One Mind, Undistracted
This is the passage the whole commentary turns on — Ouyi's own gloss on holding Amitābha's name for one to seven days, undistracted. Here he distinguishes phenomenal from noumenal holding of the name, and phenomenal from noumenal one-pointedness, matching each pairing back to the four kinds of Pure Land; then a long chain of questions and answers works through nearly every practical worry a reader could raise — false visions, whether seven days is literal, the number of past lives behind a single deathbed recitation — before the Main Teaching closes.
Holding the Name, One to Seven Days
舍利弗！不可以少善根、福德、因緣，得生彼國。舍利弗！若有善男子、善女人聞說阿彌陀佛，執持名號，若一日、若二日、若三日、若四日、若五日、若六日、若七日一心不亂，其人臨命終時，阿彌陀佛與諸聖眾現在其前，是人終時心不顛倒，即得往生阿彌陀佛極樂國土。
Śāriputra, one cannot be born in that land through few roots of goodness, blessings, and causes and conditions. Śāriputra, if there is a good son or good daughter who, hearing Amitābha Buddha spoken of, holds fast to that name — whether for one day, two days, three, four, five, six, or seven days — with a single, undistracted mind, then when that person's life comes to its end, Amitābha Buddha, together with the host of sages, will appear before them. And at the moment of death, that person's mind will not be inverted with confusion or fear, and they will at once attain rebirth in Amitābha Buddha's land of Utmost Bliss.
二、勸立行。生淨土者，即得不退，又與諸上善人俱會一處，如此不可思議橫超法門，故非善根福德尠少者所能生也。菩提正道名為善根，即是親因；種種助道施戒禪等名為福德，即是助緣。聲聞獨覺菩提名少善根，人天有漏福業名少功德，皆不可生淨土，唯以信願執持名號，則一一聲中皆悉具多善根福德，縱令散心稱名善根福德亦不可量，況一心不亂哉！故使感應道交文成印壞，彌陀聖眾不來而來親承接引，行人心識不往而往托質寶蓮也。善男子、善女人者，不揀在家出家，不論貴賤老少，亦復不拘六趣四生，但得聞佛名者即是多劫善根成熟，即五逆十惡亦皆名善男女也。聞說阿彌陀佛即聞慧，執持名號即思慧，一心不亂即修慧。阿彌陀佛是萬德洪名，以名召德，罄無不盡，故即以執持名號而為正行，不必更涉觀想參究等行，至簡易至直捷也。
Second, exhorting the establishment of practice. One who is born in the Pure Land at once attains non-retrogression, and moreover gets to be gathered together in one place with such supremely good people — a Dharma-gate of this kind, transcending directly and inconceivably, cannot therefore be attained by one whose roots of goodness and blessings are scant and few. The correct path to bodhi is called "roots of goodness" — this is the direct cause; every kind of assisting practice such as generosity, precepts, and meditative concentration is called "blessings" — this is the contributing condition. The bodhi of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha is called "few roots of goodness"; the contaminated merit-karma of humans and gods is called "little blessing" — neither of these alone can bring about birth in the Pure Land. Only when one, with faith and vow, holds fast to the name does each and every recitation, without exception, already possess abundant roots of goodness and blessings; even reciting with a scattered mind, the roots of goodness and blessings involved cannot be measured — how much more so, then, with one mind, undistracted! Hence response and resonance meet along the path, like a seal impressed and the wax yielding to its very pattern: Amitābha and the host of sages, without coming, yet come to personally receive and guide the practitioner; the practitioner's own mind and consciousness, without going, yet go, their very substance entrusted to a jeweled lotus. "A good son or good daughter" excludes no one, whether lay or ordained, whether noble or humble, old or young, nor is it confined to any of the six destinies or four modes of birth — whoever merely comes to hear the Buddha's name has thereby had roots of goodness accumulated across many kalpas already ripen, and even one guilty of the five heinous crimes or the ten evils is likewise called "a good son or good daughter" in this sense. "Hearing Amitābha Buddha spoken of" is precisely the wisdom of hearing; "holding fast to the name" is precisely the wisdom of reflection; "one mind, undistracted" is precisely the wisdom of cultivation. "Amitābha Buddha" is a name of ten thousand virtues — a name summons the virtue it names, exhausting it entirely without remainder — and so holding fast to the name is taken directly as the proper practice, requiring no further recourse to visualization, investigation, or other such practices; it is the utmost in simplicity and ease, the utmost in directness.
