佛說無量壽經 菩薩往覲及彼土菩薩
十方都從一個願打開
起初，是十方菩薩從各自國土來到安養；不久，又是彼國菩薩前往十方。來與去交錯，淨土便不再像一座封閉的城。它更像願力會合之處：眾生在這裡受法，也從這裡把所受之法帶向別處。
往生沒有使方向只剩一個。經說「其佛本願力，聞名欲往生，皆悉到彼國，自致不退轉。」〔T12n0360 0273a22〕 到達所成就的，是不退；不退所開出的，卻是更廣的去路。安住因此不是停滯，而是心不再被生死推回原處。
花蓋消失，供養並未落空
供具隨念化生，花朵在空中展成巨大的寶蓋，依次覆滿世界，又依次化去。最莊嚴的景象沒有被保存。它完成了供養便消失，正因沒有被收藏，才沒有變成新的負擔。
菩薩對國中萬物「無我所心、無染著心」〔T12n0360 0273c25〕。這不是眼前什麼都沒有，而是再豐盛的事物也不必被叫作我的。花、香、樂與光因此可以充分出現，也可以自然退場；心不靠占有證明自己，便能把所具之物全數用於敬佛、聞法與利益大眾。
回國不是退回原點
經把極大的空間放進極短的時間：彼國菩薩在一食之頃遍至無量世界，完成供養、歌歎與聽法。「供養佛已、未食之前，忽然輕舉還其本國。」〔T12n0360 0273c13〕 歸來以前已經有聞、有敬、有喜；所以回到同一地方，並不是回到原來的心。
有些路程改變位置，有些路程改變承擔。前者可以用距離計算，後者要看回來之後如何生活。彼國大眾聚在講堂聽法，隨後常宣正法、饒益眾生；十方之行就在這些平常行止中繼續，沒有因歸來而中斷。
最後一生，仍向苦處轉身
彼國菩薩多已究竟一生補處，經卻在最接近佛果之處留下例外：「除其本願為眾生故」〔T12n0360 0273b20〕。這個除句使成就不成為只顧向上的直線。願若仍繫著眾生，菩薩便能到五濁惡世示現，與其中生命同處。
最後一生本可令人只望終點，本願卻使人回看尚未離苦者。越接近圓滿，越沒有理由把他們留在身後。於是本段最深的莊嚴，不只是光明、神通與無數功德，而是已經能夠離開，仍願轉身；已經到達，仍讓道路通向一切眾生。
The Ten Directions Open from One Vow
At first, bodhisattvas from the ten directions come from their respective lands to the land of Peace and Sustenance. Soon afterward, the bodhisattvas of that land journey out through the ten directions. Coming and going cross one another, and the Pure Land no longer resembles a sealed city. It is a place where vow-power converges: beings receive the Dharma there and carry what they receive onward from there.
Birth in that land does not leave only one direction. Through the power of the Buddha’s original vow, those who hear the Name and aspire to be born there all reach the land and attain non-retrogression. Arrival establishes non-retrogression; non-retrogression opens a still wider way to go. Abiding is therefore not stagnation. The mind is no longer driven backward by birth and death.
The Flower Canopy Disappears, but the Offering Is Not Lost
Offerings arise by transformation as soon as they are thought of. Flowers spread through the air into vast jeweled canopies, cover the worlds in sequence, and then disappear in sequence. The most splendid scene is not preserved. It vanishes when its offering is complete, and precisely because it is not stored away, it does not become another burden.
The bodhisattvas possess no mind that claims the things of the land as “mine” and no mind of attachment. This does not mean that nothing stands before them. It means that however abundant things may be, none need be called mine. Flowers, incense, music, and light can therefore appear in fullness and naturally withdraw. Because the mind does not rely upon possession to prove itself, everything it has can be wholly used to honor buddhas, hear the Dharma, and benefit the assembly.
Returning to the Land Is Not Returning to the Starting Point
The sūtra places immense space within a very short time. In the time of a single meal, the bodhisattvas of that land travel through measureless worlds, complete their offerings, praises, and hearing of Dharma, and return home before eating. Before they return there has already been hearing, reverence, and joy. Coming back to the same place is therefore not coming back with the same mind.
Some journeys change location; others change what one is able to bear. The first can be measured by distance. The second becomes visible in the way one lives after returning. The great assembly of that land gathers in the hall to hear the Dharma and then constantly proclaims the true Dharma and benefits sentient beings. The journey through the ten directions continues within these ordinary comings and goings; return does not interrupt it.
In the Final Birth, They Still Turn toward Places of Suffering
Most bodhisattvas of that land have ultimately become final-birth bodhisattvas. Yet at the point closest to buddhahood, the sūtra leaves an exception: those who possess an original vow for the sake of sentient beings. This exception keeps attainment from becoming a line that only ascends. If the vow remains tied to sentient beings, the bodhisattva can manifest in worlds of the five turbidities and dwell among the lives found there.
The final birth could cause one to look only toward the destination. The original vow turns the gaze back toward those who have not left suffering. The nearer one draws to fulfillment, the less reason there is to leave them behind. The deepest adornment of this passage is therefore not only radiance, supernormal power, and immeasurable merit. It is being able to depart and still choosing to turn; having arrived and still allowing the road to open toward every sentient being.
大正藏 T12n0360〔起 T12 0272c11〕。段／行首〔T12 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T12 0272c11〕佛告阿難：「無量壽佛威神無極，十方世界無量無邊不可思議諸佛如來莫不稱歎。於彼東方恒沙佛國，無量無數諸菩薩眾，皆悉往詣無量壽佛所恭敬供養，及諸菩薩、聲聞大眾聽受經法，宣布道化；南、西、北方、四維，上、下亦復如是。」 爾時，世尊而說頌曰： 「東方諸佛國，其數如恒沙， 彼土諸菩薩，往覲無量覺； 南、西、北四維，上、下亦復然。 彼土菩薩眾，往覲無量覺， 一切諸菩薩，各齎天妙華， 寶香無價衣，供養無量覺； 咸然奏天樂，暢發和雅音， 歌歎最勝尊，供養無量覺。 究達神通慧，遊入深法門， 具足功德藏，妙智無等倫。 慧日照世間，消除生死雲， 恭敬遶三匝，稽首無上尊。 見彼嚴淨土，微妙難思議， 〔T12 0273a01〕因發無量心，願我國亦然。 應時無量尊，動容發欣笑， 口出無數光，遍照十方國。 迴光圍遶身，三匝從頂入， 一切天、人眾，踊躍皆歡喜。 大士觀世音，整服稽首問， 白佛：『何緣笑？唯然願說意。』 梵聲猶雷震，八音暢妙響： 『當授菩薩記，今說仁諦聽。 十方來正士，吾悉知彼願， 志求嚴淨土，受決當作佛； 覺了一切法，猶如夢幻響， 滿足諸妙願，必成如是剎。 知法如電影，究竟菩薩道， 具諸功德本，受決當作佛； 通達諸法門，一切空無我， 專求淨佛土，必成如是剎。』 諸佛告菩薩：『令覲安養佛， 聞法樂受行，疾得清淨處。 至彼嚴淨土，便速得神通， 必於無量尊，受記成等覺。』 其佛本願力，聞名欲往生， 皆悉到彼國，自致不退轉。 菩薩興志願，願己國無異， 普念度一切，名顯達十方。 奉事億如來，飛化遍諸剎， 恭敬歡喜去，還到安養國。 若人無善本，不得聞此經； 清淨有戒者，乃獲聞正法。 曾更見世尊，則能信此事， 謙敬聞奉行，踊躍大歡喜。 憍慢弊懈怠，難以信此法； 宿世見諸佛，樂聽如是教。 聲聞或菩薩，莫能究聖心， 譬如從生盲，欲行開導人。 如來智慧海，深廣無崖底， 二乘非所測，唯佛獨明了。 假使一切人，具足皆得道， 淨慧如本空，億劫思佛智， 窮力極講說，盡壽猶不知。 佛慧無邊際，如是致清淨， 壽命甚難得，佛世亦難值。 人有信慧難，若聞精進求， 聞法能不忘，見敬得大慶， 則我善親友，是故當發意。 設滿世界火，必過要聞法， 會當成佛道，廣濟生死流。」 佛告阿難：「彼國菩薩皆當究竟一生補處——除其本願為眾生故——以弘誓功德而自莊嚴，普欲度脫一切眾生。阿難！彼佛國中諸聲聞眾身光一尋，菩薩光明照百由旬。有二菩薩最尊第一，威神光明普照三千大千世界。」 阿難白佛：「彼二菩薩其號云何？」 佛言：「一名觀世音，二名大勢至。是二菩薩於此國土修菩薩行，命終轉化生彼佛國。阿難！其有眾生生彼國者，皆悉具足三十二相，智慧成滿，深入諸法，究暢要妙，神通無礙，諸根明利。其鈍根者成就二忍，其利根者得阿僧祇無生法忍。又彼菩薩乃至成佛不更惡趣，神通自在常識宿命，除生他方五濁惡世，示現同彼如我國也。」 佛語阿難：「彼國菩薩承佛威神，一食之頃往詣十方無量世界，恭敬供養諸佛世尊，隨心所念，華香、伎樂、繒蓋、幢幡，無數無量供養之具自然化生，應念即至，珍妙殊特非世所有。轉以奉散諸佛、菩薩、聲聞大眾，在虛空中化成華蓋，光色晃耀，香氣普熏。其華周圓四百里者，如是轉倍，乃覆三千大千世界，隨其前後以次化沒。其諸菩薩僉然欣悅，於虛空中共奏天樂，以微妙音歌歎佛德，聽受經法歡喜無量。供養佛已、未食之前，忽然輕舉還其本國。」 佛語阿難：「無量壽佛為諸聲聞、菩薩大眾頒宣法時，都悉集會七寶講堂，廣宣道教，演暢妙法，莫不歡喜，心解得道。即時四方自然風起，普吹寶樹出五音聲，雨無量妙華隨風周遍，自然供養如是不絕。一切諸天皆齎天上百千華香、萬種伎樂供養其佛及諸菩薩、聲聞大眾，普散華香、奏諸音樂，前後來往更相開避。當斯之時，熙然快樂不可勝言。」 佛告阿難：「生彼佛國諸菩薩等，所可講說常宣正法，隨順智慧無違無失。於其國土所有萬物，無我所心、無染著心，去來進止情無所係，隨意自在無所適莫，無彼、無我，無競、無訟。於諸眾生得大慈悲饒益之心、柔軟調伏無忿恨心、離蓋清淨無厭怠心、等心、勝心、深心、定心、愛法樂法喜法之心、滅諸煩惱離惡趣心，究竟一切菩薩所行，具足成就無量功德，得深禪定諸通明慧，遊志七覺修心佛法，肉眼清徹靡不分了、天眼通達無量無限、法眼觀察究竟諸道、慧眼見真能度彼岸、佛眼具足覺了法性。以無礙智為人演說，等觀三界空無所有，志求佛法具諸辯才，除滅眾生煩惱之患。從如來生，解法如如，善知習滅，音聲方便。不欣世語，樂在正論，修諸善本，志崇佛道。知一切法皆悉寂滅，生身煩惱二餘俱盡。聞甚深法心不疑懼，常能修行其大悲者。深遠微妙靡不覆載，究竟一乘至于彼岸。決斷疑網，慧由心出，於佛教法該羅無外。智慧如大海、三昧如山王，慧光明淨超踰日月，清白之法具足圓滿。 〔T12 0274a16〕「猶如雪山，照諸功德等一淨故；猶如大地，淨穢好惡無異心故；猶如淨水，洗除塵勞諸垢染故；猶如火王，燒滅一切煩惱薪故；猶如大風，行諸世界無障閡故；猶如虛空，於一切有無所著故；猶如蓮華，於諸世間無染污故；猶如大乘，運載群萌出生死故；猶如重雲，震大法雷覺未覺故；猶如大雨，雨甘露法潤眾生故；如金剛山，眾魔外道不能動故；如梵天王，於諸善法最上首故；如尼拘類樹，普覆一切故；如優曇鉢華，希有難遇故；如金翅鳥，威伏外道故；如眾遊禽，無所藏積故；猶如牛王，無能勝故；猶如象王，善調伏故；如師子王，無所畏故。 「曠若虛空，大慈等故；摧滅嫉心，不望勝故。專樂求法，心無厭足；常欲廣說，志無疲倦。擊法鼓、建法幢、曜慧日、除癡闇、修六和敬、常行法施，志勇精進，心不退弱。為世燈明、最勝福田，常為師導等無憎愛。唯樂正道無餘欣慼，拔諸欲刺以安群生，功德殊勝莫不尊敬，滅三垢障遊諸神通。因力、緣力、意力、願力、方便之力、常力、善力、定力、慧力、多聞之力、施戒、忍辱、精進、禪定、智慧之力、正念止觀諸通明力、如法調伏諸眾生力，如是等力一切具足。身色相好，功德、辯才具足莊嚴，無與等者。恭敬供養無量諸佛，常為諸佛所共稱歎。究竟菩薩諸波羅蜜，修空無相無願三昧、不生不滅諸三昧門，遠離聲聞緣覺之地。 「阿難！彼諸菩薩成就如是無量功德，我但為汝略言之耳；若廣說者，百千萬劫不能窮盡。」
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.
