佛說無量壽經 流通
名號落入心中
一部長經走到卷尾，千萬句忽然收進一念。不是因為前面的願行可以省略，而是那些久遠因地、廣大誓願與清淨國土，終於抵達一個人的心。
那人也許只在最短的一刻聽見，經卻說：「當知此人為得大利」〔T12n0360 0279a02〕。一念不因短而空；當它真的為所聞之名而歡喜，整條道路已在心中有了方向。
難得，所以不可輕過
經用充滿大千世界的火來寫聞法之難。火不是逼迫人的聲音，而是顯出：有些相逢並不尋常，失去以後未必能立刻再得。甚至「多有菩薩欲聞此經而不能得」〔T12n0360 0279a05〕，能聽見已是一段深長因緣的成熟。
難得的法，並未把門收窄。它從一念歡喜開始，又向信樂、受持、讀誦與實行展開。珍重不是把經供在遠處，而是使所聞不在下一刻散失。
佛滅度後，門仍開著
佛預先說到自己不在世的時候，也說到經道將要滅盡的時候。越是無人親見佛說，疑惑越容易生起；所以慈悲留下的，不只是一卷文字，也是一個仍可相遇的機會。
「特留此經止住百歲」〔T12n0360 0279a12〕，使最晚來的人仍有可能成為聞法的人。法住的時間有盡，悲心所向的眾生沒有被遺忘。
歡喜向未來打開
說法以後，有人發心，有人得法眼，有人斷漏，有人住於不退。菩薩更「以弘誓功德而自莊嚴」〔T12n0360 0279a22〕；聽聞沒有使人只想保全自己，反而喚起向眾生而行的誓願。
最後，大地震動，光照十方，音樂自鳴，妙華下降。整場法會沒有停在寂靜散去，而以「靡不歡喜」〔T12n0360 0279a27〕作結。
開頭是一念歡喜，結尾是大眾歡喜。一念若真，便不只屬於一刻；它會帶著所聞之法走出卷末，進入尚未到來的世間。
The Name Enters the Heart
As a long sūtra reaches the end of its second fascicle, its thousands upon thousands of words suddenly gather into a single thought. This is not because the vows and practices that came before can be omitted. Those distant causal practices, vast vows, and pure land have at last reached one person’s heart.
Perhaps that person hears the Name for no more than the briefest moment, yet the sūtra says, “Know that this person has gained great benefit.” A single thought is not empty because it is brief. When it truly rejoices in the Name it has heard, the whole path has already acquired a direction within the heart.
Rarely Met, and Therefore Not Lightly Passed By
The sūtra uses a fire filling a great world-system to show how difficult the Dharma is to hear. The fire is not a voice of coercion. It reveals that some encounters are far from ordinary: once missed, they may not immediately be found again. Even “many bodhisattvas wish to hear this sūtra but cannot obtain it.” To hear it at all is already the ripening of deep and far-reaching conditions.
The Dharma that is so difficult to encounter does not narrow the gate. It begins with a single thought of joy, then opens into joyful trust, reception, preservation, recitation, and practice. To treasure the sūtra is not to place it at a distance as an object of devotion, but to keep what has been heard from dispersing in the next moment.
After the Buddha’s Extinction, the Gate Remains Open
The Buddha speaks in advance of the time when he will no longer be present in the world, and also of the time when the scriptural Dharma will come to extinction. The less anyone can personally hear the Buddha teach, the more readily doubt can arise. What compassion leaves behind is therefore not only a fascicle of words, but an opportunity for encounter that remains available.
“I will specially preserve this sūtra for a hundred years” means that even those who arrive last may still become people who hear the Dharma. The time during which the teaching remains has an end; the sentient beings toward whom compassion turns have not been forgotten.
Joy Opens toward the Future
After the teaching, some give rise to the aspiration for awakening, some attain the Dharma eye, some exhaust the outflows, and some abide in non-retrogression. The bodhisattvas further “adorn themselves with the merit of vast vows.” Hearing does not lead them merely to preserve themselves; it awakens vows that move toward sentient beings.
At the end, the earth quakes, light shines through the ten directions, music sounds by itself, and wondrous flowers descend. The Dharma assembly does not end by quietly dispersing, but with the words “not one failed to rejoice.”
It begins with the joy of one thought and ends with the joy of the whole assembly. When a single thought is true, it does not belong to one instant alone. It carries the Dharma it has heard beyond the end of the fascicle and into a world still to come.
大正藏 T12n0360〔起 T12 0279a01〕。段／行首〔T12 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T12 0279a01〕佛語彌勒：「其有得聞彼佛名號，歡喜踊躍，乃至一念，當知此人為得大利，則是具足無上功德。是故，彌勒！設有大火充滿三千大千世界，要當過此。聞是經法，歡喜信樂，受持讀誦，如說修行。所以者何？多有菩薩欲聞此經而不能得。若有眾生聞此經者，於無上道終不退轉，是故應當專心信受持誦說行。吾今為諸眾生說此經法，令見無量壽佛及其國土一切所有，所當為者皆可求之，無得以我滅度之後復生疑惑。當來之世經道滅盡，我以慈悲哀愍特留此經止住百歲，其有眾生值斯經者，隨意所願皆可得度。」 佛語彌勒：「如來興世難值難見、諸佛經道難得難聞；菩薩勝法諸波羅蜜得聞亦難；遇善知識、聞法能行此亦為難；若聞斯經信樂受持，難中之難無過此難。是故我法，如是作、如是說、如是教，應當信順，如法修行。」 爾時，世尊說此經法，無量眾生皆發無上正覺之心，萬二千那由他人得清淨法眼，二十二億諸天人民得阿那含，八十萬比丘漏盡意解，四十億菩薩得不退轉，以弘誓功德而自莊嚴，於將來世當成正覺。爾時，三千大千世界六種震動，大光普照十方國土，百千音樂自然而作，無量妙華芬芬而降。 佛說經已，彌勒菩薩及十方來諸菩薩眾，長老阿難、諸大聲聞，一切大眾，聞佛所說靡不歡喜。 無量壽經卷下
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.
大正藏 T12n0360，自佛告彌勒聞名一念所得大利，至全體大眾聞法歡喜及卷下尾題。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔一·聞名一念與聞經不退〕（0279a01）佛告訴彌勒：若有人能夠聽聞無量壽佛的名號，心中歡喜振奮，即使只到一念，也應當知道，這個人已得到廣大利益，也就是具足無上的功德。
因此，彌勒，即使有大火充滿整個三千大千世界，也要越過這片大火，前來聽聞這部經所說的法；聽聞以後心生歡喜與信樂，領受奉持，讀誦經文，並依照經中所說而修行。
為什麼這樣說？因為有許多菩薩想要聽聞這部經，卻不能得到聽聞的因緣。若有眾生能夠聽聞這部經，在無上佛道上終究不會退轉。因此，應當專心信受，奉持、誦讀、解說並依教而行。
〔二·滅後除疑與慈悲留經〕（0279a08）佛又說：我現在為一切眾生宣說這部經法，使他們能夠見到無量壽佛，也能見到那一國土中的一切所有。凡是應當成辦的事，都可以依此而求；不要因為我滅度以後不再住世，便重新生起疑惑。
未來世中，佛法與經教走到滅盡的時候，我因慈悲憐愍眾生，特別使這部經再留在世間一百年。若有眾生在那時值遇這部經，便能隨其心願而得到度脫。
〔三·難中之難〕（0279a14）佛告訴彌勒：如來出現在世間，很難值遇，也很難親見；諸佛所說的經法與正道，很難得到，也很難聽聞；菩薩的殊勝法門與種種波羅蜜，要能聽聞也很困難；能夠遇到善知識，聽聞佛法而真正實行，同樣難得。
若有人聽聞這部經以後，心生信樂而領受奉持，這更是種種難事中最難的一件，沒有其他的難能超過它。正因如此，我的法正是這樣成就、這樣宣說、這樣教導。所聞之人應當信受隨順，依照正法而修行。
〔四·法會大眾各得利益〕（0279a19）當世尊宣說這部經法時，無量眾生都發起求無上正覺的心；一萬二千那由他人得到清淨法眼；二十二億天眾與人眾證得阿那含；八十萬比丘斷盡一切煩惱漏失，心意得到解脫；四十億菩薩得到不退轉，以廣大誓願的功德莊嚴自己，並將在未來世成就正等正覺。
〔五·震動·光明·音樂與妙華〕（0279a23）就在這時，三千大千世界發生六種震動；廣大光明普遍照耀十方國土；百千種音樂自然響起；無量微妙華朵紛然從空中降下。
〔六·聞法歡喜與卷尾〕（0279a26）佛宣說這部經完畢，彌勒菩薩、從十方前來的所有菩薩，長老阿難、諸位大聲聞，以及法會中的一切大眾，聽聞佛所說的教法，沒有一個不心生歡喜。
《無量壽經》卷下。
Taishō T12n0360, from the Buddha’s teaching to Maitreya on the great benefit gained through a single thought upon hearing the Name through the rejoicing of the entire assembly and the closing title of the second fascicle. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
〔一 · A Single Thought upon Hearing the Name and Non-Retrogression upon Hearing the Sūtra〕（0279a01）The Buddha told Maitreya: if someone is able to hear the Name of the Buddha of Measureless Life and becomes joyful and elated, even for so little as a single thought, know that this person has gained great benefit and thereby fully possesses unsurpassed merit.
