佛獨得往生，法僧通念，亦得去也。」〔T37n1753 0276c14〕——無此十八字則其第九段無所繫。智顗於下品上生唯作標、釋、結三分而釋中開四，其文不及此十八字〔T37n1750 0194b10〕。並錄不判，不據以改底本一字，亦不以一疏之科斷一本之文。
本單元末無正邪之判——前十五觀之末，底本皆有正邪之結，其中十四觀作「作是觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀」〔T12n0365 0345c08〕十六字，第二觀獨作「作此觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀」〔T12n0365 0342a21〕，首句一字之異（諸本或無此十六字，見各單元目九）；本單元末無此結，而校記於本域內亦無相關之條——即底本與諸本於此俱無。是經文自身如此，非闕文，亦非校記漏收。善導本輩之科亦止於「七、從是名已下，總結。」〔T37n1753 0277b24〕，不立顯觀邪正一科。誠實記之。
疏所牒之罪數與底本不合，誠實記之——底本下品上生作「稱佛名故，除五十億劫生死之罪」〔T12n0365 0345c15〕，而善導疏兩處皆作「五百萬劫」：「六明以稱彌陀名故除罪五百萬劫。」〔T37n1753 0276b19〕、「稱佛一聲即除罪五百萬劫者，何意也？」〔T37n1753 0276b20〕。二處同數，非一處之偶誤。大正校記於此無條。其所據之本或異，或所用之計數不同，藏中無以質之。誌錄不判，不代為改經，亦不改疏。
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 last of the sixteen contemplations and the lowest of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind. The three positions are fixed thus: the highest birth of the lowest grade is one who has committed every sort of evil but does not slander the Vaipulya scriptures; the middle birth of the lowest grade is one who breaks and transgresses the precepts, steals the goods of the Saṅgha, and teaches the Dharma without purity; the lowest birth of the lowest grade is one fully possessed of the five heinous acts and the ten evils. All three meet a good friend only at the end of life, and what they rely upon is nothing but hearing the Dharma and uttering the Name. The whole passage runs to eight hundred and seventy-one characters. The sentence 「稱佛名故，於念念中，除八十億劫生死之罪」—“because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed” 〔T12n0365 0346a19〕 stands in this unit, and it is the furthest point reached in the whole sūtra by the extinction of offences through uttering the Name; here the sūtra sets out no method of forming images but only the uttering of the Name, and how this stands to the contemplations of the good done in concentration is attached differently by the two mirrors, and both are recorded without adjudication. At the end of this unit there is no sentence 「作是觀者，名為正觀」—“to make this contemplation is called right contemplation” — unlike the fifteen contemplations before it. The sūtra is of itself so; this is not a lacuna. See the ninth topic.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
Shandao’s Commentary in Four Fascicles likewise makes a sifting before the text of the lowest grade, and marks that text as the two practices, good and evil:
「十六、就下輩觀善惡二行文前料簡，即為十一門。」—“Sixteenth: a sifting made before the text on the contemplation of the two practices, good and evil, of the lowest grade; it comes to eleven articles” 〔T37n1753 0276a25〕. 「上來雖有十一門不同，總料簡下輩三位竟。」—“Although the eleven articles above differ among themselves, the general sifting of the three positions of the lowest grade is herewith finished” 〔T37n1753 0276b03〕.
