Self-Power and Other-Power
The fifth doubt is the treatise's structural hinge: how could a being still bound by every affliction possibly reach a land beyond the three realms? The answer sets out the distinction that Pure Land Buddhism is best known for — self-power, the lame man's slow walk, against other-power, the swift and effortless passage of a boat.
Doubt 5: How Could a Bound, Ordinary Being Reach a Land Beyond the Three Realms?
第五疑
問：「具縛凡夫，惡業厚重，一切煩惱，一毫未斷。西方淨土，出過三界，具縛凡夫，云何得生？」
答：「有二種緣：一者、自力；二者、他力。自力者，此世界修道，實未得生淨土。是故《瓔珞經》云：『始從具縛凡夫，未識三寶，不知善、惡因之與果。初發菩提心，以信為本，住在佛家，以戒為本。受菩薩戒，身身相續，戒行不闕，經一劫、二劫、三劫，始至初發心住；如是修行十信、十波羅蜜等無量行願，相續無間，滿一萬劫，方始至第六正心住；若更增進，至第七不退住，即種性位。』此約自力，卒未得生淨土。他力者，若信阿彌陀佛大悲願力，攝取念佛眾生，即能發菩提心，行念佛三昧，厭離三界，身起行施、戒、修福，於一一行中，迴願生彼彌陀淨土，乘佛願力，機、感相應，即得往生。是故《十住婆沙論》云：『於此世界修道有二種：一者、難行道；二者、易行道。』難行者，在於五濁惡世，於無量佛時，求阿鞞跋致，甚難可得。此難，無數塵沙說不可盡，略述三五：一者、外道相善，亂菩薩法；二者、無賴惡人，破他勝德；三者、顛倒善果，能壞梵行；四者、聲聞自利，障於大慈；五者、唯有自力，無他力持。譬如跛人步行，一日不過數里，極大辛苦，謂自力也。易行道者，謂信佛語教念佛三昧，願生淨土，乘彌陀佛願力，攝持決定，往生不疑也。如人水路行，藉船力故，須臾即至千里，謂他力也。譬如劣夫從轉輪王，一日、一夜周行四天下，非是自力，轉輪王力也。若言有漏凡夫不得生淨土者，亦可有漏凡夫應不得見佛身。然念佛三昧，並無漏善根所起，有漏凡夫，隨分得見佛身麁相也；菩薩見微細相。淨土亦爾，雖是無漏善根所起，有漏凡夫發無上菩提心，求生淨土常念佛，故伏滅煩惱，得生淨土，隨分得見麁相；菩薩見微妙相。此何所疑？故《華嚴經》說：『一切諸佛剎，平等普嚴淨，眾生業行異，所見各不同。』即其義也。」
Doubt 5
Question: "An ordinary being, still bound in every fetter, carries heavy and thick evil karma, and has not cut off even a single hair's-breadth of any affliction. The western pure land lies beyond and above the three realms. How could an ordinary being, still so bound, ever be born there?"
Answer: "There are two kinds of condition: self-power, and other-power. By self-power alone, cultivating the path in this world, one truly cannot attain rebirth in the pure land. This is why the Jeweled Necklace Sūtra says: 'Beginning from an ordinary being still bound in every fetter, who does not yet know the Three Jewels, and does not yet know good and evil, cause and effect — one first gives rise to the aspiration for enlightenment, taking faith as the root; one dwells within the Buddha's household, taking the precepts as the root. One receives the bodhisattva precepts, and life after life, without a single lapse in that discipline, over the course of one, two, or three kalpas, one at last reaches the abiding of the first arising of aspiration; cultivating in this way the ten faiths, the ten pāramitās, and measureless practices and vows without a single interruption, over the course of a full ten thousand kalpas, one at last reaches the sixth abiding, that of the settled mind; and advancing yet further, one reaches the seventh abiding, that of non-retrogression — the stage of fixed lineage.' This is by self-power alone, and by it one still cannot, in the end, attain rebirth in the pure land.
