29) 声中持名

Recitation within Recitation

Once recitation of the Buddha’s name is perfected, of the Six Dusts only the “dust” of hearing remains. All six faculties are entirely concentrated in the faculty of hearing. The body no longer feels any coming or going, the tongue no longer knows how to move, the mind how to discriminate, the nose how to breathe, the eyes how to open and close. The two supreme methods of cultivation, of the Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Mahasthama, are but one; nothing is not round and perfect. This is because sense organ is sense object, sense object is sense organ, and both organ and object are consciousness. The Eighteen Elements are all gathered in one element. Although at the outset they do not penetrate one another, in time they will gradually do so.

Usua ly, a clean, quiet corner should be selected for Buddha Recitation, about fourteen to seventeen square feet in area. You should circumambulate once, moving clockwise, and then slowly recite the Buddha’s name with your voice growing louder and louder. As you recite this way for three or more circumambulations, you will feel your m ind and voice becoming clearer, filling the universe, encircling the Ten Directions, encompassing the whole Dharma Realm. This is the method of resting body, m ind and realm in the sound of the Buddha’s name, and it is to rest body and m ind in the sound of the Buddha’s name that you recite. This is the supreme realm, which erases the polluted mind full of afflictions, and which the practitioner should endeavor to reach. (This method needs no further clarification.)

念佛之声，既已纯熟，于六尘中，惟一声尘。六根之用，全寄于耳，身亦不觉其旋绕也。舌亦不觉其鼓动也，意亦不觉其分别也，鼻亦不觉其呼吸也，眼亦不觉其关闭也，观音势至两圆通，即是一也。无不通也，无不圆也，根即尘也，尘即根也，根尘 即识也，十八界融成一界也。初或未调，久当自入，凡念佛时，取净地四五尺，右绕 一匝，然后徐徐出声，渐渐声高，如是念到三匝之后，觉自己心声透露。旋绕太空， 圆里十方，遍周法界，是安住身心世界于念佛声中也。是以此身心安住于念佛声中而念佛也，此是胜境能灭心垢，宜勤习之。