Important Knowledge in the Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
174 - The Classification of Cause and Effect (9/11)
“Self-cause, self-result” is like a person starting a business: they endure hardship, make accurate decisions, and ultimately earn money—all of it is the result of their own efforts.
Another example is a “second-generation rich” child. The child did not go through the father’s struggles or hardships to earn wealth, yet all of the father’s accumulated wealth comes into the child’s hands. This is “other-cause.” From a phenomenological perspective, this appears to be so; but in essence, it is still “self-cause, self-result,” because the child must possess sufficient merit to be born into a wealthy family.
Thus, “self-cause, self-result” and “other-cause, self-result” are distinctions made at the level of appearance.
Pure Land practice closely resembles this situation. By exclusively reciting Namo Amitabha Buddha, even if we have not practiced the Six Paramitas , myriad virtues, nor accumulated great merit ourselves; simply by exclusively reciting Namo Amitabha Buddha, we attain the result.
Therefore, the Pure Land tradition is “other-cause, self-result;” while the Path of Sages is “self-cause, self-result.”
174 因果的分類 (續 9 /11)
「自因自果」，就好比一個人創業賺錢，自己付出多少辛苦，決策很準確，最後就賺了多少錢，這都是自己賺來的。
還有一種是「富二代」，這個孩子並沒有經過他父親的過程，沒有千辛萬苦地去賺錢。但是，他父親一切努力的財富，都到了他手上，這就是「他因」。這是就現象來分析的，本質來說還是「自因自果」。因為這個小孩，他本身有這樣的福德，才會投胎到富貴之家。
所以，「自因自果」和「他因自果」，是就現象來說的。 淨土宗的修行和這種情況很像，我們只是念佛，並沒有經過六度萬行，也沒積累任何的功德，只是念佛就得到了。
所以，淨土宗是「他因自果」，聖道門是「自因自果」。
Namo Amituofo!