"By other-power: if one has faith in Amitābha Buddha's great compassionate vow-power, which gathers in every being mindful of the Buddha, one can thereby give rise to the aspiration for enlightenment, practice the samādhi of buddha-recitation, and grow weary of and turn away from the three realms; and taking up the practice of giving, precepts, and cultivated blessings, dedicating each and every one of these practices with the vow to be reborn in Amitābha's pure land, one rides upon the power of his vow — capacity and response answering each other — and rebirth is thereby attained. This is why the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā says: 'There are two ways of cultivating the path in this world: the hard path, and the easy path.' The hard path means seeking non-retrogression amid the five turbidities of this evil world, in an age without a buddha present — a thing exceedingly hard to attain. This difficulty is beyond telling, numerous as motes of dust or grains of sand, but three or five of its causes may be briefly stated: first, that the superficial goodness of heterodox paths confuses the bodhisattva's own teaching; second, that shameless and evil people destroy the excellent virtues of others; third, that the inverted fruits of worldly good can ruin pure conduct; fourth, that the śrāvaka's own self-benefiting practice obstructs great compassion; and fifth, that one has only self-power, with no other-power to sustain one. It is like a lame man walking on foot: in a single day he covers no more than a few miles, and it costs him the greatest hardship — this is what is meant by self-power. The easy path means having faith in the Buddha's own teaching, practicing the samādhi of buddha-recitation, vowing to be born in the pure land, and riding upon Amitābha Buddha's vow-power, which sustains and holds one fast — rebirth is then certain, beyond any doubt. It is like a person traveling by a water route: relying on the power of a boat, he covers a thousand miles in but a moment — this is what is meant by other-power. It is like a lesser man who, following a wheel-turning king, circles the four continents in a single day and night — not by his own power, but by the wheel-turning king's power.
"If one were to say that a being still subject to outflows cannot attain rebirth in the pure land, then one might as well say that such a being cannot see a buddha's body at all. Yet the samādhi of buddha-recitation arises entirely from undefiled wholesome roots; a being still subject to outflows may, according to his capacity, see the buddha's coarser marks, while a bodhisattva sees the subtle and fine ones. The pure land is exactly the same: though it too arises from undefiled wholesome roots, a being still subject to outflows, having given rise to the unsurpassed aspiration for enlightenment and sought rebirth in the pure land through constant buddha-recitation, thereby subdues and extinguishes his afflictions, attains rebirth in the pure land, and according to his capacity sees its coarser aspect, while a bodhisattva sees its subtle and wondrous one. What is there here to doubt? This is why the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'All the buddha-lands are equally and universally adorned in purity; yet because the karma and conduct of sentient beings differ, what each of them sees is not the same.' This is exactly the meaning."
Chengyu spells out both of the enumerations the questioner is asked to take on faith. The "ten faiths" of the Jeweled Necklace Sūtra run: faith, advancement, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, non-retreat, precepts, protection, vow, and dedication. The "ten pāramitās" add skillful means, vow, power, and knowledge to the familiar six — giving, precepts, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom — and Chengyu explains the relation precisely: of the ten, only the sixth, wisdom, corresponds to non-discriminating wisdom itself, while the final four all belong to the wisdom attained afterward, and each assists one of the first six in turn, so that skillful means perfects giving, precepts, and patience together, vow perfects diligence, power perfects meditation, and knowledge perfects wisdom. He also glosses pāramitā itself — "reaching the far shore" — in two senses at once: completing the practice of the ten in full is one kind of "reaching the shore"; and birth-and-death as this shore, affliction as the current between, nirvāṇa as the far shore, is the other.
On the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā's hard path and easy path, Chengyu locates the citation precisely — its fourth fascicle, the "Chapter on Easy Practice" — and treats the treatise's own list of five obstacles as Zhiyi's condensed digest of that chapter's much longer argument, not an independent addition. And on the coarse and subtle marks a being sees according to capacity, he supplies the concrete image Zhiyi leaves implicit: the coarse mark is the inferior response-body, Śākyamuni's own sixteen-foot form seated on plain grass; the subtle mark is the superior response-body, the same buddha's towering, majestic form seated on heavenly robes. Ordinary and advanced practitioners are not looking at two different buddhas, on this reading, any more than they are looking at two different pure lands — only at the same reality through two different capacities to see it.
Part 5 Complete
This closes Part 5. Having established that other-power, not self-power, is what makes rebirth possible for a being still bound by every affliction, the treatise turns immediately to the objection this naturally raises: even granting that such a being can arrive there, what actually stops that same flawed being from falling back once he does?
Continue to Part 6 — Five Reasons Rebirth There Cannot Fail →