Important Knowledge in the Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
175. The Five Kinds of Difficulties (1 /5)
At the very beginning of the Commentary on the Treatise on Rebirth, Patriarch Tanluan states: “I respectfully examine the words of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna in the Ten Abodes Treatise, which says: When bodhisattvas seek non-retrogression , there are two paths: one is the difficult path, and the other is the easy path.”
The word “respectfully” conveys carefulness, reverence, and the absence of arbitrariness or rashness. The phrase “I respectfully examine” indicates that Master Tanluan is not interpreting the Treatise on Rebirth based on his own personal opinions; rather, he is following and grounding his explanation in Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s Ten Abodes Treatise, specifically the chapter on the Easy Practice.
In the Easy Practice chapter, Nagarjuna explains that there are two paths by which Mahayana bodhisattvas seek non-retrogression: the difficult path and the easy path.
The difficult path requires one to personally practice the six perfections and myriad virtuous deeds, over an extremely long period of time, and it carries the danger of retrogression. Nagarjuna speaks of the difficult path in terms of the hardship of practice itself.
Master Tanluan, in his Commentary on the Treatise on Rebirth, goes further by examining the external environment, stating that in “the age of the five defilements, when there is no Buddha in the world,” there are five kinds of difficulties, namely:
1. Non-Buddhist teachings may appear virtuous, and thereby confuse and disrupt the bodhisattva Dharma.
2. Sravakas seek only self-benefit, obstructing great compassion.
3. Reckless and evil persons undermine and destroy the superior virtues of others.
4. Inverted views of wholesome results are capable of ruining pure religious practice.
5. Reliance solely on self-power, without the support of other-power.
Such conditions can be seen everywhere. It is like traveling by land—to proceed on foot is arduous and painful.
(to be continued tomorrow)
175 五種難 (1/ 5)
曇鸞祖師《往生論註》開篇說：「謹案龍樹菩薩《十住毗婆沙》云：菩薩求阿 毗跋致，有二種道：一者難行道，二者易行道。」「謹」就是慎重的、恭敬的、不 隨便、不輕率。「謹案」二字，表示曇鸞祖師並非依他個人的見解來解釋這部 《往生論》，而是依循、根據龍樹菩薩《十住毗婆沙論》的《易行品》。
在《易行品》中，龍樹菩薩談到大乘菩薩追求阿毗跋致有二種道：一是難行 道，二是易行道。「難行道」是要自己去實踐種種六度萬行，要經過漫長的時 間，而且有退墮的危險。龍樹菩薩是就修行的困難來說難行道，而曇鸞祖師 《往生論註》又進而從外圍環境來探討，說「五濁之世，於無佛時」，並提出五 種難：
一者外道相善，亂菩薩法；二者聲聞自利，障大慈悲；三者無賴惡人，破他勝 德；四者顛倒善果，能壞梵行；五者唯是自力，無他力持。
如斯等事，觸目皆是。譬如陸路，步行則苦。
Namo Amituofo!