底本範圍：大正藏 T12n0360
0272c11–0274b17。依原典次序逐段譯寫。
〔一·十方菩薩同來〕（0272c11）
佛告訴阿難：無量壽佛的威德神力沒有窮極，十方世界無量無邊、不可思議的諸佛如來，沒有一位不稱揚讚歎祂。在東方如恒河沙數那麼多的佛國裡，無量無數菩薩都來到無量壽佛座前，恭敬供養祂，也與菩薩、聲聞大眾一同聽受經法，再把所聞之道宣說流布。南方、西方、北方、東南西南東北西北四維，以及上方、下方，也都是這樣。
〔二·供養、聞法與發願〕（0272c17）
這時，世尊用偈頌說：東方諸佛國土多如恒河沙，其中的菩薩都來朝見無量覺佛；南西北、四維、上下各方也同樣如此，各國菩薩都來朝見無量覺佛。
所有菩薩各自帶來天上的美妙花朵、寶香、無價衣服，供養無量覺佛；又一同演奏天樂，發出和雅悅耳的聲音，以歌聲讚歎最殊勝的世尊，供養無量覺佛。他們究竟通達神通與智慧，遊歷並深入甚深法門，具足一切功德寶藏，微妙智慧無人能比。他們以智慧之日照耀世間，消除覆蔽眾生的生死之雲；恭敬地繞佛三匝，向無上世尊頂禮。看見彼國清淨莊嚴、微妙不可思議，他們便發起廣大無量之心，願自己未來成就的國土也能如此。
〔三·佛笑放光，觀音請問〕（0273a02）
就在這時，無量壽佛容顏欣悅而微笑，口中放出無數光明，遍照十方國土。光明回轉，環繞佛身三匝，再從佛頂收入。所有天眾、人眾看見之後，都踊躍歡喜。
大士觀世音整理衣服，向佛頂禮，問佛為什麼微笑，懇請祂說明其中的意思。佛的清淨音聲如雷震響，八種妙音流暢和雅。佛要為菩薩授記，便勸觀世音仔細聽聞。
〔四·知空而成願，受記而成土〕（0273a10）
佛說：十方來到這裡的正士，祂全都知道每一位的願。他們立志求得清淨莊嚴的佛土，將蒙授記，未來必定成佛；他們覺悟一切法如夢、如幻、如回響，仍會圓滿種種妙願，必定成就像安養國這樣的清淨國土。他們知道一切法如閃電、如影像，究竟完成菩薩道，具備一切功德根本，將蒙授記而成佛；他們通達種種法門，了知一切空、無我，專心求成清淨佛土，也必定成就這樣的國土。
十方諸佛都告訴各自國中的菩薩，應當去朝見安養國的佛，聽聞正法，歡喜領受奉行，便能迅速成就清淨之地；到了那個清淨莊嚴的國土，很快便能獲得神通，也必定會在無量壽佛座前蒙受成就正等覺的授記。
〔五·本願不退，再往十方〕（0273a22）
由於無量壽佛本願的力量，聽見祂名號而願意往生的人，都能到達彼國，自然進入不退轉。菩薩又發起深切志願，願自己未來的國土與安養國沒有差別；他們普遍憶念要度脫一切眾生，未來成佛時，名號將顯達十方。他們奉事億萬如來，以自在化身飛行遍至一切佛剎；完成恭敬供養後歡喜離去，再回到安養國。
〔六·聞法難，信慧也難〕（0273a28）
如果一個人沒有善根，便不能聽聞這部經；身心清淨而守戒的人，才有機會聽到正法。過去曾經親見世尊的人，才能相信這件事；他以謙遜恭敬的心聽聞並奉行，便踊躍大歡喜。憍慢、弊惡、懈怠的人很難相信此法；宿世曾見諸佛的人，才樂於聽受這樣的教法。
無論聲聞或菩薩，都不能完全測知佛的聖心，就像天生失明的人想為別人帶路。佛的智慧如大海，既深且廣，沒有邊岸與底際，二乘智慧不能測量，只有佛自己完全明了。即使一切人都已得道，清淨智慧如同本空，在億劫中思惟佛智，竭盡能力反覆講說，直到壽命終了，仍然不能窮知。佛慧沒有邊際，正由這樣的智慧成就清淨。
人的壽命很難得到，佛出現於世也很難遇見，眾生能有信心與智慧同樣難得。若能聞法，便應精進追求；聽聞後不忘失，親見而恭敬，便得到大慶幸。這樣的人就是佛的善友，所以應當發起求道之心。即使整個世界充滿大火，也必定要越過去求聞此法；終將成就佛道，廣泛救濟生死洪流中的眾生。
〔七·一生補處與兩位大士〕（0273b19）
佛告訴阿難：彼國菩薩最終都只餘一生便能補佛之處；但其中為了眾生而另有本願者除外。他們用廣大誓願的功德莊嚴自己，普遍希望度脫一切眾生。
彼佛國中的聲聞身光能照一尋，菩薩光明能照百由旬。其中有兩位菩薩最為尊勝，威神與光明遍照三千大千世界。阿難問這兩位菩薩的名號，佛回答：一位名叫觀世音，一位名叫大勢至。這兩位菩薩都曾在這個國土修菩薩行，命終後轉生到彼佛國。
生到彼國的眾生，全都具足三十二相，智慧圓滿，深入諸法，徹底通達其中精要微妙之處，神通沒有障礙，諸根明利。其中鈍根者成就二忍，利根者則得到不可計數的無生法忍。彼國菩薩直到成佛不再墮入惡趣，神通自在，常能知道宿世；只有因本願而生到其他五濁惡世時，才會示現與當地眾生相同，就像出現在這個國土一樣。
〔八·一食之間遍供諸佛〕（0273c04）
佛又告訴阿難：彼國菩薩承受佛威神的加持，在一頓飯那麼短的時間裡，便能前往十方無量世界，恭敬供養一切諸佛世尊。他們心中想到什麼，花、香、樂器與音樂、絲織寶蓋、幢幡以及無量無數供養器具，便自然化生，隨念立刻來到；每一件都珍奇微妙，世間不曾有過。
菩薩把這些供物散在諸佛、菩薩和聲聞大眾之上，供物便在空中化成花蓋，色彩光亮耀眼，香氣遍滿各處。花蓋有的周圓四百里，又依次加倍擴大，直到覆蓋三千大千世界；隨著供養先後次序，花蓋又依次化去。菩薩們全都欣悅，在虛空中共同演奏天樂，用微妙音聲歌頌佛德，聽受經法，歡喜無量。供養諸佛完畢，在吃飯以前，他們便忽然輕身飛起，回到自己的國土。
〔九·講堂說法，自然供養〕（0273c15）
當無量壽佛為聲聞、菩薩大眾宣說正法時，大眾全都聚集在七寶講堂。佛廣泛宣說道教，暢演微妙法義，人人聽後都歡喜，心中開解而證得道果。
就在這時，四方自然吹起清風，遍吹寶樹，發出五種音聲；無量妙花又隨風飄落，周遍國土，這樣的自然供養相續不斷。一切天眾都帶來天上百千種花香和萬種樂器音樂，供養無量壽佛及菩薩、聲聞大眾。他們普遍散花燒香、奏諸音樂，來往者前後彼此讓路。那時的和樂歡喜，無法用言語說盡。
〔十·無著、慈悲與五眼〕（0273c23）
佛告訴阿難：生在彼佛國的菩薩，凡有所說，總是宣揚正法，隨順智慧，沒有違背也沒有錯失。他們對國中一切事物都沒有占為我有的心，也沒有染著之心；不論來去、前進、停留，情意都不受牽繫，隨意自在，不固執親疏取捨。他們沒有彼此與自我的對立，沒有競爭，也沒有爭訟。
他們對一切眾生具足大慈悲和饒益之心，內心柔軟、善能調伏，沒有忿怒怨恨；遠離五蓋，清淨而不厭倦懈怠；具備平等心、殊勝心、深心、定心，以及愛法、樂法、喜法之心；消滅種種煩惱，遠離惡趣之心。他們究竟一切菩薩所行，圓滿成就無量功德，得到甚深禪定、神通、三明與智慧，心行安住七覺支，修習佛法。
他們的肉眼清澈，無不分明了見；天眼通達，所見無量無限；法眼觀察，窮盡一切道路；慧眼見真，能到彼岸；佛眼具足，完全覺知法性。他們以無礙智慧為人說法，平等觀察三界空無所有；志求佛法，具足種種辯才，能除滅眾生煩惱之患。
〔十一·由如而生，悲心覆載〕（0274a08）
他們從如來法中出生，理解諸法如如，善知集起與寂滅，也善知以音聲教法方便開示。他們不欣樂世俗言談，樂於正法之論；修習種種善根，志向尊崇佛道。他們知道一切法全都寂滅，生身與煩惱這兩種餘報都已盡除。聽到甚深法，心中沒有疑惑恐懼，常能持續修行。
他們所行的大悲深遠微妙，沒有任何眾生不受覆護與運載；他們究竟一佛乘，到達彼岸，斷除交織如網的疑惑。智慧從真實心中生出，對佛的教法無不統攝通達。智慧如大海般深廣，三昧如山王般高固；智慧光明清淨，勝過日月，潔白清淨之法完全圓滿。
〔十二·二十種譬喻〕（0274a16）
彼國菩薩如雪山一般，照顯一切功德都同歸清淨；如大地一般，面對清淨、污穢、好、惡都沒有差別心；如清水一般，洗除塵勞與一切垢染；如火王一般，燒盡所有煩惱薪柴；如大風一般，行遍各世界而沒有障礙；如虛空一般，對一切存在都不執著；如蓮花一般，處在世間而不受污染。
他們又如大乘車乘，運載一切眾生走出生死；如厚重雲層，震響大法之雷，使尚未覺悟者醒覺；如大雨一般，降下甘露法雨，滋潤眾生；如金剛山一般，不受眾魔與外道動搖；如梵天王一般，在一切善法中居於最上首；如尼拘類大樹一般，普遍覆蔭一切；如優曇鉢花一般，稀有難遇；如金翅鳥一般，威力能降伏外道；如群鳥一般，不收藏積聚；如牛王一般，沒有誰能勝過；如象王一般，善於調伏；如師子王一般，無所畏懼；又如廣大虛空一般，以平等大慈普遍容納眾生。
〔十三·法施、諸力與究竟行〕（0274b01）
他們摧滅嫉妒心，不企求勝過別人；專心樂求正法，永不厭足；常願廣為宣說，志意不疲不倦。他們擊起法鼓、建立法幢、照耀慧日、除去愚癡黑暗，修行六和敬，常作法施；志向勇猛精進，心不退縮衰弱。他們作世間明燈，成為最勝福田，常作眾生導師，平等而無憎愛；只愛樂正道，不因其他事物而欣喜憂愁；拔除眾生欲望之刺，使一切生命得到安穩。其功德殊勝，眾人無不尊敬；他們滅除貪瞋癡三垢障礙，自在遊行種種神通。
他們具足因的力量、緣的力量、心意的力量、願的力量、方便力量、恒常修行的力量、善法力量、禪定力量、智慧力量、多聞力量，以及布施、持戒、忍辱、精進、禪定、智慧六度的力量；又具足正念、止觀、種種神通與明智的力量，以及依正法調伏眾生的力量。像這樣的一切力量，他們無不具足。
他們身色相好，功德與辯才具足莊嚴，沒有誰能與之相等。他們恭敬供養無量諸佛，恒常受到諸佛共同稱歎；究竟修行菩薩一切波羅蜜，修習空、無相、無願三昧，以及不生不滅等種種三昧法門，遠離只停在聲聞、緣覺之地的境界。
〔十四·略說不能盡〕（0274b15）
佛最後告訴阿難：彼國菩薩成就如此無量功德，祂現在只為阿難作簡略說明；如果要廣泛說明，即使經過百千萬劫，也不能窮盡。
Taishō canon T12n0360, following the source in sequence from the arrival of bodhisattvas out of the ten directions through the immeasurable virtues of the bodhisattvas of that land. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
〔一 · Bodhisattvas from the Ten Directions Arrive Together〕（0272c11）
The Buddha told Ānanda: the majestic virtue and spiritual power of the Buddha of Measureless Life have no limit. Among the immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable buddha-tathāgatas of the worlds throughout the ten directions, none fails to praise him. In buddha-lands of the east as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, measureless and innumerable bodhisattvas all come before the Buddha of Measureless Life and respectfully make offerings to him. Together with the assemblies of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, they listen to and receive the scriptural Dharma, then proclaim and spread the path they have heard. The same occurs in the south, west, and north, in the four intermediate directions, and above and below.
