The Karma of Right Settled Practice
The deep mind closes its case for faith with the Amitābha Sūtra's own most vivid image — buddhas of the ten directions, each extending a tongue vast enough to cover an entire trichiliocosm, speaking a single testimony in unison. Shandao then turns from establishing faith through persons to establishing it through practice, arriving at a distinction that would shape the entire later history of Pure Land Buddhism.
A Tongue Vast Enough to Cover an Entire Cosmos
次下文云，十方各有恒河沙等諸佛，同讚釋迦能於五濁惡時惡世界、惡眾生惡見惡煩惱惡邪無信盛時，指讚彌陀名號，勸勵眾生稱念必得往生，即其證也。又十方佛等，恐畏眾生不信釋迦一佛所說，即共同心同時各出舌相遍覆三千世界語誠實言，汝等眾生皆應信是釋迦所說所讚所證，一切凡夫不問罪福多少時節久近，但能上盡百年，下至一日七日，一心專念彌陀名號，定得往生，必無疑也。是故一佛所說，即一切佛同證，誠其事也。』此名就人立信也。」
The text that follows this then says: the buddhas of the ten directions, each as numerous as the sands of the river, together praise Śākyamuni for being able, in this age of the five turbidities, this evil world, these evil beings, evil views, evil afflictions, and this age when evil and faithlessness flourish, to point to and praise Amitābha's own name, exhorting and encouraging sentient beings that, by reciting it, they shall certainly attain rebirth — this itself serves as their own testimony. Further, the buddhas of the ten directions, fearing that sentient beings might not believe what this one buddha, Śākyamuni, has spoken, together, with a single mind and at a single moment, each extend their own tongue, covering the entire trichiliocosm, speaking these true and sincere words: "You sentient beings should all believe this very thing that Śākyamuni has spoken, has praised, has borne witness to — that every ordinary being, without regard to how much offense or merit they carry, or how long or short a time has passed, need only, at the very most across a hundred years, or at the very least for a single day or seven days, single-mindedly recollect Amitābha's own name, and shall certainly attain rebirth, without any doubt whatsoever." It is for this very reason that what one buddha has spoken, every buddha bears witness to alike — this is genuinely so.'
This is called establishing faith through persons.
The image of a tongue extended to cover an entire trichiliocosm is a recognized mark, within Indian Buddhist rhetoric, of a claim so important that a buddha stakes his own credibility on it directly — traditionally, only a being incapable of falsehood could perform this gesture without the tongue itself shrinking back in shame. Shandao's own summary label, "establishing faith through persons," names precisely what this entire extended argument, running since Part 76, has accomplished: not a philosophical proof, but a demonstration that every relevant authority — other teachers properly understood, bodhisattvas, beings of every ground, and the buddhas themselves — converges on the same single testimony.
Correct Practice, and the Karma of Right Settled Practice
次就行立信者，然行有二種：一者正行，二者雜行。言正行者，專依往生經行行者是名正行。何者是也？一心專讀誦此《觀經》、《彌陀經》、《無量壽經》等。一心專注思想觀察憶念彼國二報莊嚴。若禮，即一心專禮彼佛。若口稱，即一心專稱彼佛。若讚歎、供養，即一心專讚歎供養。是名為正。又就此正中，復有二種：一者一心專念彌陀名號，行住坐臥不問時節久近念念不捨者，是名正定之業，順彼佛願故。若依禮誦等，即名為助業。除此正助二行已外，自餘諸善悉名雜行。若修前正、助二行，心常親近憶念不斷，名為無間也。若行後雜行，即心常間斷，雖可迴向得生，眾名疏雜之行也。故名深心。
Next, as for establishing faith through practice: practice itself is of two kinds. The first is correct practice. The second is miscellaneous practice. As for correct practice: this names the practice of one who relies exclusively upon the sūtras and practices concerning rebirth. What is this, specifically? Single-mindedly reading and reciting this Contemplation Sūtra, the Amitābha Sūtra, the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, and the rest. Single-mindedly fixing one's own thought upon contemplating and calling to mind that land's own twofold retribution and its splendor. Where there is prostration, single-mindedly prostrating before that very Buddha alone. Where there is oral recitation, single-mindedly reciting that very Buddha's own name alone. Where there is praise and offering, single-mindedly offering praise and making offering to him alone. This is called correct.
Further, within this correct practice itself, there are again two kinds. The first is single-mindedly reciting Amitābha's own name, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down alike, without regard to how long or short a time has passed, never once relinquishing this thought — this is called the karma of right settled practice, since it accords with that Buddha's own vow. Practices such as prostration and recitation of the sūtras are, by contrast, called auxiliary karma. Apart from these two, the correct and the auxiliary, every other kind of goodness whatsoever is called miscellaneous practice.
Should one cultivate the preceding correct and auxiliary practices, the mind remaining constantly close to and mindful of the Buddha without interruption, this is called uninterrupted. Should one instead practice the miscellaneous practices that follow, the mind remains constantly interrupted — and though this too may be dedicated toward attaining rebirth, it is entirely called a distant and mixed practice. Hence this is called the deep mind.
This passage names, with unusual precision, a hierarchy that would go on to shape the entire later history of Pure Land Buddhism: five practices are called "correct" for their exclusive focus on Amitābha and his land, but among these five, only single-minded recitation of his own name is named "the karma of right settled practice" (正定之業), specifically because it "accords with that Buddha's own vow" — a direct reference to the eighteenth of the forty-eight vows, which promises rebirth to whoever calls upon the name. The other four correct practices (sūtra recitation, contemplation, prostration, praise and offering) are relegated to "auxiliary karma," still genuinely correct but structurally secondary. This distinction, between practice centered on the Buddha and practice merely dedicated toward him, becomes the direct seed of Hōnen's later exclusive nembutsu practice — the entire foundation of Japan's Jōdo-shū built from this single technical term, first defined here.
Part 79 Complete
This closes Part 79. Part 80 opens the third of the three minds, the mind of dedication and vowing (迴向發願心), before turning to a genuinely difficult question: how could a being who has committed the ten evils, the five heinous crimes, and slandered the Dharma itself hope to enter an unconditioned, birthless land through nothing more than a single lifetime of merit and recollection?
Continue to Part 80 — The Third Mind, and a Difficult Question →