Phenomenal and Noumenal: Holding the Name, and One-Pointedness Itself
聞而信、信而願乃肯執持，不信、不願與不聞等，雖亦得為遠因不名聞慧，執持則念念憶佛名號故是思慧。然有事持、理持。事持者，信有西方阿彌陀佛，而猶未達是心作佛、是心是佛，但以決志願求生故，如子憶母無時暫忘，名為事持。理持者，信彼西方阿彌陀佛是我心具、是我心造，即以自心所具所造洪名，而為繫心之境令不暫忘，名為理持。一日乃至七日者，剋期辨事也。利根一日即得不亂，鈍根七日方得不亂，中根或二三四五六日不定。又利根即能七日不亂，鈍根僅能一日不亂，中根或六五四三二日不定。持至一心不亂便成修慧也。
一心亦有二種：謂不論事持、理持，持至伏除煩惱乃至見思先盡，皆名為事一心。又不論事持、理持，持至心開見本性佛，皆名為理一心。事一心則不為見思所亂，理一心則不為二邊所亂。不為見思所亂，故感變化身佛及諸聖眾現在其前，心不復起娑婆界中三有顛倒，即得往生同居、方便二種極樂世界。不為二邊所亂，故感受用身佛及諸聖眾現在其前，心不復起生死涅槃二見顛倒，即得往生實報、寂光二種極樂世界。當知執持名號雖復簡易直捷，仍復至頓至圓，以一念相應即一念佛，念念相應即念念佛，不勞觀想不必參究，當下圓明無餘無缺，上上根人終不能踰其閫，下下根人亦可臻其閾，可謂橫該八教、豎徹五時，所以徹底悲心無問自說，且深歎其難信也。
Hearing and believing, believing and vowing, only then is one willing to hold the name; without belief, without vow, this is the same as not having heard at all — though it may still serve as a distant cause, it cannot be called the wisdom of hearing. Holding the name means being mindful, thought after thought, of the Buddha's name — hence it is the wisdom of reflection. Now, there is phenomenal holding and noumenal holding. Phenomenal holding means believing there is, in the west, a Buddha Amitābha, while not yet having penetrated through to "this very mind creates the Buddha, this very mind is the Buddha" — simply, with resolute intent, vowing to seek rebirth, like a child recollecting its mother without ever, for even a moment, forgetting — this is called phenomenal holding. Noumenal holding means believing that Amitābha Buddha in the west is precisely what my own mind possesses, precisely what my own mind creates, and taking this great name — possessed and created by my own mind itself — as the object to which the mind is bound, never letting it be forgotten even for a moment — this is called noumenal holding.
"One day... up to seven days" sets a fixed period within which to accomplish the matter. One of sharp faculties attains the undistracted state in a single day; one of dull faculties attains it only after seven days; one of middling faculties may take two, three, four, five, or six days, not fixed. Again: one of sharp faculties is able to remain undistracted for the full seven days; one of dull faculties is able to remain undistracted for only a single day; one of middling faculties may manage six, five, four, three, or two days, not fixed. Holding the name all the way to one mind, undistracted, is precisely the accomplishment of the wisdom of cultivation.