The opening of the three positions and the fixing of each:
| Position | The commentary’s marked number of segments (verbatim) | Anchor | The commentary’s fixing of the position (verbatim) | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The highest birth of the lowest grade | 「次就下品上生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其九。」—“Next, within the position of the highest birth of the lowest grade, there is likewise first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are nine in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0276b05〕 | 「二、從下品上生者，正明辨定其位，即是造十惡輕罪凡夫人也。」—“Second, from ‘the highest birth of the lowest grade’ directly clarifies the distinguishing and fixing of the position: it is the ordinary person who has committed the ten evils, offences of the lighter sort.” | 〔T37n1753 0276b06〕 |
| The middle birth of the lowest grade | 「次就下品中生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」—“Next, within the position of the middle birth of the lowest grade, there is likewise first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are seven in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0276c17〕 | 「二、從下品中生者，正明辨定其位，即是破戒次罪凡夫人也。」—“Second, from ‘the middle birth of the lowest grade’ directly clarifies the distinguishing and fixing of the position: it is the ordinary person who has broken the precepts, offences of the next sort.” | 〔T37n1753 0276c18〕 |
| The lowest birth of the lowest grade | 「次就下品下生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。」—“Next, within the position of the lowest birth of the lowest grade, there is likewise first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are seven in all.” | 〔T37n1753 0277a12〕 | 「二、從下品下生者，正明辨定其位，即是具造五逆等重罪凡夫人也。」—“Second, from ‘the lowest birth of the lowest grade’ directly clarifies the distinguishing and fixing of the position: it is the ordinary person fully possessed of the five heinous acts and the like, offences of the grave sort.” | 〔T37n1753 0277a13〕 |
This grade being finished, the commentary gathers it up in a praise of twelve lines:
「下輩下行下根人，十惡五逆等貪瞋，四重偷僧謗正法，未曾慚愧悔前愆。終時苦相如雲集，地獄猛火罪人前，忽遇往生善知識，急勸專稱彼佛名。化佛菩薩尋聲到，一念傾心入寶蓮，三華障重開多劫，於時始發菩提因。」—“The lowest grade, the lowest conduct, people of the lowest faculties: the ten evils, the five heinous acts, greed and anger and the rest; the four grave offences, stealing from the Saṅgha, slandering the right Dharma, never once with shame repenting of past faults. At the end the appearances of suffering gather like clouds; the raging fires of the hells stand before the offender; suddenly he meets a good friend of birth in that land, who urges him in haste to utter that Buddha’s name alone. The manifested Buddha and bodhisattvas arrive at the sound of it; in a single thought his mind is inclined and he enters the jeweled lotus. For all three, the flower is heavy with obstruction and opens after many kalpas; only then does the cause of awakening first arise” 〔T37n1753 0277b26〕. 「上來雖有三位不同，總解下輩一門之義竟。」—“Although the three positions above differ among themselves, the general explanation of the meaning of this one gate of the lowest grade is herewith finished” 〔T37n1753 0277c02〕.
This grade being also the end of the main body, the commentary here gathers up the two gates of concentration and scattering together:
「前明十三觀以為定善，即是韋提致請、如來已答。後明三福九品名為散善，是佛自說。雖有定散兩門有異，總解正宗分竟。」—“The thirteen contemplations clarified above are the good done in concentration; this is what Vaidehī requested and the Tathāgata has answered. The three kinds of merit and the nine grades clarified after are called the good done in a scattered mind; this the Buddha spoke of himself. Although the two gates, concentration and scattering, differ, the general explanation of the main body is herewith finished” 〔T37n1753 0277c04〕.
The witness column · Zhiyi’s outline of this passage (recorded without adjudication):
「第十六下品生觀。下品上生者有三：初、標；第二、從「或有眾生」下，釋；第三、從「是名」下，結。」—“The sixteenth, the contemplation of birth in the lowest grade. The highest birth of the lowest grade has three parts: first, the marking; second, from ‘there may be sentient beings’ onward, the explanation; third, from ‘this is called’ onward, the conclusion” 〔T37n1750 0194b10〕.
Zhiyi makes for all three positions the threefold division of marking, explanation, and conclusion, and within the explanation opens a further four (the cause, the condition, the obtaining of birth, and the benefit gained after birth) — for the highest of the lowest see 〔T37n1750 0194b10〕, for the middle of the lowest 〔T37n1750 0194b14〕, for the lowest of the lowest 〔T37n1750 0194b17〕.
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: only this one bears the title The Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, and there is no alternate translation against which to collate. Recorded honestly.
Between this passage and the words of the eighteenth vow of The Sūtra of Measureless Life, 「唯除五逆、誹謗正法」—“excepting only those who commit the five heinous acts and slander the right Dharma,” the ancients have offered readings that reconcile them, and the two mirrors each give their own: Shandao sets up the gate of restraint 〔T37n1753 0277a25〕, and Zhiyi sets up the two senses of the person and of the practice 〔T37n1750 0193b22〕; both are shown in the fifth topic. This edition records what the two mirrors say; it does not collate the two sūtras in their stead, nor does it alter this sūtra by that one. Recorded without adjudication.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)
The place of the nine grades is 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〕.
Why the power of uttering the Name exceeds that of hearing the scriptures — Shandao sets up a question and answer at the highest birth of the lowest grade, and it is among the weightiest places in this unit:
「問曰：「何故聞經十二部但除罪千劫，稱佛一聲即除罪五百萬劫者，何意也？」」—“Question: ‘Why is it that hearing the twelve divisions of the scriptures removes the offences of only a thousand kalpas, while a single utterance of the Buddha’s name removes the offences of five million kalpas? What is the intent of this?’” 〔T37n1753 0276b19〕. 「答曰：「造罪之人障重，加以死苦來逼，善人雖說多經，食受之心浮散。由心散故，除罪稍輕。又佛名是一，即能攝散以住心，復教令正念稱名，由心重故，即能除罪多劫也。」」—“Answer: ‘One who has made offences is heavy with obstruction, and the suffering of death presses upon him besides; though the good person expounds many scriptures, the mind that takes them in floats and scatters. Because the mind is scattered, the offences removed are somewhat lighter. Again, the Buddha’s name is one, and so it can gather the scattered and settle the mind; and he is further taught to utter the Name in right mindfulness. Because the mind is weighty, it can remove the offences of many kalpas’” 〔T37n1753 0276b21〕.
