---
title: "淨土十要 · 二怯劣墮者"
description: "淨土十要由明代高僧成時大師評點節要，匯集了淨土宗歷代祖師的核心著述。該書輯錄了智者大師、善導大師等十種淨土教典精要，系統闡述了念佛往生西方極樂世界的理論與方法。其編撰於明末佛教復興期，旨在匡正禪淨流弊、彰顯淨土他力易行道。作為淨土宗根本教典之一，該書被譽為修學淨土法門的權威指南，在漢傳佛教中具有崇高地位，是深入理解淨土思想不可或缺的重要文獻。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmcxvu7610qnnky047spt6yxy"
---

### 二怯劣墮者

> Those Who Fall Due to Timidity

有三。一疑結習濃厚。凡夫但知業力。不知業性空。若業性實者。盡虗空界無容受處。如黑雲障空風至則滅。若雲實者吹亦不去。虗空喻性。黑雲喻業。念佛喻風。又業性即法性。烏芻瑟摩聞多婬人成猛火聚。却後徧觀四支百骸諸冷煖氣。神光內凝。化多婬心。成智慧火。夫同一熱惱。方其婬成大火聚。及其離成大寶𦦨。若婬性實者。云何是中而得三昧。是故迷成則處胎獄。念成則入蓮胞。以胎性即化性。非從外來。如濁水中清非外來故。二疑念力輕微。眾生信有形之行業。大不信無形之念力。尤大念力是行業根。一切事業非念不成。如人造罪。無心者重得輕報。有心者反是。以念力重故。如無記時。耳提面囑亦不記。若心在者。一入耳根雖終身不忘。以念力堅故。蘇軾曰。佛以大圓覺。充滿十方界。我以顛倒想。出沒生死中。云何以一念。得往生淨土。我造無始業。本從一念生。既從一念生。還從一念滅。生滅滅盡處。則我與佛同。如投水海中。如風中鼓橐。雖有大聖智。亦不能分別。淨土決云。念頭所係最急。如水必赴海。火必炎上。刃必傷。毒必殺。無空過者。念佛之念亦如是。如婬男子婬念堅故。化為猛𦦨延燒神廟。月光童子觀水窺屋。唯見清水。僧清辯與無想外道論議。外道化為石以證己見。清辯書於石上。明日亦有答辭。是等皆念力堅猛無因變化。云何念佛而佛不現。當知念力是一切法中之王。如摩訶那伽大力勇士。怒時額必生瘡。瘡若未合閻浮提人無與敵也。三疑億萬剎遠。凡夫執定十萬億剎。意謂快馬疾帆日不千里。云何剎那得生彼處。不思國土遠近從分段身計度生。從肉眼生。此往生者為分段身耶。為是周徧含容之心耶。若分段身者。身是頑質。云何得生。若心生者。心周沙界。淨土原在心中。焉有往來。如人在長安思鄉。或閩或滇隨念即至。豈有程途。又如夢時身在牀而徧至他方。無功居士曰。極樂去十萬億剎。凡夫命終頃刻至者。蓋自心本妙耳。楞嚴云。一切浮塵諸幻化相。當處出生隨處滅盡。因緣和合虗妄有生。因緣別離虗妄名滅。以此推之。當命終時。染濁緣離。故娑婆當處幻滅。清淨緣合。故極樂當處幻生。此滅彼生間不容髮。何頃刻之可論。余鄉有客能致乩仙。仙即其親也。後赴京師有所卜。虞地遠不能赴。書符宣詞。少頃即至。此是業繫尚如是疾。況不思議念力。仗阿彌陀本願功德。順水張帆有何障難。念佛之人當遣此三疑。若不遣者。真結習濃厚。真念力輕微。真十萬程遠。如出門而扄其鑰。是不欲出。非無門過。