"One mind" itself likewise has two kinds. Regardless of whether one practices phenomenal or noumenal holding, holding the name to the point of subduing and removing afflictions, so that views and habituated thought are the first to be entirely exhausted, is in every case called phenomenal one-pointedness. And again, regardless of phenomenal or noumenal holding, holding the name to the point where the mind opens and one beholds the buddha of one's own inherent nature is in every case called noumenal one-pointedness. Phenomenal one-pointedness is not disturbed by views and habituated thought; noumenal one-pointedness is not disturbed by either of the two extremes. Not being disturbed by views and habituated thought, one brings about the appearance before oneself of the transformation-body buddha together with the host of sages, the mind no longer giving rise to the inverted confusion of the three modes of existence within the sahā world's own three realms, and one at once attains rebirth into either of the two lands of Utmost Bliss corresponding to common dwelling or expedient means. Not being disturbed by either of the two extremes, one brings about the appearance before oneself of the enjoyment-body buddha together with the host of sages, the mind no longer giving rise to the inverted duality of birth-and-death versus nirvāṇa, and one at once attains rebirth into either of the two lands of Utmost Bliss corresponding to real reward or tranquil light.
One should understand that, although holding fast to the name is indeed the utmost in simplicity and directness, it is, at the very same time, the utmost in suddenness and perfection: with a single thought in accord, one is a buddha for that single thought; with thought after thought in accord, one is a buddha thought after thought — requiring no laborious visualization, no need for investigation, complete and bright right where one stands, lacking nothing and missing nothing. The very highest of the sharp-faculty practitioners can never exceed its threshold, and the very lowest of the dull-faculty practitioners can nonetheless reach its gate as well — one may well say it spans the Eight Teachings crosswise and penetrates the Five Periods lengthwise. This is precisely why, out of his thoroughgoing compassionate heart, the Buddha spoke this teaching entirely unprompted, without being asked — and why he so profoundly laments how difficult it is to believe.
This is the passage cited across the sūtra's own reading guide (see Section 8) as the source of the phenomenal/noumenal one-pointedness distinction and the two levels of "holding the name." Note the precise structure Ouyi builds: phenomenal vs. noumenal holding (事持/理持, how one relates to the practice) is a distinct axis from phenomenal vs. noumenal one-pointedness (事一心/理一心, what breaks through as a result) — a practitioner can, in principle, practice noumenal holding without yet reaching noumenal one-pointedness. The four resulting combinations map directly onto the four kinds of Pure Land already set out on Part 1 and Part 4: breaking views and habituated thought secures common dwelling or expedient means; breaking the duality of birth-and-death versus nirvāṇa secures real reward or tranquil light. "The Eight Teachings" and "Five Periods" are the full Tiantai classification scheme worked out at length in this site's Jiaoguan Gangzong translation — Ouyi's claim is that holding the name is not confined to any one teaching or period within that scheme, but spans and penetrates the whole of it.
Ten Questions on Practice
問：「臨終佛現，寧保非魔？」答：「修心之人不作佛觀而佛忽現，非本所期，故名魔事；念佛見佛已是相應，況在臨終非致魔時，何須疑慮！」
See the questions and answers below, translated in full.
Question: "How can one be sure that a buddha appearing at the moment of death is not actually a demonic manifestation?"
Answer: "For a person cultivating the mind, if a buddha suddenly appears when one is not practicing a contemplation of the Buddha at all, this is not what was originally expected, and is therefore called a demonic event. But reciting the Buddha's name and beholding the Buddha is already a case of mutual resonance — how much more so, then, at the very moment of death, which is not a time conducive to demonic interference at all. What need is there for doubt or hesitation!"
Question: "Does "seven days, undistracted" refer to ordinary times, or to the moment of death?"
Answer: "It refers to ordinary times."
Question: "If it refers to ordinary times, then suppose a person, after these seven days of being undistracted, once again gives rise to delusion and creates karma — would such a person still attain rebirth?"
Answer: "One who has genuinely attained one mind, undistracted, certainly has no further matter of giving rise to delusion and creating karma again."
Question: "The larger sūtra's "ten recollections," and the "single recollection" spoken of in the Baowang Lun [the Tang monk Feixi's treatise on buddha-recollection samādhi] — do these refer to ordinary times, or to the moment of death?"
Answer: "The ten recollections apply to both times. If it is the ten recollections each morning, this pertains to ordinary times; if the ten recollections that secure rebirth, this is the same as the ten recitations of the name spoken of in the Contemplation Sūtra, but reckoned specifically at the very moment life comes to its end. As for a single recollection, this refers only to the moment of death."