The words on looking to the intent of the Buddha’s vow — at the coming to welcome by the manifested ones in the highest birth of the lowest grade Shandao gives a decisive judgment:
「然望佛願意者，唯勸正念稱名往生義疾。不同雜散之業，如此經及諸部中處處廣歎，勸令稱名，將為要益也。」—“Yet if one looks to the intent of the Buddha’s vow, it only urges the uttering of the Name in right mindfulness, the meaning being that birth in that land comes swiftly thereby. It is not like the acts that are mixed and scattered. So it is that in this sūtra and throughout the various collections it is praised at length everywhere, and the uttering of the Name is urged as the essential benefit” 〔T37n1753 0276c02〕.
The gloss of the six characters 「南無阿彌陀佛」 — Shandao glosses them character by character in the Section on the Profound Meaning, and this is what the uttering of the Name in this passage rests upon:
「言南無阿彌陀佛者，又是西國正音。又南者是歸，無者是命，阿者是無，彌者是量，陀者是壽，佛者是覺，故言歸命無量壽覺。」—“As for ‘Namo Amitābha Buddha,’ this again is the correct sound of the Western Country. Further, na is ‘to entrust,’ wu is ‘one’s life,’ a is ‘without,’ mi is ‘measure,’ tuo is ‘life,’ fo is ‘the awakened’; hence it is said, entrusting one’s life to the Awakened One of Measureless Life” 〔T37n1753 0246b28〕. 「言南無者即是歸命，亦是發願迴向之義。言阿彌陀佛者即是其行。以斯義故必得往生。」—“As for ‘Namo,’ it is the entrusting of one’s life, and it is also the sense of making the vow and of dedicating and directing. As for ‘Amitābha Buddha,’ it is the practice itself. It is for this reason that birth in that land is necessarily obtained” 〔T37n1753 0250a28〕.
The meaning Zhiyi attaches to the ten thoughts, with the Great Treatise cited in evidence:
「「稱無量壽佛至於十念」者，善心相續至於十念。或一念成就即得往生，以念佛除滅罪障故，即以念佛為勝緣也。」—“As for ‘uttering the name of the Buddha of Measureless Life up to ten thoughts,’ it is a good mind continuing in succession up to ten thoughts. Or a single thought accomplished obtains birth in that land, because recollecting the Buddha extinguishes the obstruction of offences; and so recollecting the Buddha is taken as the superior condition” 〔T37n1750 0194b20〕. 「問：云何行者以少時心力，而能勝於終身造惡耶？《大論》有此責。是心雖少時，而力猛利，如垂死之人必知不免，諦心決斷，勝百年願力，是心名為大心，以捨身事急故。」—“Question: how is it that the practitioner, with the strength of mind of so short a time, can prevail over a whole life of making evil? The Great Treatise raises this challenge. Though this mind lasts but a short time, its force is fierce and keen: like a man on the point of death who knows for certain that he cannot escape, whose mind is fixed and whose resolve is settled, it surpasses the power of a hundred years of vows. Such a mind is called the great mind, because the matter of giving up the body is urgent” 〔T37n1750 0194b23〕.
This passage of the sūtra cites no other sūtra or treatise of itself — everything cited stands in the commentaries. Recorded honestly.
IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage (the Commentary in Four Fascicles, line by line)
The sorting of the capacity in the highest birth of the lowest grade — the commentary lists five matters:
「三明雖作眾罪，於諸大乘不生誹謗。」—“The third clarifies that, though he has made many offences, he gives rise to no slander of the Great Vehicle” 〔T37n1753 0276b11〕. 「五明此等愚人雖造眾罪，總不生愧心。」—“The fifth clarifies that these foolish people, though they have made many offences, give rise to no mind of shame at all” 〔T37n1753 0276b13〕.
The six segments of the uttering of the Name — the commentary opens the passage of meeting a good friend at the end of life into six, of which the fifth and the sixth are the uttering of the Name:
「五明智者轉教稱念彌陀之號。」—“The fifth clarifies that one who is wise turns and teaches him to utter and recollect the name of Amitābha” 〔T37n1753 0276b18〕. 「六明以稱彌陀名故除罪五百萬劫。」—“The sixth clarifies that, because he utters the name of Amitābha, the offences of five million kalpas are removed” 〔T37n1753 0276b19〕.
