29) 聲中持名

　　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.)

　　念佛之聲，既已純熟，于六塵中，惟一聲塵。六根之用，全寄于耳，身亦不覺其旋繞也。舌亦不覺其鼓動也，意亦不覺其分別也，鼻亦不覺其呼吸也，眼亦不覺其關閉也，觀音勢至兩圓通，即是一也。無不通也，無不圓也，根即塵也，塵即根也，根塵 即識也，十八界融成一界也。初或未調，久當自入，凡念佛時，取淨地四五尺，右繞 一匝，然後徐徐出聲，漸漸聲高，如是念到叁匝之後，覺自己心聲透露。旋繞太空， 圓裏十方，遍周法界，是安住身心世界于念佛聲中也。是以此身心安住于念佛聲中而念佛也，此是勝境能滅心垢，宜勤習之。