Important Knowledge in the Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
172 - The Dharma of Removing Suffering and Affliction ( continued 5/7)
Thus, the fulfillment of the 18th Vow and the establishment of the sentence (Namo Amitabha Buddha) are precisely to “embrace and never abandon those who exclusively recite Namo Amitabha Buddha.”
Therefore, isn’t Amitabha Buddha himself, standing in midair, precisely the essential Dharma within the Name? Since the “Buddha-body” is the essential Dharma of the Name, it fully corresponds to the Dharma-teaching of “removing suffering and affliction” expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha, without any contradiction or incoherence.
Moreover, the Buddha’s body and the Buddha’s Name are one and the same. Amitabha Buddha himself is contained in the Name, and the Name itself is Amitabha Buddha—one entity without division, mutually interpenetrating. This is what is called “the non-duality of Name and substance”. Amitabha Buddha is made of infinite merit, for Amitabha means “immeasurable”—immeasurable light and immeasurable life. In this sense, doesn’t the Name likewise possess infinite merit? This is another, deeper meaning of the non-duality of Name and substance.
(to be continued tomorrow)
172 除苦惱法 (續 5 / 7)
所以，第十八願成就南無阿彌陀佛的名號，就是要「念佛眾生，攝取不捨」 ，也就是攝取信佛念佛的人。
因此，住立在空中的阿彌陀佛本身，豈不就是名號的要法嗎？「佛身」既 然是名號的「要法」，則可說就是回應釋迦牟尼佛所講的「除苦惱法」的教法所 涵蓋的相應法，毫無衝突或不通的地方。
同時，佛體與佛名是一體的，阿彌陀佛本身就是名號，名號就是阿彌陀佛 本身，是一體不分，而且互相交融在一起的，這就是「名體一如」。阿彌陀佛本 身就是無量的功德，因為阿彌陀佛就是無量──無量光、無量壽，涵蓋所有無 量，如此說來名號不也同樣具有無量功德，這是「名體一如」的另一層深意。
Namo Amituofo!