The eighteen characters at the end of the highest birth of the lowest grade, for which the commentary sets up a separate segment:
「九、從得聞佛名已下，重舉行者之益。非但念佛獨得往生，法僧通念，亦得去也。」—“Ninth, from ‘he is able to hear the name of the Buddha’ onward raises the practitioner’s benefit again. It is not that recollecting the Buddha alone obtains birth in that land: recollecting the Dharma and the Saṅgha as well, one may likewise go” 〔T37n1753 0276c14〕.
The look of the offences in the middle birth of the lowest grade —
「六明兼造眾罪內心發惡，外即身口為惡。既自身不善，又見者皆憎，故云諸惡心自莊嚴也。」—“The sixth clarifies that, having made many offences besides, within his mind he gives rise to evil and without he does evil with body and speech. Since he himself is unwholesome and all who see him detest him, it is therefore said that with every sort of evil he adorns himself” 〔T37n1753 0276c24〕. 「七明驗斯罪狀，定入地獄。」—“The seventh clarifies that, judging by the condition of these offences, he will certainly enter the hells” 〔T37n1753 0276c26〕.
The juncture at which the two appearances, good and evil, come together — the commentary lists nine matters at the end of life in the middle birth of the lowest grade, of which the second through the sixth are the meeting of the fires of hell and the good friend:
「二明獄火來現。三明正火現時遇善知識。四明善人為說彌陀功德。五明罪人既聞彌陀名號即除罪多劫。六明既蒙罪滅火變為風。」—“The second clarifies that the fires of hell come and appear. The third clarifies that at the very time when the fires appear he meets a good friend. The fourth clarifies that the good person expounds for him the merits of Amitābha. The fifth clarifies that, once the offender has heard the name of Amitābha, the offences of many kalpas are removed. The sixth clarifies that, the offences having thus been extinguished, the fire turns into wind” 〔T37n1753 0276c29〕.
The ten matters in the lowest birth of the lowest grade — the commentary opens the passage of the end of life into ten, of which the fifth, sixth, and seventh are the most essential:
「五明罪人死苦來逼，無由得念佛名。六明善友知苦失念，轉教口稱彌陀名號。七明念數多少聲聲無間。」—“The fifth clarifies that the offender, pressed by the suffering of death, has no way to recollect the Buddha’s name. The sixth clarifies that the good companion, knowing that suffering has lost him his mindfulness, turns and teaches him to utter with his mouth the name of Amitābha. The seventh clarifies that, be the number of thoughts many or few, sound follows sound without a break” 〔T37n1753 0277b14〕.
The three obstructions during the many kalpas within the flower — the commentary clarifies three things lost while the flower has not yet opened, and judges that even so it is better than the hells:
「一者不得見佛及諸聖眾。二者不得聽聞正法。三者不得歷事供養。除此已外更無諸苦。」—“The first is that he cannot see the Buddha and the holy assembly. The second is that he cannot hear the right Dharma. The third is that he cannot go about serving and making offerings. Apart from these there is no further suffering” 〔T37n1753 0277b06〕. 「雖在華中多劫不開，可不勝阿鼻地獄之中長時永劫受諸苦痛也。」—“Though he is within the flower for many kalpas and it does not open, is this not better than undergoing every pain within the Avīci hell for long ages and endless kalpas?” 〔T37n1753 0277b09〕.