Therefore, Maitreya, even if a great fire were to fill the entire three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, one should still cross through that fire to come and hear the Dharma taught in this sūtra. Having heard it, one should give rise to joy and joyful trust, receive and uphold it, read and recite its words, and practice as it teaches.
Why is this so? Many bodhisattvas wish to hear this sūtra but cannot obtain the conditions for hearing it. If sentient beings are able to hear this sūtra, they will never retrogress from the unsurpassed path. Therefore, they should single-mindedly trust and receive it, uphold it, recite it, explain it, and practice according to its teaching.
〔二 · Dispelling Doubt after the Buddha’s Extinction and Compassionately Preserving the Sūtra〕（0279a08）The Buddha further said: I now teach this scriptural Dharma for all sentient beings, enabling them to see the Buddha of Measureless Life and everything in that land. Whatever ought to be accomplished may be sought through it. Do not give rise to doubt again after I have entered extinction and no longer dwell in the world.
In the future, when the Buddha-Dharma and the scriptural teaching come to extinction, out of compassion and pity for sentient beings I will specially cause this sūtra to remain in the world for another hundred years. Sentient beings who encounter this sūtra at that time will be able to attain deliverance in accordance with the aspirations of their hearts.
〔三 · The Most Difficult among Difficulties〕（0279a14）The Buddha told Maitreya: it is difficult to encounter a tathāgata appearing in the world and difficult to behold one. The scriptural Dharma and right path taught by the buddhas are difficult to obtain and difficult to hear. It is also difficult to hear the bodhisattvas’ supreme Dharma gates and the various perfections. To meet a good spiritual friend, hear the Buddha-Dharma, and truly put it into practice is likewise difficult.
If someone hears this sūtra and then gives rise to joyful trust and receives and upholds it, this is the most difficult among all difficult things; no other difficulty surpasses it. For this very reason, my Dharma has been accomplished in this way, taught in this way, and given as instruction in this way. Those who hear it should trustingly follow it and practice in accordance with the Dharma.
〔四 · The Different Benefits Received by the Assembly〕（0279a19）When the World-Honored One taught this scriptural Dharma, immeasurable sentient beings all gave rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed perfect awakening. Twelve thousand nayutas of people attained the pure Dharma eye. Two hundred and twenty million devas and humans attained the fruit of a non-returner. Eight hundred thousand bhikṣus exhausted all the outflows of affliction and attained liberation of mind. Four hundred million bodhisattvas attained non-retrogression, arrayed themselves in adornments of merit arising from vast vows, and would attain perfect awakening in future lives.
〔五 · Earthquake, Light, Music, and Wondrous Flowers〕（0279a23）At that moment, the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system quaked in six ways. Great light universally illuminated the lands throughout the ten directions. Hundreds of thousands of kinds of music sounded of their own accord, and immeasurable wondrous flowers descended in profusion from the sky.
〔六 · Rejoicing upon Hearing the Dharma and the Fascicle’s End〕（0279a26）When the Buddha had finished teaching this sūtra, Maitreya Bodhisattva, all the bodhisattvas who had come from the ten directions, the elder Ānanda, the great śrāvakas, and everyone else in the assembly heard what the Buddha had taught, and not one of them failed to rejoice.
Second fascicle of The Sūtra of Measureless Life.
這一講依憬興《連義述文贊》所判的聞說喜行四科，參照慧遠《義疏》對聞名、聞經與說法得益的分疏，再以曇鸞《往生論註》所明聞名一念、至心迴向與五念出入照其行處。三面古鏡都沒有把流通看成可有可無的卷尾；它們幫我們看見，全經所說之願、行、果與攝受，最後都要落在眾生能否真實地聞、信、受持與歡喜。
說完不是結束，而是把法交到聽者手上
佛從久遠過去說到法藏因地，從四十八願說到國土成就，又說三輩往生、菩薩往覲、此土苦惡與胎化得失。到了最後，經沒有再添一幅新的淨土景象，卻把全卷收在聞法的人身上。先問聞佛名號時發生什麼，再問聞此經法如何承受；最後顯示說法現前所生的發心、證果、瑞相與歡喜。
因此，流通並不是內容說完以後補一句請人保存。若前文只停在佛與國土，所說仍像遠方的莊嚴；到此才知道，那些願行如何抵達一個正在聞法的人。法藏的願已成佛力，佛力由經言被聽見，所聞又在眾生心中成為信樂、受持與不退。全經的因果，由此從久遠因地走到眼前一念。
經末先不說功課多少，也不先問聽者位階，只說「其有得聞彼佛名號，歡喜踊躍，乃至一念」〔T12n0360 0279a01〕。開門之處極小，所判之益卻極大。這種大小相照，正定下流通的聲音：佛法之門不因一念而輕，一念也不因自己微小而被擋在門外。
一念何以能承受大利
一念若只是短，何以能說具足無上功德？經把一念放在四個相連的條件裡：得聞佛名、心生歡喜、身心踊躍、這一念真實現前。古來的逐文解釋又把聞名與欲生相連；所以這裡不是偶然聽到一個聲音，隨即得到與心行無關的獎賞，而是佛名進入心中時，願生與歡喜已在其中發生。
前文曾說十念，此處又說一念。若把數目看成兩條互相排斥的條件，就會問究竟必須一念還是十念；古疏卻以最少與極多互相交舉來通二文。一念顯最初而完整的歸向，十念顯所念相續；兩者共同防止一個誤讀：不是念得少便沒有方向，也不是念得多便可失去所緣。
我們若把功德只理解成由外而來的賞賜，便看不出名號所承載的是法藏久遠願行與已成果德。聞名的一念之所以不是空聲，因為所聞之名後面已有四十八願、長時修行、成佛、莊嚴國土與攝受眾生。卷末用一句聞名，把全卷此前所說收進當下一心；所謂大利，因而不是越過全經，而是全經在一念中有了入口。
念的重量，不由鐘漏來量
古來曾問，一念究竟有多久。回答先列剎那數，隨即轉身說此處所取不在時節，而在憶念佛的總相或別相，隨所觀緣，心無他想。這個轉身很要緊：它沒有否定時間中的念，而是不讓時間單位代替心的所緣與決定。
短暫不等於輕。暗室中的光雖只初至，光的性質並不因初至而少；聞名的一念也在它真實轉向所聞之佛時，具足方向。相反地，時間即使拉長，若心始終散入別緣，單有數目也不能替它成就歸向。經說乃至一念，保存的是入口之廣；古德說心無他想，保存的是入口之真。
這也使歡喜不只是一陣情緒。它與信心、迴向、願生同在一條義路上：聞名而信，信而歡喜，歡喜而心有所向。古來所牒經文將「信心歡喜」〔T40n1819 0833c24〕與「至心迴向願生彼國」〔T40n1819 0833c25〕連成一氣，正顯一念雖短，裡面可以有完整的朝向。這一念不是把漫長修行抹去，而是使漫長修行不失第一個真實轉向。
從佛名走進一部經
聞名得大利以後，經立刻轉到大火之喻。三千大千世界即使充滿大火，也要越過而聞此經法；所聞之後，則是歡喜信樂、受持讀誦、如說修行。前一句把門開到一念，後一句把一念展成整條聞法之路。名號不是經義的替代品，經義也不是離開名號另立的一套知識。
何以把聞經說得如此重？經自己的理由是「多有菩薩欲聞此經而不能得」〔T12n0360 0279a05〕。大火顯的不是威嚇，而是值遇之難。世間有許多障隔，使一部經即使存在，也未必被看見；即使聽見，也未必信受；即使信受，也未必如說而行。經把這些稀有聚合起來，於是聞經不再只是耳根接觸文字，而是難得因緣的成熟。
我們容易把難聞讀成門檻高到只有少數人能進；本段卻先以任何得聞名號者為起點，再說聞經不退。難不是拒絕，反而使真實值遇更可珍重。大火沒有替聽者完成聞法，卻把所求之法與尋常消息分開：有些話聽過便散，有些法一旦聞受，會改變心朝向何處。
如是作、如是說、如是教
經在難中之難以後，用三個如是回顧自己：「是故我法，如是作、如是說、如是教」〔T12n0360 0279a17〕。這不是三個同義重複。作，是前文法藏如何發願修行，成就佛身、佛智與國土；說，是如來如何將這段因果為眾生完整宣示；教，是所說如何指向信受、往生與不退。沒有作，所說便沒有成就作證；沒有說，所作不能成為眾生可聞的道路；沒有教，聞者又不知所聞與生命有何關係。
三字也把全經的時間層次疊在一起。久遠以前的作，今日法會中的說，今日與後世眾生所受的教，在卷末同時現前。法藏因地不是只屬過去，因為它成為此刻所說；佛今日的宣說也不只屬當會，因為它被交付給滅後仍可能值遇經法的人。
到了這裡，我們才看見流通之所以能收全經：它沒有另造新宗旨，只把前面每一層都帶到聞者面前。願行已作，經法已說，道路已教；接下來所顯的，不是另一番理論，而是眾生聞後實際生起的差別利益。
百歲所留下的，是佛的慈悲
佛說自己已令眾生看見無量壽佛、國土與一切所有，所當為者皆可求之；接著遮止滅後之疑，又說經道滅盡時，因慈悲哀愍特留此經百歲。前後相連，表明留經不是保存一件古物，而是不讓後來眾生因未親見佛說便失去所依。
古疏對正法住世的年限有不同推算，經文此處真正用力的地方卻很清楚：法滅之後，仍以慈悲使眾生有聞法得度之緣。時間愈晚，見佛愈難，留下經法的悲心便愈明顯。它不保證每個願望依世情如意成辦，而是承接上文所說的淨土願行，使值遇者仍有得度之門。
經又說如來難值、佛法難聞、菩薩勝法難聞、善知識與聞法能行亦難。這四重難把留經百歲放在更大的背景中：文字能留下，值遇仍難；值遇能發生，信樂受持仍難；信受能生，依教而行又難。慈悲使門不閉，眾緣成熟使人真正走到門前。兩面同時成立，經才不落成輕易的許諾，也不變成絕望的阻隔。
一場說法，為何結出不同的果
佛說經法之後，經列出多類利益。無量眾生發無上正覺之心，是發願；萬二千那由他人得清淨法眼、二十二億天人得阿那含、八十萬比丘漏盡意解，是聲聞果證的不同層次；四十億菩薩得不退轉、以弘誓功德自莊嚴，並於未來成正覺，是菩薩利益。經沒有把所有聽者寫成同一種人，也沒有用一個模糊的得益抹平差別。
同一法會中，有人初發心，有人得法眼，有人斷漏，有人住不退。這顯示同一場說法能依眾生所處而結成不同利益；經直接用名數保存差別。每一種所得都具名，正顯聞法不是只有一種可以被看見的結果。
菩薩所得尤其回響全經。他們聞佛成德廣大而得不退，又因見此土苦惡而起濟度弘誓；願往生與願度眾在此沒有互相排斥。前面法藏以大悲建土，卷末聽者又以弘誓自莊嚴，因地之願遂在後來眾生身上重新發起。全經不是把人送到一個安樂終點便止，而是使受攝者也成為願行的承擔者。
從一人歡喜，到一切大眾歡喜
所得利益之後，世界六種震動，大光普照十方，音樂自然響起，妙華紛然下降。這些瑞相不是代替發心與得果；經先列人的轉變，再列世界的回應。內在所得已有分別，外在瑞相則共同印可這場說法並非空過。