〔二 · Offering, Hearing the Dharma, and Giving Rise to the Vow〕（0272c17）
The World-Honored One then spoke in verse: buddha-lands of the east are as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, and their bodhisattvas all come to visit the Buddha of Measureless Awakening. The same is true in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, above, and below. The bodhisattvas of every land come to visit the Buddha of Measureless Awakening.
All the bodhisattvas bring sublime heavenly flowers, precious incense, and priceless robes as offerings to the Buddha of Measureless Awakening. Together they play heavenly music, producing harmonious and graceful sounds. In song they praise the supremely honored one and make offerings to the Buddha of Measureless Awakening. They completely penetrate supernormal powers and wisdom, travel through and enter profound Dharma gates, possess the entire treasury of merit, and have subtle wisdom without equal. With the sun of wisdom they illuminate the world and dispel the clouds of birth and death that cover sentient beings. Respectfully they circle the Buddha three times and bow their heads to the unsurpassed honored one. Seeing that land, pure and adorned, subtle and inconceivable, they give rise to a vast and measureless mind and aspire that the lands they will accomplish in the future may be the same.
〔三 · The Buddha Smiles and Emits Light; Avalokiteśvara Asks〕（0273a02）
At that very moment, the countenance of the Buddha of Measureless Life became joyful and he smiled. From his mouth issued innumerable rays of light that illuminated lands throughout the ten directions. The light turned back, circled his body three times, and entered again through the crown of his head. All the gods and humans who saw it leaped with joy.
The great being Avalokiteśvara adjusted his robe, bowed his head to the Buddha, and asked why he smiled, entreating him to explain its meaning. The Buddha’s pure voice resounded like thunder, its eight qualities flowing forth in harmonious and graceful tones. As the Buddha was about to confer predictions upon the bodhisattvas, he urged Avalokiteśvara to listen closely.
〔四 · Knowing Emptiness While Fulfilling Vows; Receiving Predictions and Accomplishing Lands〕（0273a10）
The Buddha said: he knows every vow of the noble ones who have come from the ten directions. Resolving to seek pure and adorned buddha-lands, they will receive predictions and certainly become buddhas in the future. Although they awaken to all dharmas as dreams, illusions, and echoes, they will fulfill their many sublime vows and certainly accomplish pure lands like the land of Peace and Sustenance. They know all dharmas to be like lightning and images, bring the bodhisattva path to completion, and possess every root of merit; they will receive predictions and become buddhas. Penetrating the many Dharma gates and knowing all things to be empty and without self, they devote themselves to seeking pure buddha-lands and certainly will accomplish such lands.
The buddhas of the ten directions all tell the bodhisattvas in their lands that they should visit the Buddha in the land of Peace and Sustenance, hear the true Dharma, rejoice in it, receive it, and put it into practice. They will then swiftly accomplish a place of purity. Once they reach that pure and adorned land, they will quickly attain supernormal powers and certainly receive before the Buddha of Measureless Life a prediction of perfect awakening.
〔五 · Non-Retrogression through the Original Vow, Then Journeying Again through the Ten Directions〕（0273a22）
Through the power of the original vow of the Buddha of Measureless Life, all who hear his Name and aspire to be born there reach that land and naturally enter non-retrogression. Bodhisattvas further give rise to a profound resolve, aspiring that their own future lands will not differ from the land of Peace and Sustenance. They keep universally in mind the deliverance of all sentient beings; when they become buddhas, their names will be renowned throughout the ten directions. They attend hundreds of millions of tathāgatas, fly freely in manifested bodies through all buddha-fields, and complete their respectful offerings. They then depart joyfully and return to the land of Peace and Sustenance.
〔六 · The Dharma Is Difficult to Hear, and Trust and Wisdom Are Also Difficult〕（0273a28）
Those without roots of goodness cannot hear this sūtra. Only those pure in body and mind who observe the precepts obtain the opportunity to hear the true Dharma. Those who have previously seen World-Honored Ones can trust this matter; hearing and practicing with humility and respect, they leap with great joy. The arrogant, corrupt, and indolent find it difficult to trust this Dharma. Those who have seen buddhas in previous lives delight in hearing such a teaching.
Neither śrāvakas nor bodhisattvas can completely fathom the Buddha’s sacred mind, just as one blind from birth might attempt to guide others. The Tathāgata’s ocean of wisdom is deep and vast, without shore or bottom. The wisdom of the two vehicles cannot measure it; only a buddha fully understands it. Even if every person had attained the path and possessed pure wisdom like original emptiness, contemplated buddha-wisdom for a hundred million kalpas, and repeatedly expounded it with all their strength until life ended, they still could not know it exhaustively. Buddha-wisdom has no boundary; through such wisdom purity is accomplished.
Human life is difficult to obtain, the appearance of a buddha in the world is difficult to encounter, and trust and wisdom among humans are likewise difficult to gain. Those able to hear the Dharma should seek it vigorously. If they hear without forgetting and behold with reverence, they obtain great good fortune. Such people are the Buddha’s good friends, and therefore should give rise to the resolve to seek the path. Even if the whole world were filled with fire, they would surely cross it to seek and hear this Dharma. In time they will accomplish the Buddha-path and widely rescue sentient beings from the current of birth and death.
〔七 · Final-Birth Bodhisattvas and the Two Great Beings〕（0273b19）
The Buddha told Ānanda: all bodhisattvas of that land ultimately become final-birth bodhisattvas, except those who, for the sake of sentient beings, possess an original vow of their own. Such bodhisattvas use the adornments of merit born of vast vows to adorn themselves and universally aspire to deliver every sentient being.
In that buddha-land, the bodily radiance of the śrāvakas shines for one fathom, while the bodhisattvas’ radiance shines for a hundred yojanas. Two bodhisattvas are foremost and supremely honored; their majestic spiritual power and light illuminate the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system. Ānanda asked the names of these two bodhisattvas. The Buddha answered: one is named Avalokiteśvara and the other Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Both cultivated bodhisattva practice in this land and, at the end of life, were born in that buddha-land.
All sentient beings born in that land possess the thirty-two marks. Their wisdom is complete; they enter deeply into the dharmas and penetrate their essential and subtle reaches. Their supernormal powers are unobstructed and their faculties keen. Those of dull faculties accomplish two patiences, while those of keen faculties attain innumerable patiences of non-arising. Until they attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas of that land do not enter the evil destinies again. Their supernormal powers are sovereign, and they constantly know former lives. The sole exception occurs when an original vow leads them to be born in another world of the five turbidities, where they manifest in the same form as the beings there, just as they appear in this land.
〔八 · Making Offerings to All Buddhas within the Time of a Meal〕（0273c04）
The Buddha further told Ānanda: sustained by the Buddha’s majestic spiritual power, the bodhisattvas of that land can go within the time of a single meal to measureless worlds throughout the ten directions and respectfully make offerings to every buddha, the World-Honored Ones. Whatever they think of—flowers, incense, musical instruments and music, silken canopies, banners, standards, and measureless, innumerable vessels for offering—arises naturally by transformation and arrives as soon as it is thought of. Each is precious, sublime, and extraordinary, unlike anything in the world.
The bodhisattvas scatter these offerings over the buddhas and the assemblies of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. In the air the offerings form flower canopies whose luminous colors shine brilliantly and whose fragrance perfumes every place. Some flower canopies measure four hundred li around; others successively double until they cover the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system. In accordance with the order in which the offerings were made, the canopies successively disappear. The bodhisattvas all rejoice. Together in the air they play heavenly music, praise the virtues of the buddhas in subtle sounds, listen to and receive the scriptural Dharma, and experience measureless joy. Once their offerings to the buddhas are complete, before they have eaten they suddenly rise lightly through the air and return to their own land.
〔九 · Teaching in the Hall and Spontaneous Offerings〕（0273c15）
When the Buddha of Measureless Life proclaims the true Dharma to the assemblies of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas, they all gather in the hall of the seven precious substances. The Buddha expounds the teaching of the path extensively and unfolds the subtle Dharma. Everyone who hears rejoices, understands inwardly, and attains the path.
At that moment, a gentle wind naturally rises from the four directions and blows through all the jeweled trees, producing five kinds of sound. Measureless sublime flowers fall with the wind throughout the land, and such spontaneous offerings continue without interruption. All the gods bring hundreds of thousands of heavenly flowers and fragrances and ten thousand kinds of musical instruments and music as offerings to the Buddha of Measureless Life and the assemblies of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. They scatter flowers and incense everywhere and play all kinds of music; those coming and going yield to one another in turn. The harmony and joy of that time cannot be fully expressed in words.
〔十 · Non-Attachment, Compassion, and the Five Eyes〕（0273c23）
The Buddha told Ānanda: whatever the bodhisattvas born in that buddha-land teach, they always proclaim the true Dharma, follow wisdom, and neither violate it nor go astray. Toward all things in that land they possess no mind that claims them as “mine” and no mind of attachment. Whether coming or going, advancing or stopping, their feelings remain unbound. Free and sovereign in accordance with their intent, they cling to neither intimacy nor distance, neither acceptance nor rejection. They establish no opposition between other and self, engage in no competition, and enter no dispute.
Toward all sentient beings they possess great loving-kindness, compassion, and a mind intent on benefit. Their minds are gentle and well disciplined, without anger or resentment. Free from the five hindrances, they are pure and neither weary nor indolent. They possess a mind of equality, an excellent mind, a profound mind, a concentrated mind, and minds that love, delight in, and rejoice in the Dharma. They extinguish all afflictions and abandon minds directed toward evil destinies. They complete all bodhisattva conduct and perfectly accomplish measureless merit. They attain profound meditative concentration, supernormal powers, the three knowledges, and wisdom; their minds range within the seven factors of awakening as they cultivate the Buddha-Dharma.
Their physical eye is clear, seeing everything distinctly. Their divine eye penetrates and sees without measure or limit. Their Dharma-eye observes and exhausts all paths. Their wisdom-eye sees truth and can cross to the other shore. Their buddha-eye is complete and fully awakens to the Dharma-nature. With unobstructed wisdom they teach others, equally contemplating the three realms as empty and without possession. They aspire to the Buddha-Dharma, possess all forms of eloquence, and eliminate the afflictive ailments of sentient beings.