> There are three doubts. First, the doubt that habitual attachments are too deep. Ordinary people only know the power of karma, but do not understand that the nature of karma is empty. If karma had a real, fixed nature, the entire universe would have no room to contain it. It is like black clouds blocking the sky—when the wind comes, they vanish. If the clouds had a solid existence, even the wind could not blow them away. The empty sky represents one's true nature, the black clouds represent karma, and reciting the Buddha's name represents the wind. Furthermore, the nature of karma is precisely the nature of reality. Ucchuṣma heard that a lustful person could generate a mass of burning fire. Later, he closely observed the warm and cool energies throughout his entire body. His spiritual light gathered inward, transforming his lustful mind into a fire of wisdom. The same heat and affliction—when one is trapped in lust, it becomes a great blaze of fire; when one transcends it, it becomes a great, precious flame. If lust had a solid, real nature, how could one possibly attain samādhi from within it? Therefore, when delusion takes hold, one is trapped in the womb-prison of suffering; when mindfulness takes hold, one enters the lotus womb of liberation. The nature of the womb and the nature of transformation are not two different things, and do not come from outside. It is like muddy water—the clarity within it does not come from an external source. Second, the doubt that the power of mindfulness is too weak. Sentient beings trust in tangible, visible actions and karma, but greatly distrust the invisible power of mindfulness—an especially powerful force. The power of mindfulness is the very root of all actions and karma. No undertaking can be accomplished without it. For instance, if a person commits an offense without intent, the retribution is light; but if they commit it with intent, the retribution is heavy. This is because the power of mindfulness is strong. When the mind is distracted (in a state of neutrality), even repeated reminders are forgotten. But if the mind is focused, a single hearing stays with a person their entire life—because the power of mindfulness is firm. Su Shi said, "The Buddha, with his great perfect enlightenment, fills the ten directions. I, with my deluded thoughts, wander in birth and death. How can a single thought lead me to rebirth in the Pure Land?" I create beginningless karma, which originally arises from a single thought. Since it arises from a single thought, it also ceases with a single thought. When the place of arising and ceasing is completely extinguished, then I am identical to the Buddha. It is like water flowing into the sea, or like bellows in the wind. Even a great sage with supreme wisdom could not distinguish between them. The \*Decisive Guide to the Pure Land\* says, "What the mind clings to manifests most quickly. Water must flow to the sea. Fire must blaze upward. A blade must wound. Poison must kill. Nothing passes in vain." The thought of reciting the Buddha's name is exactly like this. Because a lustful man's thought of lust is firm, it transforms into a blazing fire that burns down a shrine. The Moonlight Bodhisattva contemplated water and, looking into a room, could only see clear water. The monk Qingbian debated with a heretical practitioner of the No-Thought school. The heretic turned himself into a stone to substantiate his view. Qingbian wrote on the stone, and the next day, there was a reply written there as well. These are all examples of how the power of a firm and intense mindfulness can cause transformations without a specific cause. So how could one recite the Buddha's name and the Buddha not appear? Know that the power of mindfulness is the king of all dharmas. It is like the great power warrior Mahānāga—when he becomes angry, a boil appears on his forehead. Until that boil heals, no one in all of Jambudvīpa can oppose him. Third, the doubt that the Pure Land is billions of lands away. Ordinary people cling to the idea of "ten trillion Buddha-lands," thinking—a fast horse or a swift sail cannot cover a thousand miles in a day—so how could they reach that place in an instant? They do not consider that the distance of a land is measured by the fragmented, physical body and arises from the physical eye. Is this one who is to be reborn a fragmented physical body? Or is it the all-pervading, all-containing mind? If it is the physical body, the body is a solid, material object—how could it be reborn? If it is the mind, the mind pervades worlds as numerous as grains of sand. The Pure Land is originally within one's own mind—how could there be any traveling there? It is like a person in Chang'an thinking of their hometown, whether Fujian or Yunnan—they are there in thought instantly. How could there be any distance? It is also like in a dream: though the body is lying on the bed, one can travel everywhere. The layman Wugong said, "Although the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is ten trillion Buddha-lands away, when an ordinary person’s life ends, they arrive in a single moment. This is because one’s essential mind is inherently wondrous." The \*Śūraṅgama Sūtra\* says, "All transient, illusory, and changing phenomena arise in their very place and cease again in that same place. Arising falsely due to the conjunction of causes and conditions, they are called 'arising.' Ceasing falsely due to the separation of causes and conditions, they are called 'ceasing.'" From this we can understand: at the moment of death, the conditions of defilement unravel, so the Saha world ceases right there, like an illusion. The conditions of purity come together, so the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss arises right there, like an illusion. The ceasing of one and the arising of the other happen in less than a hair's breadth—how can there be any time for an 'instant'? There was a traveler from my hometown who could summon a spirit to write at a spirit-writing séance; the spirit was a deceased relative. Later, when the traveler went to the capital and needed to consult the spirit, he worried that the distance was too great for the spirit to arrive. So, he drew a talisman and intoned the invocation. In a short time, the spirit arrived. Such is the speed even of a spirit bound by its karma. How much swifter, then, is the inconceivable power of mindfulness, relying on Amitābha's fundamental vow and merit? It is like a boat sailing downstream with a favorable wind—what obstacle or difficulty could there be? A person who recites the Buddha's name should set aside these three doubts. If one does not set them aside, then one truly has deep habitual attachments, truly has weak mindfulness, and the land is truly a trillion miles away. It is like locking the door from the inside when you want to go out—it is not the door's fault, but your own unwillingness to leave.