最後一行重新點出法會眾：彌勒與十方菩薩、長老阿難、諸大聲聞、一切大眾，聞佛所說，沒有一個不歡喜。開頭是一人得聞名號而歡喜踊躍，末尾是一切大眾聞佛所說而共同歡喜；首尾都用聞與喜，卻由一念擴到全會。
我們在卷末所見的，因而不是門慢慢關上，而是法由佛口走入無數人的心。聞名使一念有歸向，聞經使歸向有內容，受持使內容進入生命，說行使生命又能承接他人。卷題雖畢，這條由聞而喜、由喜而行的路並沒有在卷尾停止。
承衍——三面古鏡如何守住聞與行
憬興以歎經、得益、瑞相、眾喜四科收束全經，又以最少一念、極多十念互舉，守住入口之廣與念心相續；慧遠把聞佛名與聞此經分開而相接，並以如是作、說、教回收法藏願行、如來宣說與教人往生；曇鸞則把一念從時計中解開，落在憶佛所緣、心無他想、至心迴向願生，又以五念門把往生與慈悲教化貫成入出。
三面古鏡並不把一句聞名變成孤立口訣，也不讓聞經停成知識。它們各從科判、經義與行門指出同一歸處：所聞之名有本願果德為實，所生之一念有信樂願向為心，所受之經又把這一心帶入不退與弘誓。古鏡到此各還其位，而經自己的最後一聲歡喜，仍向後來每一位聞者開著。
This teaching follows the four-part outline of hearing, teaching, rejoicing, and practice in Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise, reads it alongside Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning as it distinguishes hearing the Name, hearing the sūtra, and the benefits of the teaching, and then uses Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land to illuminate the practice through a single thought upon hearing the Name, wholehearted dedication, and the entrance and emergence of the five gates of mindful practice. None of these three ancient mirrors treats transmission as a dispensable ending. Together they help us see that all the vows, practices, fruits, and embracing activity taught by the whole sūtra finally come to rest on whether sentient beings can truly hear, trust, receive, preserve, and rejoice.
Speaking to the End Means Placing the Dharma in the Hearers’ Hands
The Buddha has spoken from the distant past to Dharmākara’s causal ground, from the Forty-Eight Vows to the accomplishment of the land, and then of the three grades of birth there, the bodhisattvas’ visits, the evils and suffering of this world, and the gains and losses of womb- and transformation-birth. At the end, the sūtra adds no new picture of the Pure Land. Instead, it gathers the whole fascicle into the person hearing the Dharma. It first asks what happens when someone hears the Buddha’s Name, then how this scriptural Dharma is to be received, and finally reveals the aspirations, realizations, auspicious signs, and joy that arise in the present assembly.
Transmission is therefore not a request to preserve the text added after its real content has ended. If what precedes stopped with the Buddha and the land, the teaching could still look like an adornment in a distant place. Only here do we see how those vows and practices reach someone who is listening now. Dharmākara’s vows have become buddha-power; through the language of the sūtra that power can be heard; and in sentient beings, what is heard becomes joyful trust, reception, and non-retrogression. The causal movement of the whole sūtra has come from a ground in the distant past to a single thought in the present.
At the end of the sūtra, the Buddha does not first set a quantity of practice or ask the hearer’s stage. He simply speaks of “someone who hears that Buddha’s Name, becomes joyful and elated, even for so little as a single thought.” The opening is exceedingly small, while the benefit pronounced is exceedingly great. That relation establishes the voice of this transmission: the Dharma gate does not become light because it begins with a single thought, and a single thought is not left outside because it is small.
How Can a Single Thought Bear Such Great Benefit?
If a thought means only brevity, how can it be said to possess unsurpassed merit? The sūtra places this thought within four connected conditions: one hears the Buddha’s Name, joy arises, mind and body become elated, and this one thought truly becomes present. Ancient passage-by-passage explanations further join hearing the Name with the wish to be born there. This is not an accidental sound that brings a reward unrelated to the hearer’s mind. When the Buddha’s Name enters the heart, joy and the direction of birth there have already arisen within it.
An earlier passage spoke of ten thoughts, while this one speaks of one. If their numbers are treated as mutually exclusive conditions, we will ask whether the requirement is one thought or ten. The ancient commentary instead reads them as reciprocal statements of the least and the most. One thought reveals the first and complete turning; ten thoughts reveal continuity in what is recollected. Together, they prevent two misunderstandings: a small number does not mean a lack of direction, and a larger number cannot compensate for losing the object toward which the mind turns.
If merit is understood only as a reward coming from outside, we cannot see that the Name bears Dharmākara’s distant vows and practices and their accomplished fruit. A thought upon hearing the Name is not empty sound because behind what is heard already stand the Forty-Eight Vows, practice through a long expanse of time, buddhahood, the adorned land, and the embracing of sentient beings. One sentence about hearing the Name gathers everything previously taught by the sūtra into the mind at this moment. Great benefit does not leap over the whole sūtra. It is the whole sūtra finding an entrance within one thought.
The Weight of a Thought Is Not Measured by the Clock
Ancient readers asked how long one thought lasts. An answer first counted the instants within it, then turned and said that the meaning here is not taken from a measure of time. It lies in recollecting the Buddha in a general or particular aspect and allowing no other thought to enter while the mind follows what it contemplates. That turn is crucial. It does not deny that a thought occurs in time; it refuses to let a unit of time replace the object and determination of the heart.
Brief does not mean light. Light entering a dark room is only newly arrived, but its luminous nature is not diminished because it has just arrived. A single thought upon hearing the Name likewise possesses a complete direction when it truly turns toward the Buddha heard. Conversely, even if time grows long, numbers alone cannot create such a turning while the mind keeps dispersing among other objects. The sūtra says “even for so little as a single thought” to preserve the breadth of the entrance. The ancient master speaks of a mind free of other thoughts to preserve its truth.
Joy, then, is not merely a passing emotion. It belongs to the same doctrinal course as trust, dedication, and the aspiration for birth there: one hears the Name and trusts, trust gives rise to joy, and joy gives the mind a direction. The ancient text places “trusting heart and joy” together with “wholeheartedly dedicating and directing merit toward birth in that land.” This is how a thought can be brief and still hold a complete orientation. It does not erase long practice; it keeps long practice from losing the first moment of true turning.