Question: "Since both ten recollections and a single recollection alike secure rebirth, why does this sūtra require seven days?"
Answer: "Without the effort of these seven days at ordinary times, how could there be ten recollections or a single recollection at the moment of death? Even in the case described in the Contemplation Sūtra, of a person of the very lowest grade guilty of the five heinous crimes and the ten evils, who has never in this present life practiced at all — this too is entirely a matter of past causes having already ripened, bringing it about that, at the moment of death, he happens to meet a good friend, hears the teaching, and at once has faith and vow. A case such as this is not one in ten thousand — how could one fail to prepare one's provisions in advance, and instead gamble on that one chance in ten thousand!"
Question: "The West lies a hundred thousand million lands from here — how could one attain rebirth there instantly?"
Answer: "A hundred thousand million lands do not extend beyond the outer edge of the nature of my own current single thought of mind at all, since the nature of mind has, at root, no "outside." And further relying on the Buddha's own power to receive and guide one — how could instant rebirth be difficult at all?"
Question: "Since faith and vow have been classified as belonging to the practice of wisdom, and holding the name to the practice of action, holding fast to the name should then be merely an assisting practice — why call it the proper practice? And how could each and every recitation, without exception, already possess abundant roots of goodness and blessings?"
Answer: "Faith, vow, and practice are spoken of in dependence on a single mind — there is no real priority among them, nor are they fixed as strictly three separate things. For without vow and without practice, one cannot properly be called true faith; without practice and without faith, one cannot properly be called a true vow; without faith and without vow, one cannot properly be called true practice. Now, since holding the name is entirely a matter of faith and vow, each and every recitation, without exception, already fully contains faith, vow, and practice all three complete — this is why it is called abundant roots of goodness and blessings, causes and conditions. This is precisely what the Contemplation Sūtra means when it says that, by reciting the Buddha's name, one removes, thought after thought, the karmic offense of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death."
Question: "At the moment of death, the force of one's recollection is fierce and intense, and so is able to remove the karmic offense of many kalpas — but does reciting the name with utmost sincerity at ordinary times likewise remove karmic offense?"
Answer: "It is like the sun rising, whereupon the massed darkness dissolves of itself: reciting the Buddha's great name, the ten thousand karmic offenses vanish of themselves."
Question: "Does reciting the name with a scattered mind likewise remove karmic offense, and does it secure rebirth as well?"
Answer: "It, too, certainly removes karmic offense, but does not certainly secure rebirth. That it certainly removes karmic offense is because the merit and virtue of the name are truly and inconceivably real; that it does not certainly secure rebirth is because such vague, scattered goodness has difficulty overcoming karmic offenses accumulated since beginningless time. This is truly because the grave karmic offenses of birth-and-death we ourselves have created since beginningless kalpas — were these grave offenses to possess any physical substance or form — the whole of empty space itself could not contain them. And so, although across the hundred years from birth to death, night and day, one recites Amitābha's name a hundred thousand times, and although each and every recitation entirely extinguishes eighty koṭis of kalpas of grave birth-and-death offenses, the offenses thereby extinguished are still no more than a fingernail's worth of soil, while the offenses not yet extinguished remain like the great earth itself. Only when one is able to recite all the way to one mind, undistracted, is one then like a valiant warrior breaking straight through a siege and out the other side — no longer to be contained by the three armies surrounding him!"
Question: "If rebirth is not certain, then what benefit is there in reciting the name at all?"
Answer: "A single recitation of the Buddha's name already becomes a seed for buddhahood — like vajra, it can never be destroyed. Hence, in the Buddha's own lifetime, there was once an old man who wished to seek ordination; the five hundred sages, examining him with their eye of the path, all said that he had no roots of goodness whatsoever, and refused to shave his head. He later came before the Buddha, and the Buddha at once ordained him. His disciples asked the Buddha the reason for this, and the Buddha said: "This man, immeasurable kalpas ago, once went into the mountains to gather firewood and was pursued by a tiger. He climbed a tree to escape it, and the tiger circled the tree, roaring; and in his terror and urgency, he cried out, losing control of his voice, 'Homage to the Buddha!' Now this root of goodness has ripened, and he has met me and attained the path — this is not something the eye of the path of the two lesser vehicles could ever have known." Considered from this, what is set out in the "Skillful Means" chapter of the Lotus Sūtra — that anyone who, in the presence of a buddha of the past, even recited the name with a scattered, distracted mind, has thereby already become a buddha — how could this not be believed!