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 births of the lowest grade | 「即是造十惡輕罪凡夫人也。」—“It is the ordinary person who has committed the ten evils, offences of the lighter sort” (the highest of the lowest) | 〔T37n1753 0276b07〕 | 「下品，即是今時悠悠凡夫。」—“The lowest grade is precisely the drifting ordinary person of the present time.” | 〔T37n1750 0193c01〕 |
| The stage-position of the lowest grade | The commentary assigns no stage-position for 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 birth of those who commit the five heinous acts, against the larger sūtra’s 「唯除五逆」 | 「此義仰就抑止門中解。」—“This meaning is to be explained, in deference, within the gate of restraint.” | 〔T37n1753 0277a25〕 | 「釋：有兩義。約人，造罪有上有下。」—“Explanation: there are two senses. In terms of the person, those who make offences are of the higher sort and of the lower.” | 〔T37n1750 0193b22〕 |
| The sense of restraint | 「但如來恐其造斯二過，方便止言不得往生，亦不是不攝也。」—“It is only that the Tathāgata, fearing lest they commit these two faults, said by expedient means, to restrain them, that they cannot obtain birth in that land; it is not that they are not embraced.” | 〔T37n1753 0277a28〕 | 「上根者，如世王造逆，必有重悔，令罪消薄，容使得生。下根人造逆，多無重悔，故不得生。」—“One of the higher faculties, as when King Ajātaśatru committed a heinous act, will certainly repent gravely, so that the offence is dissolved and thinned, and he may be allowed to obtain birth. People of the lower faculties who commit heinous acts mostly have no grave repentance, and therefore do not obtain birth.” | 〔T37n1750 0193b23〕 |
| The dividing of the heinous acts from the slander | 「取五逆、除謗法者，其五逆已作，不可捨令流轉，還發大悲攝取往生；然謗法之罪未為，又止言若起謗法即不得生，此就未造業而解也。」—“That the five heinous acts are taken in while the slander of the Dharma is excepted is because the five heinous acts have already been done, and they cannot be abandoned and left to turn in transmigration; great compassion is therefore given rise to, and they are gathered in to birth in that land. But the offence of slandering the Dharma has not yet been committed, and so it is said, to restrain them, that if slander of the Dharma arises there is no birth in that land; this is explained in terms of karma not yet made.” | 〔T37n1753 0277b01〕 | 「二者約行。行有定散，觀佛三昧名定，修餘善業說以為散。散善力微，不能滅除五逆，不得往生，大本就此故言不生。此經明觀，故說得生。」—“The second is in terms of the practice. Practice is of two kinds, concentrated and scattered: the samādhi of contemplating the Buddha is called concentrated, while the cultivation of other good karma is spoken of as scattered. The power of the good done in a scattered mind is slight and cannot extinguish the five heinous acts, so that birth in that land is not obtained; the larger sūtra speaks of no birth with reference to this. This sūtra clarifies contemplation, and therefore says that birth is obtained.” | 〔T37n1750 0193b25〕 |
| Why the power of uttering the Name prevails | 「又佛名是一，即能攝散以住心，復教令正念稱名，由心重故，即能除罪多劫也。」—“Again, the Buddha’s name is one, and so it can gather the scattered and settle the mind; and he is further taught to utter the Name in right mindfulness. Because the mind is weighty, it can remove the offences of many kalpas.” | 〔T37n1753 0276b23〕 | 「是心雖少時，而力猛利，如垂死之人必知不免，諦心決斷，勝百年願力，是心名為大心，以捨身事急故。」—“Though this mind lasts but a short time, its force is fierce and keen: like a man on the point of death who knows for certain that he cannot escape, whose mind is fixed and whose resolve is settled, it surpasses the power of a hundred years of vows. Such a mind is called the great mind, because the matter of giving up the body is urgent.” | 〔T37n1750 0194b25〕 |
The third and the fifth points are the chief divergences of the two mirrors in this unit — to one and the same question (the larger sūtra excepts the five heinous acts and the slander of the Dharma, while this sūtra gathers in those who commit the five heinous acts; why is this?), Shandao answers with the gate of restraint: the Tathāgata, fearing that sentient beings might commit these two faults, said by expedient means that they cannot obtain birth in that land, and not that they are not embraced; for one who has already committed the five heinous acts, great compassion still gathers him in, and only the flower stays closed for many kalpas. Zhiyi answers with the two senses of the person and of the practice: in terms of the person, one of the higher faculties who commits a heinous act will certainly repent gravely and so obtains birth, while one of the lower faculties has no such repentance and so does not; in terms of the practice, the power of the good done in a scattered mind is slight and cannot extinguish the five heinous acts, and so the larger sūtra says there is no birth, while this sūtra clarifies contemplation and therefore says that birth is obtained. What the two houses answer is plainly not the same; this edition records both, imposes no reconciliation, and does not take either house as the correct one.
The divergence in the sixth point lies in where the eye falls — Shandao begins from how the Name that is uttered gathers the mind: the Buddha’s name is one, and so it can gather the scattered and settle the mind; and the reason many kalpas of offences are removed the commentary concludes for itself as 「由心重故」—“because the mind is weighty” 〔T37n1753 0276b25〕 — the Name is the instrument that gathers the scattered, and the force lies in the weight of the mind of the one who utters it. Zhiyi begins from the strength of the recollecting mind itself: though the mind lasts but a short time, its force is fierce and keen, and like a man on the point of death whose mind is fixed and whose resolve is settled it surpasses the power of a hundred years of vows, 「以捨身事急故」—“because the matter of giving up the body is urgent” 〔T37n1750 0194b27〕. One house enters from the Name and the other from the mind; they are not set against each other as Name and mind. Recorded without adjudication.