From the Buddha’s Name into the Whole Sūtra
Immediately after calling one thought upon hearing the Name a great benefit, the sūtra turns to the simile of the great fire. Even if the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system were filled with fire, one should cross through it to hear this scriptural Dharma. Having heard, one should rejoice, joyfully trust, receive and uphold, read and recite, and practice as taught. The first sentence opens the gate through a single thought; the next opens that thought into a complete path of hearing the Dharma. The Name is not a substitute for the sūtra’s meaning, and the sūtra’s meaning is not a separate body of knowledge detached from the Name.
Why is hearing the sūtra given such weight? Its own reason is that “many bodhisattvas wish to hear this sūtra but cannot obtain it.” The great fire reveals not coercion, but the rarity of encounter. Many kinds of obstruction can keep a sūtra from being seen even when it exists. Even when seen, it may not be trusted; even when trusted, it may not be practiced as taught. The sūtra gathers all these rare conditions together, so that hearing no longer means only the ear’s contact with words, but the ripening of causes that are difficult to meet.
We may be tempted to read “difficult to hear” as a threshold that admits only a few. Yet the passage begins with whoever hears the Name, then says that the one who hears the sūtra does not retrogress. Difficulty is not refusal. It makes genuine encounter more precious. The fire does not complete the act of hearing for anyone, but it sets the Dharma sought apart from ordinary information: some words disperse as soon as they are heard, while some teachings, once received, change the direction of the heart.
Accomplished in This Way, Taught in This Way, Given as Instruction in This Way
After speaking of the most difficult among difficulties, the sūtra looks back upon itself through three phrases: “My Dharma has been accomplished in this way, taught in this way, and given as instruction in this way.” They are not three repetitions of one meaning. Accomplished points to Dharmākara’s vows and practices and to the buddha-body, wisdom, and land they brought to fulfillment. Taught points to the Tathāgata’s complete declaration of this causal course for sentient beings. Given as instruction points to the way this teaching directs hearers toward trust, birth there, and non-retrogression. Without accomplishment, the teaching would have no fulfilled reality to attest it. Without teaching, the accomplishment could not become a road that sentient beings can hear. Without instruction, hearers would not know how what they heard bears upon their lives.
These three words also bring together the sūtra’s dimensions of time. Accomplishment rooted in the distant past, teaching in the Dharma assembly of the present, and instruction received by sentient beings now and after the Buddha’s extinction all become present at the end of the fascicle. Dharmākara’s causal ground does not belong only to the past, because it has become what is taught now. The Buddha’s teaching does not belong only to that assembly, because it is handed to people who may encounter it after his extinction.
Here we see why transmission can gather the whole sūtra. It invents no new governing purpose; it brings every preceding level to the person who hears. The vows and practices have been accomplished, the scriptural Dharma has been taught, and the road has been given as instruction. What follows is not another theory, but the actual differences arising among sentient beings after they hear.
What the Hundred Years Leave Behind Is the Buddha’s Compassion
The Buddha says that he has enabled sentient beings to see the Buddha of Measureless Life, the land, and everything within it, and that whatever ought to be accomplished may be sought. He then cuts off the doubt that may arise after his extinction and says that, when the scriptural Dharma comes to an end, he will specially preserve this sūtra for a hundred years out of compassion and pity. These statements together show that preserving the sūtra does not mean keeping an ancient object intact. It means not allowing later beings, who did not personally hear the Buddha teach, to lose what they can rely upon.
Ancient commentaries offer different reckonings of the duration of the true Dharma. The point at which this passage itself exerts its force is clear: even after the Dharma’s extinction, compassion still gives sentient beings the conditions for hearing and attaining deliverance. The later the time and the more difficult it is to behold a buddha, the more plainly the compassionate intention in leaving the sūtra appears. This does not promise that every worldly wish will be fulfilled in the manner imagined. It continues the Pure Land vows and practices taught above, so that whoever encounters the sūtra may still find a gate of deliverance.
The sūtra also says that a tathāgata is difficult to meet, the Buddha-Dharma difficult to hear, the bodhisattvas’ supreme Dharma difficult to hear, and a good spiritual friend and the actual practice of what is heard likewise difficult to encounter. These four difficulties set the hundred years within a larger horizon. Written words may remain and still be difficult to encounter. Encounter may occur while joyful trust and preservation remain difficult. Trust may arise while practice as taught remains difficult. Compassion keeps the gate open; the maturation of many causes brings someone truly before it. With both sides intact, the passage becomes neither a facile promise nor a wall of despair.
Why Does One Teaching Ripen into Different Fruits?
After the Buddha teaches the scriptural Dharma, the sūtra names several kinds of benefit. Immeasurable sentient beings give rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed perfect awakening. Twelve thousand nayutas attain the pure Dharma eye; two hundred and twenty million devas and humans attain the fruit of a non-returner; eight hundred thousand bhikṣus exhaust the outflows and gain liberation of mind. These are different stages of śrāvaka realization. Four hundred million bodhisattvas attain non-retrogression, adorn themselves with the merit of vast vows, and will reach perfect awakening in the future. The sūtra does not turn all hearers into a single kind of person, nor does a vague statement that everyone benefited erase their differences.
Within one assembly, some first give rise to the aspiration, some attain the Dharma eye, some exhaust the outflows, and some abide in non-retrogression. A single teaching can therefore bear different fruit according to where sentient beings stand. The sūtra preserves these differences by naming each kind of attainment and its number. Each benefit is distinctly visible; hearing the Dharma does not have only one recognizable result.
The bodhisattvas’ benefit especially resounds through the whole sūtra. They hear of the Buddha’s vast accomplished virtues and attain non-retrogression; seeing the evils and suffering of this land, they also give rise to vast vows of rescue. The aspiration for birth there and the aspiration to deliver beings do not oppose one another. Dharmākara established the land through great compassion, and at the end of the fascicle those who hear adorn themselves with vast vows in turn. The vow at the causal ground thus arises anew in later sentient beings. The whole sūtra does not carry people to a final place of ease and stop; it causes those embraced to become bearers of vows and practice.
From One Person’s Joy to the Joy of the Whole Assembly
After the benefits are received, the world quakes in six ways, great light shines throughout the ten directions, music sounds of its own accord, and wondrous flowers descend in profusion. These signs do not substitute for aspiration and realization. The sūtra first names the transformations among people and then the world’s response. The inner benefits retain their distinctions; the outer signs together attest that this teaching has not passed in vain.
The final line names the assembly once more: Maitreya, the bodhisattvas from the ten directions, the elder Ānanda, the great śrāvakas, and everyone else hears what the Buddha taught, and not one fails to rejoice. The transmission begins with one person’s joy and elation upon hearing the Name and ends with the whole assembly rejoicing upon hearing the Buddha. Both beginning and end join hearing with joy, while one thought has widened into the entire gathering.
The fascicle therefore closes not with a gate slowly shutting, but with the Dharma passing from the Buddha’s voice into immeasurable hearts. Hearing the Name gives one thought a direction. Hearing the sūtra gives that direction its full content. Receiving and preserving bring that content into a life. Explanation and practice allow that life to bear the Dharma onward to others. The title of the fascicle marks an end, but the road from hearing into joy and from joy into practice does not stop there.
Carrying Forward — How the Three Ancient Mirrors Preserve Hearing and Practice
Jingxing closes the whole sūtra with the four divisions of praise of the sūtra, benefit, auspicious signs, and the rejoicing of the assembly. He reads one thought as the least and ten thoughts as the most, reciprocally stated, preserving both the breadth of the entrance and continuity of recollection. Huiyuan distinguishes hearing the Buddha’s Name from hearing this sūtra and then joins them, while using the words accomplished, taught, and given as instruction to gather Dharmākara’s vows and practice, the Tathāgata’s teaching, and instruction toward birth there. Tanluan releases the single thought from a mere measure of time and places it in recollection of the Buddha without another object, wholehearted dedication, and the aspiration for birth there. Through the five gates of mindful practice, he further joins birth in that land with compassionate teaching and transformation.
