Closing the Fourth Grade
This grade's own welcoming assembly matches its own capacity precisely: monks, not bodhisattvas, arriving to praise the renunciant life's own freedom from worldly entanglement. The lotus opens without delay, and the benefit granted is not bodhicitta or acceptance of non-arising, but arhatship itself — the fruit belonging to this practitioner's own Hīnayāna path.
Monks, Not Bodhisattvas, Come to Welcome
四、從以此善根迴向已下，正明第八門中迴所修業向所求處。五、從臨命終時下，至極樂世界已來，正明第九門中終時，聖來迎接不同去時遲疾。即有其六。一明命延不久。二明彌陀與比丘眾來，無有菩薩，由是小乘根性還感小根之眾也。三明佛放金光照行者身。四明佛為說法，又讚出家離多眾苦，種種俗緣家業王官、長征遠防等，汝今出家，仰於四輩，萬事不憂，逈然自在，去住無障，為此得修道業，是故讚云離眾苦也。五明行者既見聞已不勝欣喜，即自見身已坐華臺，低頭禮佛。六明行者低頭在此，舉頭已在彼國也。
Fourth, from "dedicating this root of goodness" onward, this makes plain, within the eighth gate, dedicating the practice cultivated toward the very destination sought.
Fifth, from "when life is about to end" down through "the World of Ultimate Bliss," this makes plain, within the ninth gate, the sages coming to welcome this being at the moment life is about to end, and the differing speed, swift or slow, with which they then depart. There are six points within it. First, this makes plain that this being's own life is not long to continue. Second, this makes plain that Amitābha comes together with an assembly of monks, without any bodhisattvas present — for, being of Hīnayāna capacity, this being naturally draws forth an assembly matching that same lesser capacity in turn. Third, this makes plain the Buddha emitting golden light to illuminate the practitioner's own body. Fourth, this makes plain the Buddha expounding the Dharma to them, further praising the renunciant life for its freedom from manifold suffering — every manner of worldly entanglement, household affairs, service to kings and officials, distant campaigns and prolonged garrison duty, and the rest. "You have now gone forth from home," he says, "looking up to the fourfold assembly, free of every worry, entirely at ease and unconstrained, coming and going without any obstruction — and it is for this very reason that you have been able to cultivate the path." Hence it is praised as freedom from manifold suffering. Fifth, this makes plain that the practitioner, having both seen and heard this, cannot contain their own joy, and beholds themselves already seated upon a lotus platform, bowing their own head in homage to the Buddha. Sixth, this makes plain that, this practitioner having bowed their head here, the moment they raise it again, they find themselves already in that very land.
The detail that "Amitābha comes together with an assembly of monks, without any bodhisattvas present" quietly confirms a principle this commentary has maintained since the very first grade: the welcoming assembly is never generic, but calibrated exactly to the practitioner's own capacity. A Hīnayāna practitioner is met by a Hīnayāna assembly, just as the highest grade was met by bodhisattvas and countless attendants. The Buddha's own teaching here, praising renunciation for its freedom from "household affairs, service to kings and officials" and the rest, is itself pitched to a Hīnayāna audience's own values, reinforcing that this entire welcoming scene has been shaped around who is actually receiving it.
An Immediate Flower, and Arhatship Attained
六、從蓮華尋開者，正明第十門中到彼華開遲疾不同。七、從當華敷時下，至八解脫已來，正明第十一門中華開已後得益不同。即有其三。一明寶華尋發，此由戒行精強故也。二明法音同讚四諦之德。三明到彼聞說四諦，即獲羅漢之果。言羅漢者此云無生，亦云無著，因亡故無生，果喪故無著。言三明者，宿命明，天眼明，漏盡明也。言八解脫者。內有色外觀色，一解脫。內無色外觀色，二解脫。不淨相，三解脫。四空及滅盡，總成八也。八、從是名已下，總結。上來雖有八句不同，廣解中品上生竟。
Sixth, as for "the lotus flower opens at once": this makes plain, within the tenth gate, the differing speed, swift or slow, with which the lotus flower opens once that land is reached.
Seventh, from "once this flower has opened" down through "the eight liberations," this makes plain, within the eleventh gate, the differing benefits gained once this flower has opened. There are three points within it. First, this makes plain that this jeweled flower opens at once, precisely because this being's own observance of the precepts was so pure and strong. Second, this makes plain the sound of the Dharma together praising the virtue of the four noble truths. Third, this makes plain that, upon arriving there and hearing the four noble truths expounded, one attains at once the fruit of arhatship. As for "arhat": this is called, in translation, freedom from birth, also called freedom from attachment — since the cause is extinguished, there is freedom from birth; since the fruit is exhausted, there is freedom from attachment. As for the "three insights": these are insight into past lives, the heavenly eye, and the extinction of all defilements. As for the "eight liberations": the first liberation is beholding external forms while still possessing form within oneself. The second liberation is beholding external forms while no longer possessing form within oneself. The third liberation is the mark of impurity. Adding the four formless states and the state of cessation, these together make eight in all.
Eighth, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. Though the above has unfolded across eight distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the highest rebirth of the middle rank.
The specific benefit named here — arhatship, not bodhicitta or the acceptance of non-arising described for the upper rank's own grades — is the clearest possible confirmation that this land accommodates genuinely different final goals, not merely different speeds toward the same one. A Hīnayāna practitioner arriving here attains the very fruit their own path was oriented toward all along. This closes the fourth of the nine grades, and the middle rank's own first grade.
Fourth Grade Complete
This closes Part 92, and with it the highest rebirth of the middle rank, the fourth of the nine grades, in full. Part 93 turns to the fifth grade, the middle rebirth of the middle rank (中品中生), where the eight precepts, the novice precepts, or the full monastic precepts, upheld for no more than a single day and night, prove sufficient for rebirth.
Continue to Part 93 — The Fifth Grade: A Single Day and Night →