伏願若緇若素、若智若愚，於此簡易直捷無上圓頓法門，勿視為難而輒生退諉，勿視為易而漫不策勤，勿視為淺而妄致藐輕，勿視為深而弗敢承任。蓋所持之名號真實不可思議，能持之心性亦真實不可思議，持一聲則一聲不可思議，持十聲百聲乃至無量無數等聲，則聲聲皆悉不可思議故也。
I earnestly hope that, whether monastic or lay, whether wise or foolish, no one will regard this simple, easy, direct, unsurpassed, perfect and sudden Dharma-gate as difficult and thereupon give rise to retreat and excuse; nor regard it as easy and thereupon grow careless and fail to exert oneself; nor regard it as shallow and thereby fall into unwarranted contempt; nor regard it as profound and thereby fail to dare to take it up. For the name that is held is truly and inconceivably real, and the nature of mind that is able to hold it is likewise truly and inconceivably real: hold it for a single recitation, and that single recitation is inconceivable; hold it for ten recitations, a hundred, or even immeasurable, uncountable recitations, and every single recitation, without exception, is inconceivable.
These ten exchanges anticipate nearly every objection a careful reader might raise against the practice, in roughly the order a skeptical practitioner would actually raise them: is a deathbed vision trustworthy, is seven days literal, does backsliding after those seven days undo everything, how do the sūtra's "seven days" relate to other texts' "ten recollections" or "one recollection," how can a place a hundred thousand million lands away be reached instantly, why call holding the name the "proper" practice rather than merely an aid to faith and vow — and finally, three questions in a row on karmic offense and scattered recitation, ending with the old woodcutter's story: a single terrified cry of the Buddha's name, decades or lifetimes earlier, ripening only now. The tiger story is a stock exemplum in Chinese Buddhist preaching literature rather than a citation to a specific sūtra passage; Ouyi's own point in telling it is that even a moment's involuntary recitation plants a seed that time cannot destroy — the same claim behind his citation of the Lotus Sūtra's "Skillful Means" chapter just after it.
The Summary Exhortation
舍利弗！我見是利，故說此言。若有眾生聞是說者，應當發願生彼國土。
Śāriputra, I see this benefit, and that is why I speak these words. If there are beings who hear this teaching, they should vow to be born in that land.
三、總結勸。佛眼所見究盡明了，以信願而執持名號，的確是多善根福德，以此善根福德因緣，的確能感佛及聖眾來迎，的確能生四種極樂世界，是為不可思議功德之利。故殷勤再勸發願往生，以願能導行故也。二、正宗分竟。
Third, a summary exhortation. What the Buddha's own eye beholds is utterly thorough and clear: holding fast to the name with faith and vow is, without question, an abundance of roots of goodness and blessings; and by means of these roots of goodness and blessings, causes and conditions, it is, without question, able to bring about the Buddha and his host of sages coming to receive one, and, without question, able to bring about rebirth into any of the four kinds of land of Utmost Bliss — this is precisely the benefit of inconceivable merit and virtue. Hence he earnestly and repeatedly exhorts the vow to seek rebirth, since vow is able to guide practice. This closes the Main Teaching.
Part 9 Complete
This closes the Main Teaching in its entirety — faith and vow set forth through the wondrous fruits of Sukhāvatī, and practice exhorted through the passage on holding the name, defended across ten questions covering nearly every practical worry a reader could bring to it. Part 10, the final page, covers the Transmission: the buddhas of the six directions bearing witness with their broad, long tongues, the sūtra's own two titles, and Ouyi's closing postscript — written, by his own account, in nine days.
Continue to Part 10 — Six Directions of Buddhas, and Ouyi's Own Postscript →