None of the three ancient mirrors turns one sentence about hearing the Name into an isolated formula, and none lets hearing the sūtra stop at knowledge. From doctrinal outline, scriptural meaning, and the gates of practice, each points toward the same destination: the Name heard has the reality of the original vow and its accomplished fruit; the single thought that arises has joyful trust and aspiration as its heart; and the sūtra received carries that heart into non-retrogression and vast vows. Here the ancient mirrors each return to their place, while the sūtra’s final sound of rejoicing remains open to every later hearer.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本段自佛告彌勒聞無量壽佛名號、一念歡喜所得大利起，經大火求法、聞經不退、滅後勿疑、法滅留經、難聞信受，至法會得益、六種震動、光明音樂雨華與大眾歡喜而止。卷下尾題亦收在本單元。全經的因地、願文、成就、往生與勸誡，到此轉成聞、信、受持與流布。
一、科判定位
憬興《無量壽經連義述文贊》於前一單元末結束問答廣說，隨即將本段判為：
「第三、聞說喜行分。有四：一、歎經勸學；二、彰說利益；三、示相令信；四、顯眾喜行。」〔T37n1748 0170a27〕
其中第一科又分五子科，起首為「初又有五：此初、歎聞勸行也。」〔T37n1748 0170a29〕，依次收聞名聞經、除疑、留經、難聞與結勸；其後是法會得益、瑞相與大眾歡喜。本單元由流通初句至卷尾，恰好完整涵蓋這一大分。
慧遠《無量壽經義疏》同樣於此另起「自下流通。於中有四」〔T37n1745 0115c22〕，四科也依歎經勸學、說法得益、動地放光雨華作樂、大眾同喜展開。兩家對本段外界與四層大序相合。
一字之差須另誌：憬興在全經總判處作「問說喜行分」〔T37n1748 0132b14〕，至本段逐文科判則作「聞說喜行分」〔T37n1748 0170a27〕。兩形照錄，不判其孰應改從。
二、異譯對勘（四譯一會·異同誌錄不判）
| 本 | 聞名起句 | 本段後續配置 |
|---|---|---|
| 康僧鎧本 T360 | 「其有得聞彼佛名號，歡喜踊躍，乃至一念，當知此人為得大利，則是具足無上功德。」〔T12n0360 0279a01〕 | 聞名後接大火求聞、聞經不退、滅後勿疑、特留百歲、難中之難、四眾得益與瑞相。 |
| 支婁迦讖本 T361 | 「其有善男子、善女人聞無量清淨佛聲，慈心歡喜，一時踊躍，心意清淨，衣毛為起拔出者」〔T12n0361 0299b26〕 | 以宿命行善與信疑展開，付囑持經；說經所得四類利益後，大眾禮佛而去。 |
| 支謙本 T362 | 「其有善男子、善女人，聞阿彌陀佛聲，慈心歡喜，一時踊躍，心意淨潔衣毛為起，淚即出者」〔T12n0362 0317b23〕 | 結構近 T361，又明經道留止千歲後慈哀留經百歲，末亦列四類得益。 |
| 法賢本 T363 | 「若有善男子、善女人，得聞無量壽佛名號，發一念信心，歸依瞻禮。」〔T12n0363 0326a15〕 | 廣列書寫、供養、受持、讀誦、為他演說，另說頌，大眾得益的種類與數目較廣。 |
| 菩提流志會五 T310 | 「若有聞彼佛名能生一念喜愛之心，當獲如上所說功德，心無下劣亦不貢高，成就善根悉皆增上。」〔T11n0310 0100c26〕 | 由聞名喜愛轉入法門付囑、火中求法、正法滅時得聞、長段偈頌與多類授記。會五止於 0101c20。 |
五本都把聞名與歡喜、信心或喜愛相連，卻各自增減身相、宿善、歸依瞻禮、謙下不慢等語；不可把一本到另一本文內補齊。經住時限也不全同：T360 說「當來之世經道滅盡，我以慈悲哀愍特留此經止住百歲」〔T12n0360 0279a11〕；T361 作「我般泥洹去後，經道留止千歲，千歲後經道斷絕」〔T12n0361 0299c11〕；T362 則兼具留止千歲與其後留經百歲。T363、T310 在此段重點轉為守護、付囑與受持。差異只誌錄，不用任一本改寫底本。
諸本說法所得利益的數量亦有差別。T360 列發心、法眼、阿那含、漏盡與菩薩不退；T361、T362 列天眼、阿那含、阿羅漢與阿惟越致；T363、T310 又增法忍、發心、願生與授記等類。共同骨架是說法、得益、瑞相或大眾歡喜，名數則各守其經。
三、經論宗依（眼）
本段之眼有兩個相連而不可混同的聞：先聞佛名，後聞此經。前者以一念歡喜說大利與無上功德；後者說「若有眾生聞此經者，於無上道終不退轉」〔T12n0360 0279a06〕。慧遠特別把兩層分開，先說聞佛名得益，再說聞經得益；聞名因經而得，所以經文隨即轉入受持讀誦。
曇鸞《往生論註》在解天親菩薩迴向門時，先牒論願：「我作論說偈，願見彌陀佛，普共諸眾生，往生安樂國。」〔T40n1819 0833c15〕 這使聞名所得不止於一人自受，也落在普共眾生的迴向。其後五念門以禮拜、讚歎、作願、觀察、迴向成入出之道；「前四念是入安樂淨土門，後一念是出慈悲教化門。」〔T40n1819 0835a22〕 流通因而不是經文講畢後的附錄，而是所聞如何由一念信心進入行門，再由迴向向眾生開出的關鍵。
四、本段釋要
本段依經與古疏可分六層：
- 聞名一念，所得大利：經先以聞彼佛名號、歡喜踊躍、乃至一念為起點。憬興在前文諸佛稱歎處直釋：「諸佛說既共歎，聞名欲生，必得往生故。」〔T37n1748 0158b14〕 又將前說十念與此說一念並讀：「而前十念，此言一念者，最少極多互綺舉，故不相違。」〔T37n1748 0158b22〕 此處的最少、極多，是兩種說法互相交舉，不將一念寫成與十念相反的另一條路。
- 一念不是鐘漏刻度：曇鸞逐字引經作：「諸有眾生聞其名號，信心歡喜，乃至一念至心迴向願生彼國，即得往生，住不退轉；唯除五逆、誹謗正法。」〔T40n1819 0833c24〕 其後問一念多久，先列剎那數，再明所取不在時計：「此中云念者，不取此時節也，但言憶念阿彌陀佛若總相若別相，隨所觀緣心無他想，十念相續名為十念。但稱名號亦復如是。」〔T40n1819 0834c14〕 又以光入暗室顯心的輕重：「譬如千歲闇室，光若暫至即便明朗，豈得言闇在室千歲而不去耶？是名在心。」〔T40n1819 0834b28〕 所以本段的一念不能只折算成時間單位；所緣不雜、信心歡喜、至心迴向願生，才是古德釋文實際指出的內容。
- 由聞名轉到聞經：大利之後，經立即說即使大火充滿三千大千世界，也要越過而聞此經法；再列信樂、受持、讀誦與如說修行。理由是多有菩薩欲聞而不能得，聞者於無上道不退。聞佛名是門，經中所說法藏願行、國土成就與眾生往生，則給這一念以可信、可受、可行的全幅內容。
- 除疑與留經：佛說此經，是令眾生見無量壽佛與國土一切所有；滅度以後不應因此轉生疑惑。法滅留經百歲，是慈悲哀愍眾生的表述。憬興將利益落在「法滅盡後，聞尚獲利往生淨土，況亦今聞者矣。」〔T37n1748 0170c12〕 古疏對法住年限另有討論，本段可確立的是佛以慈悲留經、值遇者得益，不以此處另裁年代。
- 難聞而非拒人於門外：如來難值，佛法難聞，菩薩勝法難聞，遇善知識而聞法能行也難；最後說聞此經而信樂受持是難中之難。層層說難，是顯所聞之重，不是縮小能聞者的資格。前文既從一念歡喜開門，此處的難更顯真實聞受不可輕過。
- 說法落成現前利益：經末分別列無量眾生發心、聲聞三類得果、菩薩不退而以弘誓自莊嚴；再以地動、光照、自然音樂與妙華下降示信，最後全體大眾聞說歡喜。憬興釋「法眼淨者，即預流果也。漏盡者，障盡。意解者，智滿。」〔T37n1748 0170c24〕；又說菩薩「聞彌陀佛成德廣大，故得不退轉。聞此土多惡，誓欲濟度，故以弘誓德而自莊嚴。」〔T37n1748 0170c28〕 各類所得有別，卻同由此一會聞法而發。
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 流通科名 | 逐文處作聞說喜行分，分歎經、得益、瑞相、眾喜四科；總判處作問說喜行分，一字之差照錄 | 判流通四科，次第與憬興相合 | 不作本經卷末逐句科判 |
| 聞名與聞經 | 聞名欲生而釋往生；一念與十念是最少、極多互舉 | 「聞名依經，故勸學之。」〔T37n1745 0116a02〕，明分聞佛得益與聞經得益 | 牒聞名、信心歡喜、至心迴向願生；念不取時計，而取所緣專一 |
| 留經百歲 | 依《法住記》另辨法滅時間，以此經濟凡中之要，故獨留百歲 | 說此經開示淨土、令人求生，故於法滅後偏留百歲 | 不逐文釋本段留經百歲 |
| 如是作說教 | 「我法者，即此經也。」〔T37n1748 0170c17〕，作指彌陀隨願修行成身成智，說指上來為眾生所說，教指令人往生 | 同以作為彌陀修願修行得身得土，說為如來為眾宣說，教為教人往生 | 以五念門與普共眾生迴向顯所聞如何成行 |
| 眾生得益 | 分發願益、聲聞益、菩薩益，瑞相使眾增信 | 同分小乘得果與大乘發心不退 | 不以本段名數逐項疏釋 |
三家共同把卷末讀成聞法而行、聞說得益；對念的細釋、法滅時間與承行架構各有著力。諸說並列，不以一家消去其餘兩家。
六、術語
| 名相 | 所據釋義與範圍 |
|---|---|
| 聞彼佛名號 | 不只是名號在耳邊經過；本段與歡喜踊躍、乃至一念相連，憬興又以聞名欲生釋其歸向。 |
| 一念 | 經以它標聞名歡喜的最短處；憬興以最少、極多互舉通十念，曇鸞則明言不取時計，重在憶念所緣而心無他想。 |
| 大利／無上功德 | 本段直接判聞名一念之所得；兩語相承，不把大利降為世間便利，也不在經外另加果位名目。 |
| 信樂受持 | 聞此經後的四字綱領，後接持誦說行；異譯另列書寫、供養與為他演說，各守其本文。 |
| 清淨法眼 | 慧遠釋為見四真諦，憬興判為預流果；本段與阿那含、漏盡意解並列，呈現聲聞所得的次第差別。 |
| 漏盡意解 | 憬興以障盡、智滿分解兩語，非只把它當作阿羅漢的另一稱名。 |
| 弘誓功德 | 菩薩聞佛成德與此土多惡而發濟度之誓，以此自莊嚴，並於將來成正覺。 |
| 芬芬 | 妙華下降之狀；憬興釋「芬芬者，亂墜之狀也。」〔T37n1748 0171a02〕 底本守「芬芬」〔T12n0360 0279a25〕，流布本異讀為紛紛，見目九。 |
本段未須另立現代梵語還原；名相依漢經及古德釋文而定其範圍。
七、譬喻·修辭
本段最強的譬喻是「設有大火充滿三千大千世界，要當過此。」〔T12n0360 0279a03〕 大火將聞法之難化成可見的阻隔；其後才說菩薩求聞而不得，故此喻所顯是經法難遇與志求之重，不是以災難恐嚇聽者。
第二組修辭是四重難：如來難值難見、諸佛經道難得難聞、菩薩勝法難聞、善知識與聞法能行難；末以難中之難收束。反覆的難字逐層收窄，使聞、信、受持同時成為珍重之事。
第三組是說法後由人至世界的展開：眾生發心、聲聞得果、菩薩不退是內在利益；地動、光照、音樂、雨華是外在瑞相；最後「一切大眾，聞佛所說靡不歡喜」〔T12n0360 0279a27〕，把開頭一人的聞名歡喜擴成全會聞說同喜。流通不是離開正宗，而是正宗所說在聽者身上成為發心、得果與願行。
八、徵引承衍
- 曇鸞直牒聞名一念：以聞名、信心歡喜、至心迴向願生、即得往生住不退轉連成一句，又明念不取時計。這是本段聞名一念最直接的古德義理承衍。
- 慧遠以聞名導向聞經：聞名得益之後即勸學此經；又把如是作、如是說、如是教回收為彌陀因行果德、如來宣說與教人往生，使卷末回照全經。
- 憬興以四科收全經：歎經、得益、瑞相、眾喜四層，使流通兼含教法所指、現前驗益與大眾承受，末不止於卷題。
- 會五廣作付囑：T310 明說「今此法門付囑於汝」〔T11n0310 0100c29〕，又將受持、讀誦、書寫、開示與令法久住相連；這是異譯經對流通責任的另一完整展開。
九、校本定位
本單元底本取 T12n0360 0279a01–0279a29，正文五個區塊，五百零一字元；末行 <cb:jhead> 作「無量壽經卷下」〔T12n0360 0279a29〕。本段正文 gaiji 零、inline 夾註零。
原 XML 在本段設七組校勘錨，其中六組有 <app>：
| 位 | 大正藏底本 | 別本所見 |
|---|---|---|
0279a01 | 語 | 宋、元、明作告 |
0279a08 | 吾 | 流布本作佛言吾 |
0279a21 | 阿那含 | 宋、元、明及流布本作阿那含果 |
0279a25 | 芬芬 | 流布本作紛紛 |
0279a27 | 聞佛所說 | 宋、元、明不具此四字 |
0279a29 | 無量壽經 | 明本及流布本冠佛說二字 |
另於「特留此經止住百歲」〔T12n0360 0279a12〕有一則底本腳註，牒《無量清淨平等覺經》千歲後留經百歲之說；正文仍依大正藏底本，不把註文混入原典層。尾題、芬芬與聞佛所說等異讀同樣只定位，不據別本改字。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This passage begins when the Buddha tells Maitreya of the great benefit gained through one joyful thought upon hearing the Name of the Buddha of Measureless Life. It proceeds through crossing the great fire to seek the Dharma, non-retrogression through hearing the sūtra, freedom from doubt after the Buddha’s extinction, preservation of the sūtra after the Dharma’s extinction, and the difficulty of hearing and trusting it. It ends with the benefits received by the assembly, the sixfold earthquake, light, music, the rain of flowers, and the rejoicing of the whole gathering. The closing title of the second fascicle is also included in this unit. Here the causal ground, vows, accomplishment, modes of birth, and exhortations of the entire sūtra become hearing, trust, reception, preservation, and transmission.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
