Closing the Middle Rank
The sixth grade belongs to a being who never once encountered the Buddhist teaching at all — sustained only by ordinary filial devotion — until the forty-eight vows are spoken to them at the very edge of death. With this grade closed, Shandao steps back to offer a single verse gathering the entire middle rank together.
Filial Devotion, Without Ever Hearing the Teaching
次就中品下生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。一、從中品下生已下，正明總舉行名，辨定其位，即是世善上福凡夫人也。二、從若有善男子下，至行世仁慈已來，正明第五第六門中簡機授法不同。即有其四。一明簡機。二明孝養父母奉順六親，即合上初福第一第二句。三明此人性調柔善不簡自他，見物遭苦起於慈敬。四正明此品之人不曾見聞佛法，亦不解悕求，但自行孝養也。應知。三、從此人命欲終時下，至四十八願已來，正明第八門中臨終遇逢佛法時節分齊。四、從聞此事已下，至極樂世界已來，正明第九門中得生之益去時遲疾也。
Next, within the position of the lowest rebirth of the middle rank, the text likewise first raises the matter, next distinguishes it in detail, and finally concludes it. There are seven points in all.
First, from "the lowest rebirth of the middle rank" onward, this makes plain the general raising up of the name of this practice, distinguishing and fixing this grade's own position — this is itself the ordinary being of superior worldly blessing and goodness.
Second, from "should there be a good son or daughter of good family" down through "practicing worldly benevolence," this makes plain, within the fifth and sixth gates, the differing distinctions of capacity and the bestowing of this teaching. There are four points within it. First, this makes plain the distinguishing of capacity. Second, this makes plain filial devotion to one's parents and reverent obedience toward one's six kinds of relations — this corresponds to the first and second lines of the first blessing described above. Third, this makes plain that this person's nature is gentle and good, making no distinction between self and other, and rising to compassion and reverence at the sight of any being's suffering. Fourth, this makes plain that this grade's own person has never once seen or heard the Buddhist teaching, nor understands how to seek it, but simply practices filial devotion of their own accord. One should know this.
Third, from "when this person's life is about to end" down through "the forty-eight vows," this makes plain, within the eighth gate, the precise moment at which, at the very end of life, this person happens to encounter the Buddhist teaching.
Fourth, from "having heard this matter" down through "the World of Ultimate Bliss," this makes plain, within the ninth gate, the benefit of attaining rebirth, and the speed, swift or slow, with which one then departs.
This grade breaks the pattern held since the very first grade of the upper rank: every prior practitioner had already been cultivating some form of Buddhist practice — meditative, scriptural, or precept-based — well before death. Here, ordinary filial devotion alone, with no Buddhist content at all, sustains a person until a good friend happens to speak of the forty-eight vows only at the very edge of death. What determines rebirth is not the years of practice behind a person, but the single encounter that meets them at the end.
Half a Kalpa, and the Middle Rank Complete
五、從生經七日者，正明第十門中到彼華開不開為異。六、從遇觀世音下，至成羅漢已來，正明第十一門中華開已後得益不同，即有其三。一明逕時已後得遇觀音、大勢。二明既逢二聖得聞妙法。三明逕一小劫已後始悟羅漢也。七、從是名已下，總結。上來雖有七句不同，廣解中品下生竟。讚云：「中輩中行中根人，一日齋戒處金蓮，孝養父母教迴向，為說西方快樂因。佛與聲聞眾來取，直到彌陀華座邊，百寶華籠經七日，三品蓮開證小真。」上來雖有三位不同，總解中輩一門之義竟。
Fifth, as for "once reborn, after seven days have passed": this makes plain, within the tenth gate, the difference between the lotus flower opening or not yet opening once that land is reached.
Sixth, from "encountering Avalokiteśvara" down through "attains the fruit of arhatship," 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, only after a period of time has passed, this being comes to encounter Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Second, this makes plain that, having encountered these two sages, this being comes to hear the wondrous Dharma. Third, this makes plain that only after a full small kalpa has passed does this being finally awaken to the fruit of arhatship.
Seventh, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. Though the above has unfolded across seven distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the lowest rebirth of the middle rank.
A verse of praise says: "Those of the middle rank, of middling practice, of middling capacity, held for a single day the precepts and the fast, dwelling upon a golden lotus; filial devotion to one's parents, taught then to dedicate this merit — for their sake he expounds the causes of the western land's own bliss. The Buddha, together with an assembly of hearers, comes to receive them, arriving directly at Amitābha's own lotus throne; caged within a hundred jewels, the flower passes seven days, and when the flower of these three grades opens, they realize the lesser truth."
Though the above has unfolded across three distinct positions, this concludes the full explanation of the meaning of the single gate of the middle rank.
The verse's closing phrase, "they realize the lesser truth" (小真), names plainly what distinguishes the middle rank from the upper rank just closed: where the upper rank's verse promised "the very body of the unconditioned Dharma-nature itself," the middle rank's own three grades — Mahāyāna precepts held for a day, filial devotion without any Buddhist content at all — arrive instead at arhatship, the fruit proper to the Hīnayāna path each of these three grades actually practiced. Nothing here is a lesser rebirth; it is a different, honestly named destination, exactly matching the capacity that sought it. This closes the entire middle rank of the nine grades.
Middle Rank Complete
This closes Part 94, and with it the middle rank in its entirety — all three of its grades, Parts 91 through 94. Part 95 turns to the lower rank (下輩), the final three grades of the nine, opening with its own eleven-gate framework before beginning the seventh grade — the grade that will pose this commentary's most historically significant question: why does hearing the twelve divisions of scripture remove only a thousand kalpas of offense, while calling Amitābha's name a single time removes five million?
Continue to Part 95 — The Lower Rank Begins →