VI. Terms (first occurrences — all glosses drawn from the two mirrors)
| Term | The commentary’s gloss, verbatim | Anchor | Mirror |
|---|---|---|---|
| Namo Amitābha Buddha (the six characters) | 「又南者是歸，無者是命，阿者是無，彌者是量，陀者是壽，佛者是覺，故言歸命無量壽覺。」—“Further, na is ‘to entrust,’ wu is ‘one’s life,’ a is ‘without,’ mi is ‘measure,’ tuo is ‘life,’ fo is ‘the awakened’; hence it is said, entrusting one’s life to the Awakened One of Measureless Life.” | 〔T37n1753 0246b29〕 | Shandao |
| Namo (entrusting one’s life · making the vow and dedicating and directing) | 「言南無者即是歸命，亦是發願迴向之義。言阿彌陀佛者即是其行。」—“As for ‘Namo,’ it is the entrusting of one’s life, and it is also the sense of making the vow and of dedicating and directing. As for ‘Amitābha Buddha,’ it is the practice itself.” | 〔T37n1753 0250a28〕 | Shandao |
| Ten thoughts | 「「稱無量壽佛至於十念」者，善心相續至於十念。」—“As for ‘uttering the name of the Buddha of Measureless Life up to ten thoughts,’ it is a good mind continuing in succession up to ten thoughts.” | 〔T37n1750 0194b20〕 | Zhiyi |
| The gate of restraint | 「此義仰就抑止門中解。」—“This meaning is to be explained, in deference, within the gate of restraint.” | 〔T37n1753 0277a25〕 | Shandao |
| The three obstructions within the flower | 「一者不得見佛及諸聖眾。二者不得聽聞正法。三者不得歷事供養。」—“The first is that he cannot see the Buddha and the holy assembly. The second is that he cannot hear the right Dharma. The third is that he cannot go about serving and making offerings.” | 〔T37n1753 0277b06〕 | Shandao |
| Adorning oneself with every sort of evil | 「既自身不善，又見者皆憎，故云諸惡心自莊嚴也。」—“Since he himself is unwholesome and all who see him detest him, it is therefore said that with every sort of evil he adorns himself.” | 〔T37n1753 0276c25〕 | Shandao |
The parenthetical glosses used in this edition’s Plain Reading are recorded here item by item with their source: the gloss of the six characters 「南無」 comes from the principal mirror, Shandao 〔T37n1753 0246c01〕; on the item 「十念」 both mirrors have something to say but not the same thing — the principal mirror, Shandao, glosses in this passage the number of thoughts and the continuity of the sounds, giving 「念數多少聲聲無間」 〔T37n1753 0277b16〕, and does not separately gloss the two characters 「十念」, while the gloss of the two characters 「十念」 comes from Zhiyi, who gives 「善心相續至於十念」 〔T37n1750 0194b21〕. Both are recorded; where the principal mirror gives no separate gloss on an item and the witness’s reading is taken, the source is set down expressly here.
The expressions 「十二部經首題名字」, 「僧祇物」, 「現前僧物」, and 「不淨說法」 — Shandao marks each of them in turn where he sorts the capacity in the middle birth of the lowest grade (「三明偷盜僧物。四明邪命說法。」—“the third clarifies stealing the goods of the Saṅgha; the fourth clarifies teaching the Dharma by a wrong livelihood” 〔T37n1753 0276c23〕), but glosses none of the items separately. This edition does not supply one in their stead: what the commentary has not transmitted is not made good.
The Sanskrit transcription in this passage of the sūtra is the expression 「南無阿彌陀佛」, which Shandao glosses character by character, setting the Sanskrit against the Chinese (see above); this edition records only what he transmits and makes no restoration of its own.