At the end of the preceding unit, Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise on the Sūtra of Measureless Life closes the section of questions and answers and extensive explanation. It immediately classifies the present passage as follows:
「第三、聞說喜行分。有四：一、歎經勸學；二、彰說利益；三、示相令信；四、顯眾喜行。」—“Third is the section of hearing, teaching, rejoicing, and practice. It has four parts: first, praising the sūtra and encouraging study; second, revealing the benefits of the teaching; third, displaying signs to establish trust; and fourth, revealing the assembly’s rejoicing and practice” 〔T37n1748 0170a27〕.
The first part is itself divided into five subsections, beginning with 「初又有五：此初、歎聞勸行也。」—“The first part again has five divisions. This first one praises hearing and encourages practice” 〔T37n1748 0170a29〕. In sequence these divisions include hearing the Name and hearing the sūtra, dispelling doubt, preserving the sūtra, the difficulty of hearing, and the concluding exhortation. They are followed by the benefits of the teaching, the auspicious signs, and the rejoicing of the assembly. The present unit, from the first line of transmission through the fascicle’s close, exactly encompasses this large division.
Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning of the Sūtra of Measureless Life likewise begins a new part here with 「自下流通。於中有四」—“From here onward is the transmission. Within it there are four parts” 〔T37n1745 0115c22〕. Its four divisions also proceed through praising the sūtra and encouraging study, the benefits gained when the Dharma is taught, the earthquake, light, rain of flowers and music, and the shared joy of the assembly. The two masters agree on the outer boundary of this passage and its fourfold order.
One difference of a single graph must be separately recorded. In his comprehensive outline of the whole sūtra, Jingxing writes 「問說喜行分」—“the section of questioning, teaching, rejoicing, and practice” 〔T37n1748 0132b14〕, while in the passage-by-passage outline here he writes 「聞說喜行分」—“the section of hearing, teaching, rejoicing, and practice” 〔T37n1748 0170a27〕. Both forms are reproduced as they stand, without deciding that either should be emended to the other.
II. Collation with the Alternate Translations (Four Translations and One Assembly) — recorded without adjudication
| Recension | Opening statement on hearing the Name | Subsequent arrangement of the passage |
|---|---|---|
| Kang Sengkai recension, T360 | 「其有得聞彼佛名號，歡喜踊躍，乃至一念，當知此人為得大利，則是具足無上功德。」—“If someone hears that Buddha’s Name, becomes joyful and elated, even for so little as a single thought, know that this person has gained great benefit and thereby fully possesses unsurpassed merit” 〔T12n0360 0279a01〕 | Hearing the Name is followed by crossing the great fire to seek the Dharma, non-retrogression through hearing the sūtra, freedom from doubt after the Buddha’s extinction, special preservation for one hundred years, the most difficult among difficulties, four kinds of benefit received by the assembly, and auspicious signs. |
| Lokakṣema recension, T361 | 「其有善男子、善女人聞無量清淨佛聲，慈心歡喜，一時踊躍，心意清淨，衣毛為起拔出者」—“If good men or good women hear the sound of the Buddha of Measureless Purity, give rise to a loving heart and rejoice, immediately become elated, their minds purified and the hairs on their bodies standing upright” 〔T12n0361 0299b26〕 | It unfolds past good conduct and trust and doubt, entrusts preservation of the sūtra, then sets out four kinds of benefit received from the teaching; the assembly bows to the Buddha and departs. |
| Zhi Qian recension, T362 | 「其有善男子、善女人，聞阿彌陀佛聲，慈心歡喜，一時踊躍，心意淨潔衣毛為起，淚即出者」—“If good men or good women hear the sound of Amitābha Buddha, give rise to a loving heart and rejoice, immediately become elated, their minds purified and cleansed, the hairs on their bodies standing upright and tears at once flowing” 〔T12n0362 0317b23〕 | Its structure is close to T361. It also says that the scriptural Dharma remains for one thousand years and that the sūtra is compassionately preserved for another one hundred years afterward; at the end it likewise lists four kinds of benefit. |
| Faxian recension, T363 | 「若有善男子、善女人，得聞無量壽佛名號，發一念信心，歸依瞻禮。」—“If good men or good women are able to hear the Name of the Buddha of Measureless Life, give rise to one thought of trust, take refuge, behold, and pay homage” 〔T12n0363 0326a15〕 | It extensively lists copying, making offerings, receiving and upholding, reading and reciting, and teaching others; a separate verse follows, and the kinds and numbers of benefits received by the assembly are more extensive. |
| Bodhiruci, Assembly Five of T310 | 「若有聞彼佛名能生一念喜愛之心，當獲如上所說功德，心無下劣亦不貢高，成就善根悉皆增上。」—“If someone hears that Buddha’s Name and can give rise to one thought of joy and love, that person will gain the merits described above; the mind will be neither inferior nor arrogant, and all accomplished roots of goodness will increase” 〔T11n0310 0100c26〕 | Hearing the Name with joy and love leads into entrusting the Dharma gate, seeking the Dharma through fire, hearing it at the extinction of the true Dharma, an extended verse, and many kinds of prediction. Assembly Five ends at 0101c20. |
All five versions join hearing the Name with joy, trust, or affectionate delight, yet each separately adds or omits bodily signs, former goodness, refuge and homage, or humility without arrogance. Nothing found in one is supplied to another. The periods during which the Dharma remains also differ. T360 says: 「當來之世經道滅盡，我以慈悲哀愍特留此經止住百歲」—“In the future, when the scriptural Dharma comes to extinction, out of compassion and pity I will specially preserve this sūtra for a hundred years” 〔T12n0360 0279a11〕. T361 says: 「我般泥洹去後，經道留止千歲，千歲後經道斷絕」—“After I have entered nirvāṇa and departed, the scriptural Dharma will remain for a thousand years; after a thousand years the scriptural Dharma will cease” 〔T12n0361 0299c11〕. T362 includes both a thousand-year period and another hundred years of preservation afterward. T363 and T310 place greater emphasis on preservation, entrustment, and reception. These differences are recorded without using one version to rewrite the base text.