〔十一 · Born from Suchness, Bearing All through Compassion〕（0274a08）
They are born from the Tathāgata’s Dharma, understand dharmas in their suchness, know well origination and cessation, and skillfully employ the means of teaching through sound. They do not delight in worldly talk but rejoice in true discourse. They cultivate roots of goodness and honor the Buddha-path as their aim. Knowing all dharmas to be wholly quiescent, they exhaust the two remaining consequences of bodily birth and afflictions. Hearing profound Dharma, their minds neither doubt nor fear, and they constantly sustain the practice.
The great compassion they cultivate is profound, far-reaching, and subtle, covering and carrying every sentient being without exception. They bring the one vehicle to completion and reach the other shore. They cut through the net of doubts. Wisdom arises from the true mind, and nothing in the Buddha’s teaching lies outside their encompassing understanding. Their wisdom is as deep and broad as the ocean; their samādhi is as high and firm as the king of mountains. The radiance of their wisdom is pure and surpasses the sun and moon, and their stainless pure dharmas are complete and perfect.
〔十二 · Twenty Similes〕（0274a16）
The bodhisattvas of that land are like Snow Mountain, illuminating the equal purity to which all merits return; like the great earth, possessing no differing mind toward pure or impure, good or bad; like clear water, washing away the dust of toil and every defilement; like the king of fire, burning up all the fuel of affliction; like a great wind, moving through all worlds without obstruction; like empty space, attached to nothing that exists; and like a lotus flower, dwelling in the worlds without being stained.
They are also like the great vehicle, carrying all living beings out of birth and death; like heavy clouds, resounding with the thunder of the great Dharma and awakening those not yet awakened; like great rain, sending down the nectar of Dharma to moisten sentient beings; like a vajra mountain, unmoved by māras and non-Buddhist teachers; like Brahmā, foremost among all good dharmas; like a great nyagrodha tree, universally sheltering all; like an udumbara flower, rare and difficult to encounter; like a garuḍa, whose majestic power subdues non-Buddhist teachers; like roaming birds, storing up nothing; like a bull-king, whom none can surpass; like an elephant-king, skillfully disciplined; like a lion-king, fearless; and again like vast space, embracing sentient beings universally through equal great loving-kindness.
〔十三 · Giving the Dharma, the Many Powers, and the Ultimate Practice〕（0274b01）
They destroy jealousy and do not seek to surpass others. They delight exclusively in seeking the Dharma and are never satisfied; they constantly wish to teach it widely and their resolve never tires. They beat the Dharma drum, raise the Dharma banner, illuminate the sun of wisdom, dispel the darkness of delusion, cultivate the six principles of harmony and respect, and constantly practice the giving of Dharma. Their resolve is courageous and vigorous, their minds neither retreat nor weaken. They are lamps for the world, supreme fields of merit, and constant guides for sentient beings, equal and without hatred or attachment. Delighting only in the true path, they are not made glad or sorrowful by anything else. They pull out the thorns of desire and bring peace to all living beings. Their merit is so excellent that all honor them. They eliminate the three defiling obstacles of greed, anger, and delusion and move freely through the supernormal powers.
They possess the power of causes, the power of conditions, the power of intention, the power of vows, the power of skillful means, the power of constant cultivation, the power of good dharmas, the power of concentration, the power of wisdom, and the power of extensive learning. They possess the powers of the six perfections—giving, ethical discipline, patience, vigor, meditative concentration, and wisdom—as well as the powers of right mindfulness, calm and insight, the supernormal powers and knowledges, and the power to discipline sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma. Every power of these kinds is complete in them.
Their bodily appearance and excellent marks, merit, and eloquence are fully adorned, and none equals them. They respectfully make offerings to measureless buddhas and constantly receive the shared praise of the buddhas. They bring all the bodhisattva perfections to completion; cultivate the samādhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness and the many samādhi gates of neither arising nor ceasing; and remain far from a station limited to śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas.
〔十四 · A Summary That Cannot Exhaust Them〕（0274b15）
The Buddha finally told Ānanda: the bodhisattvas of that land accomplish such measureless virtues. He had given Ānanda only a concise account. If he were to speak of them extensively, even hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas could not exhaust them.
這一講以憬興《連義述文贊》對往生、往覲與彼土菩薩德的逐文開合為主，參照慧遠《義疏》以八種勝德重攝下人的讀法，再由曇鸞《往生論註》的入出功德看清往而能還。三家各有自己的篇章與義路；我們不把它們熔成一說，只讓古鏡共同照回本經：淨土之勝，究竟要在菩薩如何供佛、聞法、成願、度生上顯明。
十方的相遇，不是一場盛大的朝會
佛先告訴阿難，十方無量諸佛都稱歎無量壽佛；東方恒沙佛國的無量菩薩來到祂前，南西北、四維、上下也都如此。長頌以「東方諸佛國，其數如恒沙」〔T12n0360 0272c17〕展開，視野一下越過一國一方。可是這些菩薩不是來證明自己能行多遠，而是恭敬供養、聽受經法，然後宣布道化。
覲，是來見；來見之後便有聞，有受，有行，有再向眾生說。於是十方不是地圖上的宏大背景，而是法如何流動的方向。各國菩薩帶著花、香、衣與音樂而來，也帶著願而來；他們在佛前所獲得的，不只是一場莊嚴經驗，而是令原有之願更清楚、更能成為國土與度生之行。
你若只看見恒沙數、無價衣、天樂與妙香，這一段便像極樂世界的盛會圖。經文卻立刻把視線轉入內業：神通與智慧、功德與妙智、慧日與生死雲。外在供具之所以不空，是因禮敬者自身也在聞法中受教；內在智慧之所以不冷，是因它要照世、除雲、成就眾生。
花香之外，還有一輪慧日
頌中先說諸菩薩各帶妙花、寶香、無價衣，又奏天樂、歌歎最勝尊；接著說他們究達神通慧，遊入深法門，具足功德藏。外供與內敬並排，既不以內心真誠為由取消供養，也不以供物珍妙取代修證。
最關鍵的轉折，是菩薩見到嚴淨國土後「因發無量心，願我國亦然」〔T12n0360 0273a01〕。他們沒有把眼前莊嚴占為己有，也沒有只求長住其中；看見一個能安立眾生的世界，便願自己將來也成就這樣的國土。欣求因而不是貪著美景，而是把所見之善轉成所負之責。
古來把「無量心」〔T12n0360 0273a01〕解作慈、悲、喜、捨四無量；這是疏家的展開，經句本身只說無量心，沒有在此逐項列出四名。
這也說明福慧為何不能分家。供養使敬意有身、有物、有行；聞法使供養者知所行、知所願、知一切法不可執。福若不受慧導，容易在莊嚴中建立我所；慧若不成福行，又可能只停在觀解。經以慧日消除生死雲，卻讓這輪日照向世間，並未離世間而獨明。
知一切如幻，為何還要莊嚴國土
無量壽佛欣笑放光，觀世音請問笑意，佛便為十方正士授記。授記的語句一再把兩件看似相反的事放在一起：一面覺了一切法如夢幻響、知法如電影、一切空無我；一面志求嚴淨土、滿足諸妙願、必成如是剎。
如夢如幻若被讀成什麼都不必做，後面的成佛成土便全無位置；莊嚴國土若被讀成建立一個可永遠占有的世界，前面的空與無我又成空話。經不在兩者之間選邊。正因法無固定自性，穢惡不是不可轉；正因不以國土為我所，莊嚴才以眾生得度為尺度。
佛說十方來者之願祂都知道，並依願、智、行記其成佛成土。諸佛接著勸菩薩往覲聞法；「疾得清淨處」〔T12n0360 0273a19〕先說聞法受行後將成就清淨國土，下一句才說到彼嚴淨土後得神通、蒙授記。逐文古鏡也把前者的得土與後者的得通成覺分開〔T37n1745 0108c26；T37n1748 0160b13〕，不能把兩句都譯成到達安養國。願不是繞過空性去追求結果，空也不是消解願行的冷寂。知幻而修願，使行者不被自己的功德綁住；專求淨土而知無我，使空慧不離眾生可住、可聞法、可不退的具體因緣。
我們在此看見的，是一種不占有未來的承擔：既不把所成佛土叫作我的成就，也不因無我便把眾生的苦視作幻影而不顧。夢幻響與清淨剎同在一頌，正為守住這兩邊。
難聞難信，不是用來判定別人
長頌後半忽然從授記轉到聞經之難。沒有善本者不得聞，清淨持戒者乃聞正法；憍慢、弊惡、懈怠使人難信，宿世見佛者樂聞。經又說聲聞、菩薩尚不能究佛心，一切得道者縱以億劫思量，也不能窮佛智。
這些話不是給行者一張名單，用來判誰有善根、誰無善根。它首先折回聞法者自己：能聞而生信，已是壽命、佛世、信慧多重難得因緣的相遇；若因此增長憍慢，正落入經所說難信之障。真正的回應，是謙敬、奉行、不忘，並把難得化作精進。
「設滿世界火，必過要聞法」〔T12n0360 0273b17〕把珍重推到極處，但下一句不是只求自己免難，而是成佛道、廣濟生死流。越火聞法的價值，仍由能否廣濟眾生來決定。聞法若只增加一種自我殊勝感，便沒有穿過那場火；不忘而能行，才使所聞成為活的因緣。
一生補處，仍為眾生保留一個除外
散文從「彼國菩薩皆當究竟一生補處」〔T12n0360 0273b19〕起，科義轉入彼土菩薩的勝德。經隨即加上除句：有以本願為眾生、以弘誓功德自莊嚴而普欲度脫一切者，不受這一常例拘限。這個除外不是降低位次，而是把成就重新放回悲願。
一生補處很容易被想成修行終點近在眼前；經卻不讓近佛果成為離開眾生的理由。菩薩可以因本願示現他方五濁惡世，外相與彼土眾生相同，而其神通、宿命與不退並不失。淨土所成就的，不是只能留在清淨處的德，而是能入濁世仍不被濁世奪去方向的自在。
觀世音與大勢至在此被特別舉出。佛說二位菩薩先在此土修菩薩行，命終轉生彼國；這一句保留了路徑，也保留了因行。祂們的光明與威神不是無來由的標誌，而與此土修行、彼土成就及後續度生相連。彼國眾生所得三十二相、智慧、諸忍與神通，也都不是把差別根機抹平；經仍說鈍根、利根，而共同方向是不退惡趣、深入諸法。
經只說鈍根者成就二忍，沒有在此列出二忍的名稱。兩面逐文古鏡都把二忍解作音響忍、柔順忍；其中一鏡是在排除生法二忍、五忍前二等讀法後作此判〔T37n1745 0109c04；T37n1748 0161a16〕。這是疏家的歸名，不可倒寫成經文本身列出的名稱；記錄古釋與不替經添目，兩者必須同時守住。
一食頃往返十方，快的不是心急
彼土菩薩承佛威神，在一食頃往詣十方無量世界。花香、伎樂、幢幡等供具應念即至，在虛空化成華蓋；他們奏樂、歎佛、聽法，未食之前還到本國。時間極短，所行卻不草率：供養、讚歎、聞法、歡喜，一樣沒有省略。
神足之快，所克服的不是路程而已，更是心量被一處綁住的狹隘。能到十方，不表示逃離當處；能忽然還國，也不表示對所遇之佛與法淺薄。往與還都有清楚目的，沒有一刻是漫遊。供養自然化生，也不表示因果消失；它承佛威神，並由菩薩願行受用。
你可以把一食頃讀成一種尺度：不是催促有限之身模仿神通，而是反問一顆心能否在當下不被單一自利占滿。尚未具足遍至十方之力時，仍可學它的方向——所聞不留作私藏，所得不封閉於一處，回到自己的世界時，帶回能利益眾生的法。
無我所，才有不偏的慈悲
七寶講堂的大眾聞法心解，風動寶樹、雨花、天樂不絕；然而經真正長篇鋪陳的，是生彼國菩薩的心行。他們於萬物無我所、無染著，去來進止無所繫，無彼我、無競訟；隨後才列慈悲、柔軟、調伏、不忿、無厭、等心、勝心、深心、定心及愛法樂法喜法。
無我不是把關係抹掉。正因不以物為我所，不必為占有而爭；正因不固守彼我，才能平等饒益。經沒有從無著直接跳到孤寂，而是從無著走向大慈悲。這個次第也讓柔軟不等於軟弱：心不被忿恨與競訟牽走，才有調伏自己、長時承載眾生的力量。
五眼、辯才、如如、習滅、甚深法與一乘，隨後一一展開。觀照愈深，化他的責任並未愈輕；經說以無礙智為人演說、除眾生煩惱之患，又說「深遠微妙靡不覆載」〔T12n0360 0274a12〕。深是悲心不浮，廣是所覆無遺，載則不只遮蔭，更要運眾生出離生死。
二十個譬喻，都在回答如何承載
雪山、大地、淨水、火王、大風、虛空、蓮華，先顯平等、除垢、破障、無著與不染；大乘、重雲、大雨又把方向推向運載、警覺與潤澤；金剛山、梵王、大樹、希有華、金翅鳥、遊禽、牛王、象王、師子王，則顯堅固、上首、普覆、難遇、伏邪、無積、勝、調伏與無畏；末後曠若虛空，再以大慈平等收束全組。
這些譬喻若只被讀成二十枚稱號，會把經文重新變成德目櫥窗。每一喻其實都有動詞：照、載、洗、燒、行、運、震、雨、覆、伏、調。菩薩之德不是靜置的形容，而是在眾生與煩惱面前如何作用。大地不選淨穢，淨水能洗垢，大乘能載群萌；平等、智慧與慈悲因此不是三件事。
經末再列求法、說法、法施、六和敬、燈明、福田、師導以及因緣意願、方便定慧、多聞六度、正念止觀等力。力量之多，仍收在如法調伏眾生；三昧之深，仍收在遠離二乘地而究竟菩薩波羅蜜。其中意力、願力一組，兩面古鏡判義不同：一鏡以求佛之心為意力、起行之願為願力；另一鏡明確不取此說，改以如理作意為意力、求菩提心為願力〔T37n1745 0111b13；T37n1748 0163a07〕。經文只列意力、願力；兩種古釋並存，不能把其中一家倒寫成唯一技術義。佛最後說百千萬劫不能窮盡，不是因德目可以無限堆砌，而是利生之用隨眾生無盡，不是一紙名目所能封盡。
承衍——從往生之勝到還相之行
憬興把本段前半判為大菩薩往生，至一生補處處轉為褒貶得失、勸凡小；慧遠則把整體放在廣舉彼國勝事令人願求之下，以八門收束彼土人德。兩家共同保住一件事：說菩薩功德，是為令凡小發願，不是讓讀者遠觀一群與自己無關的聖者。
曇鸞更以入出功德指出，生彼國、入大會、入修行之宅，終要走到園林遊戲地門；第五門之出，是以本願力回入生死園林教化。其所說遍十方供佛而無往來想、供養想、度脫想，恰與本經往覲、還國、無我所、大悲覆載彼此發明。若只有入而沒有出，淨土成了自我保存；若只有出而沒有聞法成就，悲願又缺少不退之地。兩向相成，才見彼土菩薩何以已到而仍在路上。
我們最後回到經文的落點：往生不是把道路走完，而是讓願行得到不退的開展；供佛不是離開眾生，成土也不是占有清淨。所見愈莊嚴，所願愈廣；所得愈自在，所覆載的生命愈多。菩薩在十方往還之間沒有遺失自己的方向，因為那個方向從來不是自己一人。
This exposition follows the passage-by-passage openings and groupings that Jingxing gives the bodhisattvas’ birth, visits, and virtues in Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise. It reads these alongside Huiyuan’s gathering of the passage under eight excellences that draw those of lesser capacity toward the land, and then uses the accomplishment of entry and emergence in Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land to see how one can go and still return. The three masters retain their own structures and doctrinal paths. We do not melt them into one account. Together, they illuminate this sūtra: the excellence of the Pure Land ultimately becomes visible in how bodhisattvas honor buddhas, hear the Dharma, fulfill vows, and deliver sentient beings.