VII. Similes and Rhetoric
The similes the sūtra uses of itself:
| Simile | The sūtra verbatim | Anchor | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| The orb of the sun | 「命終之時見金蓮花，猶如日輪，住其人前」—“at the time when his life ends he sees a golden lotus flower, like the orb of the sun, standing before him” | 〔T12n0365 0346a20〕 | The look of the golden lotus flower |
| The space of a single thought | 「如一念頃，即得往生七寶池中蓮花之內」—“in the space of a single thought he obtains birth within a lotus flower in the pool of the seven precious substances” | 〔T12n0365 0346a07〕 | The swiftness of the going in the middle of the lowest |
Similes set up by the mirror commentaries (not present in the sūtra, recorded here for reference and not to be confounded with the sūtra’s own similes):
| Simile | The commentary verbatim | Anchor | What it shows | Mirror |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The bliss of the third dhyāna | 「經云：『猶如比丘入三禪之樂也。』」—“A sūtra says: ‘It is like a bhikṣu entering the bliss of the third dhyāna.’” | 〔T37n1753 0277b08〕 | That the many kalpas within the flower are not suffering | Shandao |
| Appearances of suffering gathering like clouds | 「終時苦相如雲集，地獄猛火罪人前」—“at the end the appearances of suffering gather like clouds; the raging fires of the hells stand before the offender” | 〔T37n1753 0277b27〕 | The evil appearances at the end of life | Shandao |
| The stout man entering the battle line | 「如人入陣不惜身命，名為健人也。」—“It is like a man entering the battle line who does not spare his own life; he is called a stout man.” | 〔T37n1750 0194b27〕 | Why the strength of mind of a short time prevails | Zhiyi |
Three things may be recorded as rhetoric. First, the offences of the three births of the lowest grade grow heavier from one to the next (making every sort of evil while not slandering the Vaipulya scriptures; breaking and transgressing the precepts and stealing the goods of the Saṅgha; the five heinous acts and the ten evils), while the number of offences removed grows larger from one to the next (a thousand kalpas and fifty koṭis of kalpas; eighty koṭis of kalpas; eighty koṭis of kalpas in thought after thought): the heavier the offence, the more is removed — the plainest contrast in this passage. Second, the opening of the flower is later from one to the next: seven sevens of days, six kalpas, twelve great kalpas. Third, within the passage of the lowest birth of the lowest grade what can be done gives way step by step: first he is taught to recollect the Buddha; pressed by pain he has no leisure to recollect the Buddha; and so he is turned instead to the uttering of the Name — with the two characters 「不遑」, “no leisure,” the sūtra writes out the floor of the gate of practice.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Editions outside this one that cite the scriptural text of this unit: within this axis there are hits. In the apparatus layer and the exposition layer of the edition of The Sūtra of Measureless Life, three places use Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land, Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise on the Sūtra of Measureless Life, and Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning of the Sūtra of Measureless Life to reconcile the eighteenth vow’s 「唯除五逆、誹謗正法」 with the gathering in of those who commit the five heinous acts at the lowest birth of the lowest grade of this sūtra. That belongs to the domain of that edition; this edition does not adjudicate in its stead, nor does it transcribe its anchors.
- The expressions 「下品上生」, 「下輩生想」, and 「抑止門」 yield no hits in editions outside this one. Recorded honestly.
- How this grade carries forward within the sūtra itself: Shandao takes the uttering of the Name in this passage as the place of 「望佛願意」, looking to the intent of the Buddha’s vow 〔T37n1753 0276c02〕, and his words there stand as head and tail with the section on transmission, 「持是語者，即是持無量壽佛名」—“one who holds these words holds the name of the Buddha of Measureless Life” 〔T12n0365 0346b15〕 — where the commentary likewise gives the words 「望佛本願，意在眾生一向專稱彌陀佛名」, that looking to the Buddha’s original vow, its intent lies in sentient beings uttering the name of Amitābha with single devotion; that place lies in the domain of the seventeenth unit of this edition.
IX. Placement Among the Recensions
The Taishō collation notes within the domain of this unit come to twenty-three in all, with two further items carried over by the asterisk of a preceding note:
| Anchor | Base text | Variant | Witnesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0345c10 (carried over by a preceding asterisk) | 「佛告」 (the Buddha told) | 復次 (furthermore) | Dunhuang |
| 0345c12 | 「惡法」 (evil dharma) | 眾惡 (many evils) | Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345c13 | 「讚」 (praises) | 說 (expounds) | Song · Yuan · Ming |
| 0345c17 | 「化佛」 (a manifested Buddha) | these two characters absent | Dunhuang |
| 0345c18 | 「善哉」 (well done) | these two characters absent | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0345c18 | 「汝」 (you) | 以汝 (in that you) | Song · Yuan · Ming |
| 0345c19 | 「已」 (having) | 日 (sun) | Ming |
| 0345c22 | 「及大勢至菩薩」 (and the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta) | these six characters absent | Dunhuang |
| 0345c25 | The eighteen characters 「得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生」 (he is able to hear the name of the Buddha, the name of the Dharma, and to hear the name of the Saṅgha; hearing the names of the Three Jewels, he thereby obtains birth in that land) | these eighteen characters absent | Song · Yuan · Ming |