The numbers and kinds of benefits received from the teaching also differ among the recensions. T360 lists the arousal of aspiration, the Dharma eye, non-returning, exhaustion of the outflows, and bodhisattva non-retrogression. T361 and T362 list the heavenly eye, non-returning, arhatship, and non-retrogression. T363 and T310 add such categories as patience, arousal of aspiration, the wish for birth there, and predictions of awakening. The shared structure is teaching, benefit, auspicious signs, or the assembly’s joy; each sūtra retains its own names and numbers.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)
The eye of this passage consists of two connected kinds of hearing that cannot be conflated: first hearing the Buddha’s Name, then hearing this sūtra. The former is said to yield great benefit and unsurpassed merit through a single thought of joy. Of the latter the sūtra says: 「若有眾生聞此經者，於無上道終不退轉」—“If sentient beings hear this sūtra, they will never retrogress from the unsurpassed path” 〔T12n0360 0279a06〕. Huiyuan takes care to separate the two levels, first speaking of the benefit of hearing the Buddha and then of the benefit of hearing the sūtra. Because the Name is heard through the sūtra, the text immediately turns toward reception, preservation, reading, and recitation.
In explaining Vasubandhu Bodhisattva’s gate of dedication and direction, Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land first cites the aspiration of the treatise: 「我作論說偈，願見彌陀佛，普共諸眾生，往生安樂國。」—“I compose this treatise and speak its verses, aspiring to see Amitābha Buddha and, together with all sentient beings, to be born in the land of Peace and Bliss” 〔T40n1819 0833c15〕. Hearing the Name thus does not end in personal reception alone, but rests in dedication together with all sentient beings. The five gates of mindful practice then join worship, praise, aspiration, contemplation, and dedication and direction as entrance and emergence: 「前四念是入安樂淨土門，後一念是出慈悲教化門。」—“The first four practices are gates for entering the Pure Land of Peace and Bliss; the final practice is the gate for emerging into compassionate teaching and transformation” 〔T40n1819 0835a22〕. Transmission is therefore not an appendix after the teaching has ended. It is the point at which what is heard enters a gate of practice through one trusting thought and then opens toward sentient beings through dedication and direction.
IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage
This passage may be read in six levels through the sūtra and the ancient commentaries:
- One thought upon hearing the Name, and the great benefit gained. The sūtra begins with hearing that Buddha’s Name, joy and elation, and even one thought. In the earlier passage on the buddhas’ praise, Jingxing states: 「諸佛說既共歎，聞名欲生，必得往生故。」—“Because the buddhas all praise him in their teaching, those who hear the Name and wish for birth there will certainly attain birth there” 〔T37n1748 0158b14〕. He also reads the earlier ten thoughts together with the single thought here: 「而前十念，此言一念者，最少極多互綺舉，故不相違。」—“The earlier passage speaks of ten thoughts while this one speaks of a single thought; the least and the most are reciprocally stated, and therefore they do not conflict” 〔T37n1748 0158b22〕. Least and most are two reciprocal ways of speaking, not two opposed paths.
- A single thought is not a measure on a clock. Tanluan cites the sūtra verbatim: 「諸有眾生聞其名號，信心歡喜，乃至一念至心迴向願生彼國，即得往生，住不退轉；唯除五逆、誹謗正法。」—“Sentient beings who hear his Name, joyfully trust, and, even for one thought, wholeheartedly dedicate and direct merit toward birth in that land, at once attain birth there and abide in non-retrogression, excepting the five heinous acts and slander of the true Dharma” 〔T40n1819 0833c24〕. When he later asks how long a thought lasts, he first gives a count of instants and then explains what is actually intended: 「此中云念者，不取此時節也，但言憶念阿彌陀佛若總相若別相，隨所觀緣心無他想，十念相續名為十念。但稱名號亦復如是。」—“The word ‘thought’ here is not taken as this unit of time. It means only recollecting Amitābha Buddha, whether in a general or a particular aspect, and allowing no other thought to enter as the mind follows what it contemplates. Ten such thoughts in succession are called ten thoughts. The same applies when one only recites the Name” 〔T40n1819 0834c14〕. He also uses light entering a dark room to reveal the weight of mind: 「譬如千歲闇室，光若暫至即便明朗，豈得言闇在室千歲而不去耶？是名在心。」—“It is like a room dark for a thousand years: if light arrives even briefly, the room at once becomes bright. Can one say that because the darkness was in the room for a thousand years it will not depart? This is called the weight residing in the mind” 〔T40n1819 0834b28〕. The thought in this passage therefore cannot be reduced to a unit of time. The ancient explanation points instead to an unmixed object of recollection, joyful trust, wholehearted dedication, and the aspiration for birth there.
- From hearing the Name to hearing the sūtra. Immediately after calling one thought a great benefit, the sūtra says that even if a great fire filled a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, one should cross through it to hear this scriptural Dharma. It then sets out joyful trust, reception and preservation, reading and recitation, and practice as taught. Hearing the Buddha’s Name is a gate; what the sūtra teaches of Dharmākara’s vows and practice, the accomplishment of the land, and the birth of sentient beings there gives that thought its complete content, worthy of trust, reception, and practice.
- Dispelling doubt and preserving the sūtra. The Buddha teaches this sūtra so that sentient beings may see the Buddha of Measureless Life and everything in that land; after the Buddha’s extinction, they should not give rise to doubt on that account. The preservation of the sūtra for one hundred years after the Dharma’s extinction is an expression of compassion and pity. Jingxing brings the benefit to rest in this statement: 「法滅盡後，聞尚獲利往生淨土，況亦今聞者矣。」—“Even after the Dharma’s extinction, hearing it still brings the benefit of birth in the Pure Land; how much more is this true for those who hear it now” 〔T37n1748 0170c12〕. Ancient commentaries separately discuss the chronological duration of the Dharma. What this passage establishes is the Buddha’s compassionate preservation of the sūtra and the benefit gained by those who encounter it; it does not by itself adjudicate a chronology.
- Difficult to hear, but not a gate closed against people. A tathāgata is difficult to encounter, the Buddha-Dharma difficult to hear, the bodhisattvas’ supreme Dharma difficult to hear, and a good spiritual friend and actual practice of what one hears likewise difficult to find. The passage finally calls hearing this sūtra with joyful trust and preserving it the most difficult among difficulties. The repetitions reveal the gravity of what is heard rather than restricting who may hear it. Because the passage has already opened with whoever gives rise to one joyful thought, its statement of difficulty reveals that genuine hearing and reception must not be lightly passed by.
- The teaching becomes present benefit. At the end, the sūtra separately lists immeasurable beings who give rise to the aspiration, three kinds of attainment among śrāvakas, and bodhisattvas who gain non-retrogression and adorn themselves with vast vows. The earthquake, light, music of its own accord, and descending flowers then establish trust, and the whole assembly finally rejoices. Jingxing explains: 「法眼淨者，即預流果也。漏盡者，障盡。意解者，智滿。」—“Those with the pure Dharma eye have attained the fruit of stream-entry. ‘Outflows exhausted’ means that the obstructions are exhausted; ‘mind liberated’ means that wisdom is complete” 〔T37n1748 0170c24〕. Of the bodhisattvas he says: 「聞彌陀佛成德廣大，故得不退轉。聞此土多惡，誓欲濟度，故以弘誓德而自莊嚴。」—“Hearing the vast accomplished virtues of Amitābha Buddha, they attained non-retrogression. Hearing that this land contains many evils, they vowed to rescue and deliver; therefore they adorned themselves with the merit of vast vows” 〔T37n1748 0170c28〕. The benefits differ, but all arise through hearing the Dharma in the same assembly.
