The Deep Mind Begins
The second of the three minds opens with what became one of the most quoted formulations in the entire history of Pure Land Buddhism: deep faith facing in two directions at once — an unflinching admission of one's own condition, and an equally resolute confidence in the vow built specifically to receive exactly that condition.
Two Directions of Deep Faith
二者深心，言深心者，即是深信之心也。亦有二種。一者決定深信，自身現是罪惡生死凡夫，曠劫已來常沒常流轉，無有出離之緣。二者決定深信，彼阿彌陀佛四十八願攝受眾生，無疑無慮，乘彼願力定得往生。又決定深信，釋迦佛說此《觀經》三福九品定散二善，證讚彼佛依正二報，使人欣慕。又決定深信，《彌陀經》中十方恒沙諸佛證勸，一切凡夫決定得生。又深信者，仰願一切行者等，一心唯信佛語，不顧身命，決定依行。佛遣捨者即捨，佛遣行者即行，佛遣去處即去，是名隨順佛教、隨順佛意，是名隨順佛願，是名真佛弟子。
The second is the deep mind. As for the deep mind, this is itself the mind of deep faith. This too is of two kinds. The first is the resolute, deep faith that one's own self is, right now, an ordinary being bound to sin and to birth-and-death, who has forever sunk and forever drifted through boundless kalpas, with no condition at all by which to escape. The second is the resolute, deep faith that Amitābha Buddha's own forty-eight vows gather in and receive sentient beings, and that, without any doubt or hesitation, riding upon the power of that very vow, one shall certainly attain rebirth there.
Further, one should hold resolute, deep faith that Śākyamuni Buddha, in expounding this Contemplation Sūtra with its three blessings, nine grades, and twofold practice of contemplative and dispersed goodness, bears witness to and praises that Buddha's own twofold retribution, dependent and direct, so as to cause people to rejoice and long for it. Further, one should hold resolute, deep faith that, within the Amitābha Sūtra, the buddhas of the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the river, bear witness to and exhort this same truth — that all ordinary beings shall certainly attain rebirth there.
Further, as for deep faith: I earnestly pray that every practitioner, single-mindedly believing only in the Buddha's own words, without regard even for their own body and life, resolutely relies upon and practices accordingly. Whatever the Buddha bids one relinquish, one relinquishes at once; whatever the Buddha bids one practice, one practices at once; wherever the Buddha bids one go, one goes at once. This is called according with the Buddha's own teaching, according with the Buddha's own intent, and is called according with the Buddha's own vow — this is called a true disciple of the Buddha.
This is the celebrated formulation later known, especially in Japanese Pure Land traditions, as the "twofold deep faith" — faith in one's own person (機の深信) and faith in the Dharma (法の深信) — and its later influence on Hōnen and Shinran can hardly be overstated. What makes Shandao's own presentation distinctive is that neither half functions on its own: faith in Amitābha's own vow, without the preceding honest admission of one's own condition, would risk becoming presumption; and the admission of one's own condition, without confidence in a vow built specifically to answer it, would risk becoming despair. The two are offered here as a single, inseparable structure — and Shandao's own closing definition of "a true disciple of the Buddha" as one who relinquishes, practices, and goes wherever bidden makes plain that this faith is meant to issue directly in action, not remain a private conviction alone.
Part 74 Complete
This closes Part 74. Part 75 continues the deep mind's own foundation: why the Buddha's own words alone carry final authority over any teacher's interpretation, however learned, and Shandao's own uncompromising standard for what counts as genuinely established doctrine.
Continue to Part 75 — Only the Buddha's Own Words Are Final →