The Meeting of the Ten Directions Is Not a Magnificent Court Assembly
The Buddha first tells Ānanda that measureless buddhas throughout the ten directions praise the Buddha of Measureless Life. Measureless bodhisattvas from eastern buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā come before him, and the same occurs in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, above, and below. The long verse opens with buddha-lands of the east as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, and the view suddenly passes beyond any single land or direction. Yet these bodhisattvas do not come to demonstrate how far they can travel. They come to make respectful offerings, listen to and receive the scriptural Dharma, and then proclaim the path of transformation.
To visit is to come and see. After seeing come hearing, receiving, practicing, and speaking the Dharma again to sentient beings. The ten directions are therefore more than an immense geographic setting. They show the directions in which Dharma moves. The bodhisattvas of each land bring flowers, incense, robes, and music, but they also bring vows. What they obtain before the Buddha is more than an adorned experience. Their existing vows become clearer and more capable of taking form as lands and activities of deliverance.
If you see only sands of the Gaṅgā, priceless robes, heavenly music, and sublime incense, the passage can look like a grand assembly in the world of Ultimate Bliss. The sūtra immediately turns the gaze toward inward practice: supernormal power and wisdom, merit and subtle wisdom, the sun of wisdom and the clouds of birth and death. External offerings are not empty because those who offer are themselves instructed through hearing the Dharma. Inward wisdom is not cold because it illuminates the world, dispels clouds, and fulfills sentient beings.
Beyond Flowers and Incense, There Is a Sun of Wisdom
The verse first says that the bodhisattvas each bring sublime flowers, precious incense, and priceless robes; they then play heavenly music and sing praises of the supremely honored one. It immediately says that they completely penetrate supernormal powers and wisdom, enter profound Dharma gates, and possess the treasury of merit. External offering and inward reverence stand side by side. Sincerity of mind does not cancel material offerings, and precious offerings do not replace realization.
The decisive turn comes after the bodhisattvas see the pure and adorned land: they give rise to a measureless mind and aspire that their own land may be the same. They neither claim the adornment before them as their own nor seek only to remain there. Seeing a world capable of establishing sentient beings in the Dharma, they aspire to accomplish such a land themselves. Admiring what is excellent becomes responsibility rather than attachment to beautiful scenery.
Ancient commentators identify the “measureless mind” as the four immeasurables—loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. This unfolds the commentators’ reading; the scriptural line itself says only measureless mind and does not enumerate four names here.
This also shows why merit and wisdom cannot be separated. Offering gives reverence body, substance, and action. Hearing the Dharma lets those who offer know how to practice, what to aspire toward, and why no dharma should be grasped. Merit without the guidance of wisdom can build a new possession within adornment. Wisdom that never becomes meritorious action can remain only contemplation. The sun of wisdom dispels the clouds of birth and death precisely by shining upon the world, not apart from it.
If All Things Are like Illusions, Why Adorn a Land?
The Buddha of Measureless Life smiles and emits light. Avalokiteśvara asks the reason, and the Buddha confers predictions upon the noble ones from the ten directions. The language of the prediction repeatedly places together two things that seem opposed. On one side, the bodhisattvas awaken to all dharmas as dreams, illusions, and echoes; know dharmas as lightning and images; and know all to be empty and without self. On the other, they seek pure and adorned lands, fulfill sublime vows, and certainly accomplish such lands.
If dream and illusion meant that nothing need be done, future buddhahood and the accomplishment of lands would have no place. If adorning a land meant establishing a world for permanent possession, emptiness and selflessness would become empty speech. The sūtra chooses neither side. Precisely because dharmas possess no fixed self-nature, defilement is not incapable of transformation. Precisely because the land is not grasped as mine, its adornment can take the deliverance of sentient beings as its measure.
The Buddha says he knows every vow of those who have come and predicts their buddhahood and lands in accordance with their vows, wisdom, and practices. The buddhas then urge their bodhisattvas to visit and hear the Dharma. The verse first says that, after hearing, receiving, and practicing, they will swiftly attain a place of purity. Only in the next line does it say that after reaching that pure and adorned land they attain supernormal powers and receive a prediction. Both line-by-line ancient mirrors keep separate the first statement about attaining a pure land of one’s own in the future and the second about attaining powers and awakening after arriving in the adorned land. The two lines cannot both be rendered as arrival in the land of Peace and Sustenance.
Vow does not evade emptiness in pursuit of a result, and emptiness is not a cold stillness that dissolves practice. Knowing illusion while cultivating vows keeps practitioners from being bound by their own merit. Seeking a Pure Land while knowing selflessness keeps empty wisdom joined to concrete conditions in which beings can live, hear the Dharma, and attain non-retrogression.
What appears here is responsibility without ownership of the future. Practitioners neither call the accomplished land my achievement nor use selflessness to dismiss the suffering of beings as an illusion. Dreams, illusions, echoes, and the pure land stand within a single verse to guard against both extremes.
Difficulty in Hearing and Trusting Is Not a Standard for Judging Others
The latter half of the long verse turns suddenly from predictions to the difficulty of hearing the sūtra. Those without roots of goodness cannot hear it; those pure and observant of precepts can hear the true Dharma. Arrogance, corruption, and indolence make trust difficult, while those who have seen buddhas in past lives delight in hearing. The sūtra further says that neither śrāvakas nor bodhisattvas can fathom the Buddha’s sacred mind, and even all those who have attained the path could contemplate for a hundred million kalpas without exhausting buddha-wisdom.
These statements do not hand the practitioner a list for deciding who has roots of goodness and who does not. They first turn back upon the hearer. To hear and trust already means that human life, a buddha’s appearance, and the difficult attainment of trust and wisdom have met. If this meeting increases arrogance, one falls directly into the very obstruction the sūtra says makes trust difficult. The genuine response is humility, respect, practice, and not forgetting—turning rarity into vigor.
The verse drives this preciousness to its extreme by saying that even if the world were filled with fire, one should cross it to hear the Dharma. Yet the next line does not speak only of personal escape. It speaks of accomplishing the Buddha-path and widely rescuing the current of birth and death. The worth of crossing the fire is still measured by whether what is heard can rescue sentient beings. Hearing that merely produces a sense of personal superiority has not crossed the fire. Hearing that is remembered and practiced becomes a living condition.
At the Final Birth, an Exception Is Still Kept for Sentient Beings
When the prose begins, “All bodhisattvas of that land ultimately become final-birth bodhisattvas,” the doctrinal structure turns toward their excellent virtues. The sūtra immediately adds an exception: those who possess an original vow for sentient beings, adorn themselves through the merit of vast vows, and universally aspire to deliver all are not constrained by the usual course. The exception does not lower their station. It places attainment again within the compassionate vow.
A final-birth bodhisattva can easily be imagined as standing before a nearby endpoint. The sūtra does not let proximity to buddhahood become a reason to depart from sentient beings. Through an original vow, bodhisattvas can manifest in another world of the five turbidities, assume the appearance of beings there, and yet lose neither supernormal power, memory of former lives, nor non-retrogression. The Pure Land accomplishes not a virtue that can survive only in a pure place, but a sovereignty capable of entering a turbid world without surrendering its direction.
Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta are named especially here. The Buddha says that both first cultivated bodhisattva practice in this land and, at life’s end, were born in that land. The sentence preserves a path and a causal practice. Their radiance and majestic power are not unexplained emblems, but are joined to cultivation here, fulfillment there, and continued deliverance. The thirty-two marks, wisdom, patiences, and supernormal powers of beings in that land likewise do not erase differences in faculties. The sūtra still speaks of dull and keen faculties, while their common direction is freedom from evil destinies and deep entry into the dharmas.
