“When the water-clearing pearl
is tossed in muddy water,
The muddy water becomes clear.
When the Buddha’s name
enters a confused mind,
The confused mind reaches
the Buddha.”

“With the Dharma-door of mindfulness of the Buddha,
One transcends the Three Realms
through the side door
And carries one’s karma into that rebirth.

“Why should we be mindful of the Buddha? Because we have strong affinities with Amitābha Buddha, who became a Buddha ten kalpas ago. Before that he was called Bhikshu Dharma Treasury [Skt. Dharmākara]. At that time he made forty-eight great vows. When making his thirteenth and fourteenth vows he said, ‘If the living beings throughout the ten directions say my name and do not become Buddhas, I will not attain the right enlightenment.’

In other words, if people who recited his name did not become Buddhas, he would not have become a Buddha. And because of the power of Amitābha Buddha’s vows, everyone who recites his name can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.” (SS V 128)

“What does it mean to transcend the Three Realms (three worlds) through the side door? It’s like an insect in a piece of bamboo. If the insect were to gnaw its way out through the length of the bamboo, it would have to go through all the sections; that would take a long time. If the insect were to gnaw a hole in the side of the bamboo instead, it would get out very easily.

People who are mindful of the Buddha are like the insect who goes out the side of the bamboo; they escape the Three Realms on a horizontal plane— right at the level where they are. ‘And carries one’s karma into that rebirth.’ The karma one carries is former karma, not current karma—it is old karma, not new karma. This means that before you understood the method of being mindful of the Buddha, you created offenses. You can take that karma with you when you go to rebirth in the Pure Land. But don’t continue to create bad karma once you know about reciting the Buddha’s name, because you can’t go there if you are taking that karma along. (SS V 127-128)

“Our recitation is like sending a telegram to Amitābha in the West. At the end of our lives, the Bodhisattvas will guide us to rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Morning and night, in motion and stillness, at all times, you can recite. While moving you can recite and change motion into stillness; when still you can recite and turn the stillness into motion. When there is neither motion nor stillness, your telegram to Amitābha has gotten through and you’ve received his response. (LY II 114)

念佛