Important Knowledge in the Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
173 - Upholding Sutras and Reciting Namo Amitabha Buddha ( continued 6/ 6)
“The Name spoken by the Buddhas” specifically refers to the Name of Amitabha Buddha, which is endowed with inconceivable merits. Although the Sutra does not explicitly state that the Buddhas recite Amitābha’s Name, their attestation and praise represent the fulfillment of the Seventeenth Vow. Their praise of Amitabha’s inconceivable merit is none other than praise of Amitabha Buddha’s Name.
Therefore, simply hearing the names of various Buddhas with one’s ears—without understanding that all Buddhas praise, attest, and exhort us to exclusively recite Namo Amitabha Buddha for rebirth in his Pure Land—cannot truly be called “hearing the Name spoken by the Buddhas.” Conversely, even if one knows nothing of the names of the Buddhas of the ten directions, yet exclusively recites Namo Amitabha Buddha and aspires to rebirth in his Pure Land, this is equivalent to having heard Amitabha’s Name spoken by all Buddhas everywhere.
173 持經持佛 (續 6/ 6)
「諸佛所說名」就是阿彌陀佛不可思議功德名號，經文中雖未提到諸佛說 阿彌陀佛名號之事，不過諸佛證誠，即是第十七願成就的實況，故諸佛稱讚 不可思議功德，不外乎是讚歎阿彌陀佛名號。
因此，若單是耳根聽聞諸佛名字，卻不知諸佛所讚、所證、所勸在讓我們專稱 彌陀佛名往生彌陀淨土，不能算做聞諸佛所說名；即使諸佛名字一無所知，但 能一心專念彌陀佛名，願生彌陀淨土，等於是遍聞諸佛所說名。
Namo Amituofo!