The sūtra says only that those of dull faculties accomplish “two patiences.” It does not give their names here. Both line-by-line ancient mirrors identify them as the patience concerning sounds and echoes and the compliant patience; one of the mirrors reaches this conclusion only after rejecting such alternatives as the two patiences concerning beings and dharmas or the first two of five patiences. These names belong to the commentators’ identification and cannot be written backward into the sūtra as though it had enumerated them. Recording the ancient reading and refraining from adding names to scripture must be preserved together.
In a Single Meal, Speed Is Not Haste
Sustained by the Buddha’s majestic spiritual power, the bodhisattvas of that land reach measureless worlds throughout the ten directions within the time of a meal. Flowers, incense, music, standards, and other offerings arrive as soon as they are thought of and form canopies in the air. The bodhisattvas play music, praise buddhas, hear the Dharma, and return home before eating. The time is extremely brief, but the practices are not careless: offering, praise, hearing, and joy are all present.
The speed of supernormal movement overcomes more than distance. It overcomes a mind’s confinement within one place and one self-interest. Reaching the ten directions does not mean fleeing the place where one is. Suddenly returning home does not mean that the encountered buddhas and Dharma were treated lightly. Going and returning each have a clear purpose; no moment is wandering. Offerings arising spontaneously do not mean that cause and effect vanish. They depend upon the Buddha’s majestic power and upon the bodhisattvas’ vows and practices.
The time of a meal offers a measure for reflection. It does not urge a limited body to imitate supernormal power. It asks whether the present mind can cease to be occupied exclusively by personal benefit. Before one can reach the ten directions, one can still learn the direction of this conduct: do not keep what is heard as private property, do not seal what is attained within one place, and when returning to one’s own world, bring back Dharma capable of benefiting sentient beings.
Without a Mind of “Mine,” Compassion Becomes Impartial
In the hall of the seven precious substances, the assembly hears the Dharma and attains understanding. Winds move the jeweled trees, flowers fall, and heavenly music continues. Yet the sūtra’s most extensive description concerns the conduct of bodhisattvas born in that land. Toward all things they possess neither a mind of “mine” nor attachment; in coming, going, advancing, and stopping they remain unbound, without opposition between self and other, competition, or dispute. Only then does it list loving-kindness, compassion, gentleness, discipline, freedom from anger, tirelessness, equality, excellence, profundity, concentration, and love, delight, and joy in the Dharma.
Selflessness does not erase relationship. Precisely because things are not claimed as mine, there is no need to compete for possession. Precisely because self and other are not held apart, one can benefit impartially. The sūtra does not leap from non-attachment into isolation. It moves from non-attachment into great compassion. This sequence also shows why gentleness is not weakness. A mind not carried away by resentment and dispute possesses the strength to discipline itself and bear sentient beings for a long time.
The five eyes, eloquence, suchness, origination and cessation, profound Dharma, and the one vehicle then unfold in sequence. The deeper the vision becomes, the responsibility to transform others does not grow lighter. The sūtra says that bodhisattvas teach through unobstructed wisdom, remove sentient beings’ afflictive ailments, and bear all through compassion. Their profundity means that compassion is not shallow; their breadth means no being is omitted; their bearing does more than shelter, for it carries sentient beings out of birth and death.
Twenty Similes All Answer the Question of How to Bear Sentient Beings
Snow Mountain, the earth, clear water, the king of fire, great wind, empty space, and the lotus first display equality, cleansing, destruction of obstruction, non-attachment, and freedom from stain. The great vehicle, heavy clouds, and great rain then advance toward carrying, awakening, and moistening. Vajra mountain, Brahmā, the sheltering tree, the rare flower, the garuḍa, roaming birds, the bull-king, elephant-king, and lion-king show firmness, eminence, universal shelter, rarity, subduing what is wrong, non-accumulation, supremacy, discipline, and fearlessness. Vast space finally gathers the whole group in equal great loving-kindness.
If these similes are read only as twenty honorifics, the passage becomes a display case of virtues. Every image actually contains an action: illuminating, bearing, washing, burning, moving, carrying, thundering, raining, sheltering, subduing, and disciplining. Bodhisattva virtues are not static descriptions. They are ways of functioning in the presence of sentient beings and afflictions. Earth makes no discrimination between pure and impure; clear water washes away defilement; the great vehicle carries living beings. Equality, wisdom, and compassion are therefore not three unrelated things.
The end of the passage further lists seeking and teaching Dharma, Dharma-giving, the six principles of harmony and respect, being a lamp, a field of merit, and a guide, and possessing the powers of causes, conditions, intention, vows, skillful means, concentration, wisdom, extensive learning, the six perfections, right mindfulness, and calm and insight. Their many powers still come to rest in disciplining sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma. Their profound samādhis still culminate in the bodhisattva perfections rather than stopping at the two vehicles.
Concerning the paired terms power of intention and power of vows, the two line-by-line ancient mirrors give different meanings. One identifies intention-power as the mind seeking buddhahood and vow-power as the vow that initiates practice. The other explicitly rejects that reading and instead takes intention-power as correct attention in accordance with principle and vow-power as the aspiration seeking awakening. The sūtra itself lists only intention-power and vow-power. Both ancient interpretations remain recorded; neither can be written into the scripture as the sole technical meaning.
The Buddha finally says that even hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas could not exhaust these virtues. This is not because a list can be indefinitely expanded. The activities benefiting beings vary as sentient beings are inexhaustible and cannot be sealed within one catalog.
Carrying Forward — From the Excellence of Birth to the Practice of Returning
Jingxing classifies the first part as the birth of great bodhisattvas and turns at the final-birth passage to praise and criticism of gains and losses intended to encourage those of ordinary and lesser capacity. Huiyuan places the whole within an extensive display of the land’s excellences meant to awaken aspiration and gathers its human virtues under eight headings. Both protect one point: speaking of bodhisattva virtues is meant to give ordinary beings reason to aspire, not to present a remote group of saints unrelated to the reader.
Tanluan’s teaching on the accomplishments of entry and emergence makes the farther direction explicit. Birth in the land, entry into the great assembly, and entry into the house of practice must culminate in the gate of the garden of playful transformation. The fifth gate’s emergence means returning through original-vow power into the forest of birth and death to teach. His account of traversing the ten directions to honor buddhas without conceiving travel, offering, or deliverance illuminates this sūtra’s visits, returns, freedom from possession, and compassion that bears all. Entry without emergence turns the Pure Land into self-preservation. Emergence without hearing the Dharma and attaining non-retrogression leaves compassion without a stable ground. Together they show why a bodhisattva who has arrived is still on the road.
The sūtra’s own destination now becomes clear. Birth in that land does not mean the journey is over, but that vow and practice receive a non-retrogressive unfolding. Honoring buddhas is not departure from sentient beings, and accomplishing a land is not possession of purity. The more adorned the land one sees, the vaster the vow; the greater the mastery one attains, the more lives one bears. The bodhisattva does not lose direction while traveling and returning through the ten directions, because that direction was never toward oneself alone.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本段先明十方諸佛稱歎、諸國菩薩往覲供養，繼以三十頌開顯聞法、授記、本願不退與難聞難信；散文再轉說彼土菩薩的一生補處、觀音勢至、往供十方、聽法受樂及無量自行化他功德。它不是一個平面的菩薩功德清單，而由來、見、聞、願、記、還、住、行層層推進。
一、科判定位
憬興《無量壽經連義述文贊》於本段起首判作大菩薩往生，先略標、後廣頌；廣頌又分勝聖共生與諸佛皆歎。至散文「彼國菩薩皆當究竟一生補處」〔T12n0360 0273b19〕，其科判不再延續前面的諸佛歎頌，而轉入褒貶得失、勸凡小欣求之科。主鏡原文標明「第三、褒貶得失以勸凡小」〔T37n1748 0160c21〕，該科標及三分展開見 0160c21–0160c24。故本單元內確有一處中科轉折；單元外界則仍與主鏡相合。
慧遠《無量壽經義疏》把此處置於重攝下人同生彼國的第一分：先廣舉彼國勝妙，使人願求，後面才轉娑婆穢惡。其內又以八門展開彼國勝事，從壽命、光明、相好、智德、不退、供佛、聞法，至所行功德。兩家開合不同，卻都確認本段不是單一一科：前半以往生、往覲和聞法顯勝，後半以彼土菩薩的德行顯勝。
二、異譯對勘（四譯一會·異同誌錄不判）
| witness | 對應範圍 | 場景配置 |
|---|---|---|
| T361 | A 0285c26–0287a24；B 0287b18–0289b02；C 0289c20–0290a28 | A 往供十方諸佛，B 佛眾集會聞法，C 彼土菩薩功德；三段被其他材料隔開。起錨為「諸菩薩中有意欲供養八方上下無央數諸佛」〔T12n0361 0285c26〕。 |
| T362 | A 0306a01–0307a03；B 0307a21–0307c15；C 0308a20–0308b22 | 與 T361 同為三段式重排。起錨為「諸菩薩中，有意欲供養八方、上下無央數諸佛」〔T12n0362 0306a01〕。 |
| T363 | 0323c12–0325a06 | 往覲、供養、聞法與菩薩德行連續敘述。起錨為「復次，阿難！東方恒河沙數佛剎」〔T12n0363 0323c12〕。 |