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators — recorded without adjudication
| Doctrinal point | Jingxing, Linked-Meaning Exposition and Praise (T1748) | Huiyuan, Commentary on the Meaning (T1745) | Tanluan, Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land (T1819) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of the transmission section | In the passage-by-passage outline, calls it the section of hearing, teaching, rejoicing, and practice and divides it into praise of the sūtra, benefit, auspicious signs, and the assembly’s joy. In the comprehensive outline, he writes the graph for questioning rather than hearing; the one-graph difference is preserved. | Divides transmission into four parts in the same sequence as Jingxing. | Does not give a line-by-line outline of the closing passage of this sūtra. |
| Hearing the Name and hearing the sūtra | Reads hearing the Name and wishing for birth there as attaining birth, and reads one thought and ten thoughts as reciprocal statements of the least and the most. | 「聞名依經，故勸學之。」—“The Name is heard through the sūtra, and therefore one is encouraged to study it” 〔T37n1745 0116a02〕. He explicitly distinguishes the benefit of hearing the Buddha from that of hearing the sūtra. | Cites hearing the Name, joyful trust, wholehearted dedication, and aspiration for birth there. Thought is not taken as a unit of time but as undistracted attention to its object. |
| Preservation for one hundred years | Uses the Record of the Abiding Dharma to discuss the time of the Dharma’s extinction and says that because this sūtra is essential for delivering ordinary beings, it alone remains for a hundred years. | Says that because this sūtra reveals the Pure Land and causes people to seek birth there, it alone remains for a hundred years after the Dharma’s extinction. | Does not explain this passage on one hundred years line by line. |
| Accomplished, taught, and given as instruction in this way | 「我法者，即此經也。」—“‘My Dharma’ is precisely this sūtra” 〔T37n1748 0170c17〕. Accomplished points to Amitābha’s practice according to his vows and the resulting body and wisdom; taught to what has been taught above for sentient beings; and given as instruction to teaching them to be born there. | Likewise takes accomplished as Amitābha’s cultivation of vows and practices and attainment of body and land, taught as the Tathāgata’s teaching for the assembly, and given as instruction as teaching people birth there. | Uses the five gates of mindful practice and dedication together with all beings to show how what is heard becomes practice. |
| Benefit received by the assembly | Divides it into the benefit of arousing vows, the benefit of śrāvakas, and the benefit of bodhisattvas; the auspicious signs increase the assembly’s trust. | Likewise distinguishes the attainments of the lesser vehicle from the Mahāyāna benefits of arousing the aspiration and gaining non-retrogression. | Does not explain the numbers in this passage one by one. |
All three masters read the end of the second fascicle as hearing the Dharma and putting it into practice, with benefit arising from the teaching. Their detailed treatments of thought, the time of the Dharma’s extinction, and the structure of practice have different points of emphasis. Their explanations are placed side by side without using one to eliminate the others.
VI. Terms
| Term | Grounded sense and range |
|---|---|
| Hearing that Buddha’s Name | More than the Name merely passing by the ear. In this passage it is joined with joy, elation, and even a single thought, and Jingxing further explains its direction through hearing the Name and wishing for birth there. |
| A single thought | The sūtra uses it to mark the shortest point of joy upon hearing the Name. Jingxing reads the least and the most reciprocally with the ten thoughts, while Tanluan explicitly says the meaning is not taken from a time measure but emphasizes recollection directed toward its object without another thought. |
| Great benefit / unsurpassed merit | The passage directly pronounces these as the gain arising from a joyful thought upon hearing the Name. The two phrases continue one another. Great benefit is not reduced to a worldly convenience, and no stage of attainment is added from outside the sūtra. |
| Joyful trust, reception, and preservation | The four-character Chinese expression after hearing this sūtra is followed by preservation, recitation, explanation, and practice. Alternate translations separately list copying, offerings, and teaching others; each remains within its own wording. |
| Pure Dharma eye | Huiyuan explains this as seeing the four noble truths, while Jingxing identifies it with the fruit of stream-entry. In this passage it stands beside non-returning and liberation through exhaustion of the outflows, preserving distinctions among śrāvaka attainments. |
| Outflows exhausted, mind liberated | Jingxing explains the two expressions respectively as the exhaustion of obstructions and the completion of wisdom, not merely as a second name for an arhat. |
| Merit of vast vows | The bodhisattvas hear the Buddha’s accomplished virtues and the many evils of this land, arouse vows of rescue, adorn themselves with those vows, and will attain perfect awakening in the future. |
| Descending in profusion | Jingxing explains the scriptural expression as 「芬芬者，亂墜之狀也。」—“‘Fenfen’ describes a disorderly profusion in the falling” 〔T37n1748 0171a02〕. The base text retains 「芬芬」—“in profusion” 〔T12n0360 0279a25〕, while the current-circulation witness records a graphic variant; see Topic IX. |
No modern Sanskrit reconstruction is required for this unit. The terms are bounded by the Chinese sūtra and the ancient commentaries.
VII. Similes and Rhetoric
The strongest simile in this passage is 「設有大火充滿三千大千世界，要當過此。」—“Even if a great fire filled the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, one should cross through it” 〔T12n0360 0279a03〕. The great fire turns the difficulty of hearing the Dharma into a visible obstruction. Only afterward does the sūtra say that bodhisattvas may seek to hear it and still fail to obtain it. The simile therefore reveals the rarity of the scriptural Dharma and the gravity of seeking it, not a threat intended to frighten the hearer.
A second rhetorical structure is the fourfold statement of difficulty: difficult to meet and behold a tathāgata, difficult to obtain and hear the buddhas’ scriptural Dharma, difficult to hear the bodhisattvas’ supreme Dharma, and difficult to meet a good spiritual friend and put the Dharma heard into practice. “The most difficult among difficulties” then gathers the repetitions. The word difficult narrows step by step until hearing, trust, and preservation together become something to treasure.
The third structure expands after the teaching from people to the world. Sentient beings’ aspirations, the śrāvakas’ attainments, and the bodhisattvas’ non-retrogression are inward benefits; earthquake, light, music, and rain of flowers are outward auspicious signs. Finally, 「一切大眾，聞佛所說靡不歡喜」—“the whole assembly heard what the Buddha taught, and not one failed to rejoice” 〔T12n0360 0279a27〕. The joy of one person hearing the Name at the beginning has widened into the shared joy of the whole assembly hearing the teaching. Transmission does not leave the main teaching behind; it is the point at which that teaching becomes aspiration, realization, and vow in its hearers.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Tanluan directly cites the single thought upon hearing the Name. He joins hearing the Name, joyful trust, wholehearted dedication toward birth there, birth and non-retrogression in one statement, then clarifies that thought is not measured merely by time. This is the most direct ancient doctrinal carrying forward of the single thought in this passage.
- Huiyuan guides hearing the Name into hearing the sūtra. The benefit of hearing the Name leads immediately to encouragement to study this sūtra. He further gathers accomplished in this way, taught in this way, and given as instruction in this way into Amitābha’s causal practice and fruit, the Tathāgata’s teaching, and instruction toward birth there, thereby making the end of the fascicle look back upon the whole sūtra.
- Jingxing gathers the complete sūtra into four divisions. Praise of the sūtra, benefit, auspicious signs, and the assembly’s joy allow transmission to include what the teaching points to, its benefit in the present, and the way the assembly receives it, rather than ending with the fascicle title alone.
- Assembly Five develops entrustment at length. T310 expressly says 「今此法門付囑於汝」—“I now entrust this Dharma gate to you” 〔T11n0310 0100c29〕 and joins reception, preservation, reading, recitation, copying, explanation, and the long abiding of the Dharma. This is another complete unfolding, in an alternate translation, of responsibility for transmission.
IX. Placement Among the Recensions
The base text for this unit is T12n0360 from 0279a01 through 0279a29. Its scriptural body contains five blocks and 501 code points. The final <cb:jhead> reads 「無量壽經卷下」—“Second Fascicle of The Sūtra of Measureless Life” 〔T12n0360 0279a29〕. There are no gaiji and no inline notes in the body.
The original XML places seven collation anchors in this unit, six of which contain <app> entries:
| Location | Taishō base text | Recorded alternate reading |
|---|---|---|
0279a01 | 語 | Song, Yuan, and Ming witnesses read 告. |
0279a08 | 吾 | The current-circulation witness reads 佛言吾. |
0279a21 | 阿那含 | Song, Yuan, and Ming witnesses and the current-circulation witness read 阿那含果. |
0279a25 | 芬芬 | The current-circulation witness reads 紛紛. |
0279a27 | 聞佛所說 | Song, Yuan, and Ming witnesses omit these four graphs. |
0279a29 | 無量壽經 | The Ming and current-circulation witnesses prefix 佛說. |
At 「特留此經止住百歲」—“I will specially preserve this sūtra for a hundred years” 〔T12n0360 0279a12〕, the base text has an editorial note citing the statement in the Sūtra of the Buddha of Measureless Purity and Equal Awakening that the scriptural Dharma remains for a thousand years and the sūtra for another hundred. The note does not belong to the body and is not mixed into the source layer. The closing title, the expression fenfen, and the words “heard what the Buddha taught” are likewise located as variants only; the base text is not changed from another witness.