| 0345c26 (carried over by a preceding asterisk) | 「佛告」 (the Buddha told) | 復次 (furthermore) | Dunhuang |
| 0346a01 | 「法」 (dharma) | 業 (karma) | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0346a03 | 「即為讚」 (at once praises for him) | 為 (for him) | Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0346a04 | 「讚」 (praises) | 為 (Dunhuang) ／ 說 (current-circulation printing) | Dunhuang ／ current-circulation printing |
| 0346a06 | 「涼」 (cool) | 清涼 (clear and cool) | Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0346a09 | 「當華敷時」 (when that flower opens) | these four characters absent | Song · Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang |
| 0346a15 | 「此」 (such) | 以 (thereby) | Dunhuang |
| 0346a16 | 「彼」 (that) | 此 (this) | current-circulation printing |
| 0346a17 | 「彼佛」 (that Buddha) | these two characters absent | Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0346a18 | 「歸命」 (entrusting one’s life) | these two characters absent | Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
| 0346a19 | 「阿彌陀」 (Amitābha) | these three characters absent | Dunhuang |
| 0346a21 | 「時」 (at the time) | 後 (after) | Dunhuang |
| 0346a22 | 「往」 (to go) | 生 (to be born) | Song |
| 0346a23 | 「開」 (opens) | 聞 (is heard) | Yuan |
| 0346a23 | 「當花敷時」 (when that flower opens) | these four characters absent (Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing) ／ 時 (at the time) (Song) | Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing ／ Song |
| 0346a24 | 「即為其人廣說」 (at once expounds at length for that person) | 為其廣說諸法 (expounds the dharmas at length for him) | Yuan · Ming · Dunhuang · current-circulation printing |
The ninth item is the weightiest variant in this unit — the base text has at the end of the highest birth of the lowest grade the eighteen characters 「得聞佛名、法名及聞僧名，聞三寶名即得往生」, and the collation notes give only the Song, Yuan, and Ming witnesses as lacking them (the Dunhuang witness and the current-circulation printing are not among the witnesses cited for this item). The text the principal mirror had before it contains these eighteen characters, and upon them it sets up a separate segment: Shandao opens the highest birth of the lowest grade into nine segments, and the ninth is precisely 「九、從得聞佛名已下，重舉行者之益。非但念佛獨得往生，法僧通念，亦得去也。」—“ninth, from ‘he is able to hear the name of the Buddha’ onward raises the practitioner’s benefit again; it is not that recollecting the Buddha alone obtains birth in that land: recollecting the Dharma and the Saṅgha as well, one may likewise go” 〔T37n1753 0276c14〕 — without those eighteen characters his ninth segment has nothing to attach to. Zhiyi, for the highest birth of the lowest grade, makes only the threefold division of marking, explanation, and conclusion, with four items opened within the explanation, and his text does not reach these eighteen characters 〔T37n1750 0194b10〕. Both are recorded without adjudication; not one character of the base text is altered on that account, and the outline of one commentary is not used to settle the text of one witness.
At the end of this unit there is no judgment of right and wrong — at the end of the fifteen contemplations before it the base text has in every case a conclusion of right and wrong, of which fourteen read 「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” 〔T12n0365 0345c08〕, sixteen characters, while the second contemplation alone reads 「作此觀者，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” 〔T12n0365 0342a21〕, differing by one character in the first clause (some witnesses lack the sixteen characters; see the ninth topic of each unit). At the end of this unit there is no such conclusion, and the collation notes have no item bearing on it within this domain — that is, the base text and the other witnesses alike are without it. The sūtra is of itself so; this is neither a lacuna nor an omission of the collation notes. Shandao’s outline of this grade likewise stops at 「七、從是名已下，總結。」—“seventh, from ‘this is called’ onward is the general conclusion” 〔T37n1753 0277b24〕, and he sets up no topic for showing the contemplation to be wrong or right. Recorded honestly.
The number of offences cited by the commentary does not agree with the base text; recorded honestly — the base text at the highest birth of the lowest grade reads 「稱佛名故，除五十億劫生死之罪」—“because he utters the Buddha’s name, the offences of fifty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed” 〔T12n0365 0345c15〕, while Shandao’s commentary reads 「五百萬劫」, five million kalpas, in both of its places: 「六明以稱彌陀名故除罪五百萬劫。」—“the sixth clarifies that, because he utters the name of Amitābha, the offences of five million kalpas are removed” 〔T37n1753 0276b19〕 and 「稱佛一聲即除罪五百萬劫者，何意也？」—“a single utterance of the Buddha’s name removes the offences of five million kalpas: what is the intent of this?” 〔T37n1753 0276b20〕. The same number stands in both places; it is not a chance slip in one. The Taishō collation notes have no item here. The text he had before him may have differed, or the reckoning he used may not have been the same; there is nothing in the canon by which to settle it. Recorded without adjudication: no alteration is made to the sūtra in their stead, nor to the commentary.
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.