| T310 會五 | 0098a20–0099c07 | 同樣連續安置十方來會與彼土菩薩功德。起錨為「東方如恒河沙界，一一界中有如恒沙菩薩」〔T11n0310 0098a20〕。 |
T360 先以長頌總攝往覲、授記、聞名不退與勸聞，再以散文詳說彼土菩薩。T361、T362 把對應材料拆作三個不連續區段，不能拿單一連續 span 強合；T363、T310 則較集中。對應只證場景與功能相承，不證句序、德目數或分科完全相同。
三、經論宗依（眼）
本段之眼，在『往』而能『還』，於一切往還中不失大悲。菩薩往覲不是離開眾生去享受莊嚴：他們供佛、聽法、得記，又願莊嚴自己的國土，普度一切；彼土菩薩雖自在無著，經文仍以饒益、柔軟、調伏、法施與覆載群生為其德。
曇鸞《往生論註》以報生三昧說此無礙行：「一處一念一時遍十方世界」〔T40n1819 0840a24〕，能供養諸佛，也能在無三寶處示現教化；其往來、供養、度脫皆無取相。故往供與還國不是兩樁互斷的神通展示，而是寂滅平等中的佛事。經中「於諸眾生得大慈悲饒益之心」〔T12n0360 0273c27〕正把國土功德落在眾生身上。
四、本段釋要
本段依經次第可分八層：
- 十方同往：東方恒沙佛國諸菩薩來詣無量壽佛，餘九方亦然；所行兼具恭敬供養、聽受經法與宣布道化。
- 供養而求土：長頌先寫華、香、衣、樂之外供，再寫神通慧、功德藏、慧日之內德；見淨土後發無量心，願自己的國土亦得清淨。主鏡以「福是慧資、慧是福道」〔T37n1748 0160a07〕說福慧相資，不把供養縮成物品陳列。
- 放光與授記：佛欣笑放光，觀世音請問；佛依來眾之願、智、行，授其成佛與成土之記。夢、幻、響、電、影與空無我，不取消願土，反顯菩薩以二諦智求淨佛土。
- 諸佛共歎：諸佛勸菩薩覲佛聞法。「疾得清淨處」〔T12n0360 0273a19〕在前，「至彼嚴淨土」〔T12n0360 0273a20〕後得神通、授記在後；慧遠把前句解作聞法受行後於未來得自己的妙淨土〔T37n1745 0108c26〕，憬興也把它另判為聞法得土歎，不與後句得通成覺歎相混〔T37n1748 0160b13〕。本願力又使聞名欲生者到國不退，憬興將此判作「第三、聞名不退歎。即前住正定聚也。」〔T37n1748 0160b20〕
- 難聞而勸發心：經從善本、戒行、宿見諸佛說到憍慢懈怠，再以二乘乃至一切得道者皆不能測佛智，勸人珍惜壽命、佛世與信慧，甚至越過滿世之火也要聞法。
- 一生補處與二大士：此即本單元的科轉點。彼土菩薩究竟一生補處，但為度生而有本願者除外；觀世音、大勢至從此土修行而生彼國，並非無因忽現。往生者由相好、智慧、諸忍、神通與宿命展開，亦可依願示現五濁惡世。
- 供佛、聞法、還國：菩薩於一食頃遍供十方，供具應念而至；聽法、歌歎、歡喜後，未食以前還國。佛在七寶講堂說法，風樹、妙華、諸天供養與大眾心解得道相應。
- 無量自行化他：從無我所、無染著、無競訟，展開慈悲、定慧、五眼、辯才、如如、四諦、一乘、諸喻、六和敬、法施、諸力、波羅蜜與三昧，最後以百千萬劫說不能盡收束。
五、諸家異釋（分欄並錄）
| 義位 | 憬興《連義述文贊》T1748 | 慧遠《義疏》T1745 | 曇鸞《往生論註》T1819 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 全段位置 | 先作大菩薩往生，至 0273b19 轉褒貶得失、勸凡小 | 置於重攝下人之第一分，廣舉彼國勝事令人願求 | 不逐句判本經科段，以菩薩四種正修行與五門出入照其行 |
| 往覲供養 | 分外事供養、內業供敬與見土欣求；福慧相資 | 供養生福、受法生智，並標一念周遍、起行速疾 | 報生三昧中一處一念遍十方，供佛與教化同時成立 |
| 菩薩大悲 | 深遠微妙是心深重，覆載是濟生普廣且令出死 | 以『深遠微妙』釋悲心深，以『靡不覆載』釋悲物廣〔T37n1745 0110c10〕 | 往相、還相皆為拔眾生出生死海；第五門成就出功德 |
| 德目組織 | 五眼、修行、修成、大悲、一乘、譬喻、增進、諸力、究滿逐層細分 | 以八種彼土勝德總攝，再於菩薩行中依六度與自利利他解釋 | 四種菩薩莊嚴同歸真如正體；入土後終須回入生死林教化 |
| 意力／願力 | 否定求佛之心／起行之願等兩說，判意力為如理作意、願力為求菩提心〔T37n1748 0163a07〕 | 判意力為求佛之心、願力為起行之願〔T37n1745 0111b13〕 | 未逐句配本段二力，不據其架構調停兩疏 |
三家都不把彼土菩薩之德停在自受安樂；不同的是，兩疏依 T360 逐文分科，論註依自身偈論架構說往還與自他利。此處保持各自語境，不拼成一套唯一科表。
六、術語
| 名相 | 本段義界 |
|---|---|
| 往覲 | 菩薩往見無量壽佛，兼具供養、聞法、受行與宣布道化；不是只作禮儀性的拜訪。 |
| 無量覺 | 長頌對無量壽佛的稱名；異譯名號各守本文。 |
| 無量心 | 見淨土後所發廣心。憬興明釋為四無量心；此為疏家判釋，不改寫成 T360 自身明列的四項。 |
| 受決／授記 | 佛知菩薩願行而記其當作佛、當成相應清淨國土。 |
| 一生補處 | 尚一生而補佛處。經同時保留為眾生故以本願示現者，不能解成人人立即捨離利生行。 |
| 二忍／無生法忍 | 經依鈍利根說成就層次，但本段自身未逐一列出二忍名。慧遠與憬興都把二忍解作音響忍、柔順忍；憬興是在排除生法二忍、五忍前二等讀法後作此判〔T37n1745 0109c04〕〔T37n1748 0161a16〕。此為疏家歸名，不改寫成 T360 自身列名。 |
| 五濁惡世 | 菩薩可因度生本願示現其中；惡世是化境，不表示其退失或復墮。 |
| 七覺 | 經說遊志七覺、修心佛法；指七覺支之修，不另增本段未列的次序。 |
| 五眼 | 肉眼、天眼、法眼、慧眼、佛眼依次展開；此處是彼土菩薩所具觀照，不宜拆成五種互不相干的神異能力。 |
七、譬喻·修辭
前半長頌以方向鋪陳十方，以華香衣樂和慧日生死雲形成外供、內德兩層；笑光從口出、繞身三匝、從頂而入，構成觀音發問與授記的可見徵相。夢、幻、響、電、影連續出現，使知空與成土並列，而非相互排斥。
後半德目由抽象功德轉為二十喻：雪山、大地、淨水、火王、大風、虛空、蓮華、大乘、重雲、大雨、金剛山、梵王、尼拘類樹、優曇鉢華、金翅鳥、遊禽、牛王、象王、師子王，最後以曠若虛空顯大慈平等。憬興把其中大乘以下十三句約作六對，從出凡入聖、摧邪就善、普覆希見，一直推到無畏與憐愍。譬喻的共同方向不是稱量菩薩有多偉大，而是顯其平等、除染、運載、警覺、潤澤、堅固、覆護與無畏如何利益眾生。
八、徵引承衍
- 平等法身之無礙佛事：論註說菩薩遍十方供佛並教化，卻「初無往來想、供養想、度脫想」〔T40n1819 0840a27〕；恰可承接本經往覲與還國，而防止把神足行讀成自我擴張。
- 入而必出：五種功德門之前四門成就入，園林遊戲地門成就出。出不是退離淨土，而是以本願力回入生死稠林，至教化地利益眾生。
- 器世間與眾生世間同淨：論註把佛土莊嚴、佛莊嚴、菩薩莊嚴攝為二種清淨；本段亦把嚴淨土與彼土菩薩功德相續說明，不能只取景物而捨人德。
- 本願所成不退：長頌以佛本願力說聞名欲生者到國不退；後文菩薩德則展示不退之後如何供佛、聞法、說法與度生，不把不退當成修行終止。
九、校本定位
本單元底本為 T12n0360 0272c11–0274b17，抽取帳記 71 個行位、正文二千四百四十字；底層 XML 於此範圍有四十一則校勘項，正文 gaiji 與行內註均為零。代表性異讀包括法門／法性、不更／不受惡趣、不望／不要／不忌勝、功德／功慧，以及正念止觀／正念正觀。本文一律守大正藏底本，不據疏或異本改字。
起點是佛告阿難十方菩薩往詣，終點是百千萬劫不能窮盡。讀者層所用三個段首錨只為長文導覽，不能取代底層逐行定位；本考據所引各句均回到相應鏡檔的起字行。另 T1748 0161a22–a24 文脈脫亂，底層校記亦載冠註疑有脫文；此處只誌疑脫，不替古疏補字，相關德目次第以 T1745 作旁證。
異譯定位依場景次序而非詞形搜索：T361、T362 各有三段不連續對應，T363、T310 會五各有一段連續對應。上述主鏡科轉只說單元內發生科轉，不表示 T360 文本殘缺，也不授權移動 0273b19 的單元界。異譯次序、德目開合與稱名均只誌錄，不拿一本到另一本文中補文。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This passage first tells how buddhas throughout the ten directions praise the Buddha of Measureless Life and bodhisattvas from their lands come to visit and make offerings. Thirty verses then unfold hearing the Dharma, predictions, non-retrogression through the original vow, and the difficulty of hearing and trusting. The prose turns next to the final-birth bodhisattvas of that land, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, visits throughout the ten directions, hearing the Dharma and experiencing joy, and the measureless virtues through which the bodhisattvas benefit themselves and others. It is not a flat list. Coming, seeing, hearing, vowing, receiving a prediction, returning, abiding, and acting advance level by level.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
At the beginning of this passage, Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise on the Sūtra of Measureless Life identifies the birth of great bodhisattvas. It first gives a brief indication and then an extensive verse; the extensive verse further distinguishes the shared birth of excellent sages and the praise offered by all buddhas. At 「彼國菩薩皆當究竟一生補處」—“all bodhisattvas of that land ultimately become final-birth bodhisattvas” 〔T12n0360 0273b19〕, its analysis no longer continues the preceding verses of praise by all buddhas but turns toward praising and criticizing gains and losses in order to encourage ordinary and lesser beings. The primary mirror expressly labels the new division 「第三、褒貶得失以勸凡小」—“Third, praising and criticizing gains and losses in order to encourage ordinary and lesser beings” 〔T37n1748 0160c21〕. This unit therefore contains a genuine internal shift of section, while its outer boundary remains consistent with the primary mirror.
Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning of the Sūtra of Measureless Life places this passage within the first part of again gathering beings of lesser capacity into shared birth in that land. It first extensively sets forth the land’s excellence so that people will aspire to it; only later does it turn to the defilement and evil of Sahā. Internally, Huiyuan unfolds the excellences of the land through eight gates: lifespan, radiance, excellent marks, wisdom, non-retrogression, honoring buddhas, hearing the Dharma, and practiced virtues. The two commentators group the material differently, but both establish that this is not a single undivided topic. The first half displays excellence through birth, visits, and hearing; the latter displays it through the virtues of the bodhisattvas of that land.
II. Collation with the Alternate Translations (Four Translations and One Assembly) — recorded without adjudication
| Witness | Corresponding span | Arrangement of scenes |
|---|---|---|
| T361 | A: 0285c26–0287a24; B: 0287b18–0289b02; C: 0289c20–0290a28 | A gives offerings to buddhas throughout the ten directions, B the assembly before the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, and C the virtues of the bodhisattvas of that land. Other material separates the three. Its opening anchor is 「諸菩薩中有意欲供養八方上下無央數諸佛」—“Among the bodhisattvas are those who wish to make offerings to limitless buddhas throughout the eight directions, above, and below” 〔T12n0361 0285c26〕. |
| T362 | A: 0306a01–0307a03; B: 0307a21–0307c15; C: 0308a20–0308b22 | Like T361, it rearranges the material into three separate spans. Its opening anchor is 「諸菩薩中，有意欲供養八方、上下無央數諸佛」—“Among the bodhisattvas are those who wish to make offerings to limitless buddhas throughout the eight directions, above, and below” 〔T12n0362 0306a01〕. |
| T363 | 0323c12–0325a06 | Visits, offerings, hearing the Dharma, and bodhisattva virtues appear continuously. Its opening anchor is 「復次，阿難！東方恒河沙數佛剎」—“Further, Ānanda, in eastern buddha-fields as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā” 〔T12n0363 0323c12〕. |
| Assembly Five of T310 | 0098a20–0099c07 | It likewise places arrivals from the ten directions and the virtues of the bodhisattvas of that land continuously. Its opening anchor is 「東方如恒河沙界，一一界中有如恒沙菩薩」—“In worlds of the east as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, each world contains bodhisattvas as numerous as those sands” 〔T11n0310 0098a20〕. |
T360 first gathers visits, predictions, non-retrogression on hearing the Name, and encouragement to hear within a long verse, then gives an extensive prose account of the bodhisattvas of that land. T361 and T362 divide corresponding material into three noncontiguous spans and cannot be forced into a single continuous span. T363 and Assembly Five arrange it more compactly. Correspondence demonstrates continuity of scene and function, not identical sentence order, number of virtues, or doctrinal outline.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)
The eye of this passage lies in going and still being able to return, without losing great compassion throughout every movement. Bodhisattvas do not visit the Buddha merely to leave sentient beings behind and enjoy adornment. They make offerings, hear the Dharma, receive predictions, aspire to adorn their own lands, and universally deliver all. Although the bodhisattvas of that land are free and unattached, the sūtra still makes benefit, gentleness, discipline, Dharma-giving, and bearing sentient beings their virtues.
Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land explains this unobstructed practice through the samādhi attained as the result of birth: 「一處一念一時遍十方世界」—“In one place, one thought, and one time, they pervade the worlds throughout the ten directions” 〔T40n1819 0840a24〕. They can honor buddhas and also manifest teaching and transformation where the Three Jewels are absent, without grasping any of the going, offerings, or deliverance. Visiting and returning are therefore not two disconnected displays of supernormal power, but buddha-activity within the equality of quiescence. The sūtra’s phrase 「於諸眾生得大慈悲饒益之心」—“toward sentient beings they attain a mind of great loving-kindness, compassion, and benefit” 〔T12n0360 0273c27〕 places the merit of the land directly upon sentient beings.
IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage
The passage advances through eight levels:
- All ten directions come alike. Bodhisattvas from eastern buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā visit the Buddha of Measureless Life; the remaining nine directions do likewise. Their activity includes reverent offering, hearing and receiving the scriptural Dharma, and proclaiming the path of transformation.
- They make offerings and seek lands. The long verse begins with outer offerings of flowers, incense, robes, and music, then turns to inward virtues of supernormal power, wisdom, the treasury of merit, and the sun of wisdom. After seeing the Pure Land, they give rise to a measureless mind and aspire to accomplish pure lands of their own. The primary mirror says 「福是慧資、慧是福道」—“merit is the support of wisdom, and wisdom is the path of merit” 〔T37n1748 0160a07〕. Merit and wisdom sustain one another; offering is not reduced to a display of objects.
- The Buddha emits light and confers predictions. The Buddha smiles and emits light, and Avalokiteśvara asks the reason. Knowing the visitors’ vows, wisdom, and practices, the Buddha predicts both their buddhahood and their accomplishment of corresponding pure lands. Dreams, illusions, echoes, lightning, images, emptiness, and selflessness do not cancel the aspiration for a land; they show bodhisattvas seeking pure buddha-lands through wisdom of the two truths.
- All buddhas praise alike. The buddhas urge bodhisattvas to visit, hear, and practice. 「疾得清淨處」—“swiftly attain a place of purity” 〔T12n0360 0273a19〕 precedes 「至彼嚴淨土」—“upon reaching that pure and adorned land” 〔T12n0360 0273a20〕, which is then followed by attaining supernormal powers and receiving a prediction. Huiyuan reads the earlier statement as attaining one’s own sublime pure land in the future after hearing and practicing 〔T37n1745 0108c26〕. Jingxing likewise classifies it separately as praise of attaining a land through hearing the Dharma, distinct from the subsequent praise of attaining supernormal powers and perfect awakening 〔T37n1748 0160b13〕. The power of the original vow further enables those who hear the Name and aspire for birth to attain non-retrogression in that land. Jingxing classifies this as 「第三、聞名不退歎。即前住正定聚也。」—“Third, praise of non-retrogression through hearing the Name. This is the preceding abiding in the rightly fixed group” 〔T37n1748 0160b20〕.
- Difficulty in hearing leads to encouragement to give rise to the resolve. The sūtra moves from roots of goodness, precepts, and having seen buddhas in former lives to arrogance and indolence. It says that neither the two vehicles nor even all who have attained the path can measure buddha-wisdom, and urges beings to cherish human life, a buddha’s appearance, trust, and wisdom—even crossing a world filled with fire to hear the Dharma.
- Final-birth bodhisattvas and the two great beings. This is the internal shift of section. Bodhisattvas of that land ultimately become final-birth bodhisattvas, except those who manifest through an original vow for the sake of sentient beings. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta cultivated in this land and were then born there; they do not appear without a causal history. Beings born there unfold through excellent marks, wisdom, patiences, supernormal powers, and memory of former lives, and may manifest in an evil world of the five turbidities in accordance with their vow.
- Honoring buddhas, hearing the Dharma, and returning home. Within the time of a meal, bodhisattvas honor buddhas throughout the ten directions. Offerings arrive as soon as they are thought of. After hearing, praising, and rejoicing in the Dharma, they return home before eating. The Buddha teaches in the hall of the seven precious substances; wind in the jeweled trees, sublime flowers, heavenly offerings, and the assembly’s understanding and attainment answer one another.
- Measureless practices for self and others. From freedom from “mine,” attachment, competition, and dispute, the account expands through compassion, concentration and wisdom, the five eyes, eloquence, suchness, the four truths, the one vehicle, many similes, the six principles of harmony and respect, Dharma-giving, the many powers, the perfections, and samādhis. It closes by saying that even hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas could not exhaust these virtues.
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators — recorded without adjudication
| Doctrinal position | Jingxing, Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise, T1748 | Huiyuan, Commentary on the Meaning, T1745 | Tanluan, Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land, T1819 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placement of the passage | First reads the birth of great bodhisattvas; at the final-birth statement turns toward praise and criticism of gains and losses to encourage ordinary and lesser beings | Places it within the first part of gathering those of lesser capacity, extensively displaying the land’s excellences to awaken aspiration | Does not divide this sūtra passage by passage, but illuminates its practice through the four correct bodhisattva practices and the entry and emergence of the five gates |
| Visits and offerings | Distinguishes outer offerings, inward reverence through practice, and aspiration for a land after seeing the Pure Land; merit and wisdom support one another | Offerings produce merit and receiving Dharma produces wisdom; he also marks pervasion in one thought and rapid initiation of practice | In the samādhi resulting from birth, one place and one thought pervade the ten directions; honoring buddhas and teaching beings occur together |
| Great compassion of bodhisattvas | “Profound, far-reaching, and subtle” means that the mind is deep and weighty; “bearing all without exception” means that rescue is universal and leads beings out of death | He explains “profound, far-reaching, and subtle” as the depth of the compassionate mind and “bearing all without exception” as the breadth of compassion’s objects 〔T37n1745 0110c10〕 | Both outgoing and returning dedication draw sentient beings out of the ocean of birth and death; the fifth gate fulfills the merit of emergence |
| Organization of virtues | Develops the five eyes, practice, accomplishment of practice, great compassion, one vehicle, similes, advancement, powers, and culmination in detailed levels | Uses eight excellences of the land as an overall structure and explains bodhisattva conduct through the six perfections and benefit of self and others | Gathers the four bodhisattva adornments into the true body of suchness; after entering the land, bodhisattvas must return to the forest of birth and death to teach |
| Intention-power and vow-power | Rejects the readings that take them as the mind seeking buddhahood and the vow initiating practice, judging intention-power to be correct attention in accordance with principle and vow-power to be the aspiration seeking awakening 〔T37n1748 0163a07〕 | Judges intention-power to be the mind seeking buddhahood and vow-power to be the vow initiating practice 〔T37n1745 0111b13〕 | Does not map these two powers onto the line and therefore is not used to reconcile the two commentaries |
All three masters prevent the virtues of the bodhisattvas of that land from ending in private enjoyment. The two line-by-line commentaries organize T360 directly, while the Commentary on the Treatise speaks of going and returning and benefit of self and others through the structure of its own root verses. Their contexts remain distinct rather than being assembled into a single exclusive outline.
VI. Terms
| Term | Grounded sense and range |
|---|---|
| Visit | Bodhisattvas go before the Buddha of Measureless Life to make offerings, hear and practice the Dharma, and proclaim the path of transformation. The visit is not merely ceremonial. |
| Measureless Awakening | A verse-name for the Buddha of Measureless Life. The names in alternate recensions retain their own wording. |
| Measureless mind | The vast mind that arises after seeing the Pure Land. Jingxing identifies it as the four immeasurables. This is the commentator’s explanation and is not rewritten as an explicit four-item list in T360. |
| Receive a prediction / confer a prediction | Knowing the bodhisattvas’ vows and practices, the Buddha predicts that they will become buddhas and accomplish corresponding pure lands. Subject and object remain explicit in English. |
| Final-birth bodhisattva | One with a single birth remaining before occupying the place of a buddha. The sūtra simultaneously preserves those who manifest through an original vow for sentient beings; the term cannot be read as though every bodhisattva immediately abandons beneficial activity. |
| Two patiences / patience of non-arising | The sūtra gives differing accomplishments for dull and keen faculties but does not itself list names for the two patiences. Huiyuan and Jingxing both identify the two as patience concerning sounds and echoes and compliant patience; Jingxing reaches this after rejecting other identifications 〔T37n1745 0109c04〕〔T37n1748 0161a16〕. These are commentators’ names and are not inserted into T360 as though scripture enumerated them. |
| World of the five turbidities | A place in which bodhisattvas may manifest in accordance with an original vow to deliver beings. The evil world is an environment of transformation, not evidence of retrogression or renewed fall. |
| Seven factors of awakening | The sūtra says the bodhisattvas range in the seven factors of awakening and cultivate the Buddha-Dharma. It does not add a sequence of their seven names in this passage. |
| Five eyes | Physical, divine, Dharma, wisdom, and buddha eyes unfold in sequence. They are modes of vision possessed by the bodhisattvas of that land, not five unrelated wondrous abilities. |
VII. Similes and Rhetoric
The first long verse expands through the ten directions, then places external offerings of flowers, incense, robes, and music beside the inward sun of wisdom dispelling the clouds of birth and death. The light of the Buddha issues from his mouth, circles his body three times, and enters through the crown, creating the visible sign that leads Avalokiteśvara to ask and the Buddha to confer predictions. Dreams, illusions, echoes, lightning, and images appear in succession, placing the knowledge of emptiness beside the accomplishment of a land rather than setting them against one another.
The latter account moves from abstract virtues to twenty similes: Snow Mountain, earth, clear water, the king of fire, great wind, empty space, lotus, the great vehicle, heavy clouds, great rain, vajra mountain, Brahmā, the nyagrodha tree, the udumbara flower, garuḍa, roaming birds, bull-king, elephant-king, lion-king, and finally vast space. The shared direction is not to measure how great bodhisattvas are, but to show how equality, cleansing, carrying, awakening, moistening, firmness, sheltering, and fearlessness benefit sentient beings.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Unobstructed buddha-activity of the equal Dharma-body. The Commentary on the Treatise says that bodhisattvas pervade the ten directions to honor buddhas and teach, yet 「初無往來想、供養想、度脫想」—“from the first possess no conception of coming and going, offering, or deliverance” 〔T40n1819 0840a27〕. This carries forward the visits and returns in the sūtra while preventing supernormal movement from becoming self-expansion.
- Entry necessarily opens into emergence. The first four of the five gates bring the accomplishment of entry; the gate of the garden of playful transformation brings the accomplishment of emergence. Emergence is not retreat from the Pure Land, but return through original-vow power to the place of teaching and transformation for the benefit of sentient beings.
- The environment and sentient beings are purified together. The Commentary on the Treatise gathers the adornments of the buddha-land, Buddha, and bodhisattvas into two kinds of purity. This passage likewise places aspiration for a pure land beside the virtues of its bodhisattvas. Its scenery cannot be taken while its human virtues are discarded.
- The original vow accomplishes non-retrogression. The verse says that through original-vow power, those who hear the Name and aspire for birth reach the land and attain non-retrogression. The later account of virtues shows how, after non-retrogression, bodhisattvas honor buddhas, hear and teach Dharma, and deliver beings. Non-retrogression is not an end to practice.
IX. Placement Among the Recensions
This unit follows the T12n0360 base text from 0272c11 through 0274b17. The extraction ledger records seventy-one line positions and 2,440 characters in the body. The underlying XML contains forty-one collation entries in this range and no body gaiji or inline notes. Representative variants include Dharma gate against Dharma-nature, not entering against not receiving evil destinies, not seeking against not wanting or not resenting superiority, merit against meritorious wisdom, and right mindfulness with calm and insight against right mindfulness and right contemplation. The text follows the Taishō base throughout and does not emend it from a commentary or alternate recension.
The unit begins when the Buddha tells Ānanda of the bodhisattvas coming from the ten directions and ends by saying that hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas could not exhaust their virtues. The three broad reader-navigation anchors in the Chinese source do not replace line-level placement; each quotation in this apparatus returns to the line on which its first character begins. Jingxing’s text at 0161a22–a24 appears disordered, and its underlying collation note likewise records a possible lacuna. This apparatus records the possibility without supplying missing characters and uses Huiyuan only as a collateral witness to the sequence of virtues.
The alternate translations are placed by the sequence of scenes rather than lexical matching. T361 and T362 each have three noncontiguous corresponding spans, while T363 and Assembly Five each have one continuous span. The internal doctrinal shift in the primary mirror records only that a new section begins within the unit. It neither asserts a defect in T360 nor authorizes moving the unit boundary at 0273b19. Differences of sequence, grouping, and names among the recensions remain recorded without conflation.