Buddhist Psalms Part 4

127. Among those doctrines taught of our Lord Vasubandh, the great priest hath persuaded us who are full of sinful desires to accept the Divine Promise of our infinite Father.

128. Only to Him who is above all things is known the glory of the Land of Peace. Wide as the sky and boundless is it spread forth.

129. Whoso believeth in the power of the Divine Promise shall verily be at one with the holy Essence, even as the turbid stream is clear and pure within the ocean depth when they have flowed together.

130. When the a.s.semblage of the believers in the holy faith is born within that Land of Purity that hath sprung from the lotus of the true enlightenment, soon shall their heart's desire be fulfilled in them.

131. The heavenly spirits and those souls freed from illusion, they who are born in the land of purity from the wisdom deep as the ocean of the Divine Promise, differ not the one from the other in their powers. Pure are they as the air is pure.

132. Vasubandh, that exalted master of excelling works, who himself hath found refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light, hath declared that whoso is borne in the Vehicle of the Divine Promise shall without doubt attain unto the Promised Land.

133. Whoso taketh refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light, that light that shineth unto all the worlds of the Ten Regions, shall be called, according to the teaching of that master of excelling works, a man whose heart is great, and to him shall the True Light be shown.

134. He whose heart is great and who shall attain unto the true enlightenment is he also that desireth the salvation of all living, and verily the true faith given of that Blessed One is salvation.

135. The single heart perceiveth the true faith, and so doing is strong and clear as the diamond, and this strength is the wisdom of the supreme that strengthened us.

136. When we shall attain, unto the Promised Land, which is that Nirvana past all understanding, there shall we labour abundantly for the salvation of all living things. For so the Sutra teaches us in these words: "A heart that inclineth to the succour of others."

OF THANKSGIVING FOR DONRAN, THE GREAT TEACHER OF CHINA

137. Donran, that great teacher of China, being instructed of Bodhi-ruci, the priest of India, sought refuge in the Land of Purity, and thus doing he burned with fire the books of the Taoist teaching which he had aforetime held in honour.

138. Having thus cast from him the writings that he had so many years diligently studied, he preached unto all men the doctrine of the Divine Promise, and, so teaching, he led men that are fast bound in the fetters of illusion, in at the Gate of the Great Peace.

139. A mighty King of this world brought homage unto him in his monastery and put unto him this question, saying: "If so it is that the Land of Purity should be in all the Ten Regions, how then is it declared unto us in the Sutra that it is in the Western Heaven?"

140. And with humble piety he replied:

"Of this matter can I not tell thee. It is too high for me. Still am I in the lower rank of wisdom, even still small is my knowledge. I cannot fathom this great mystery."

141. All men in the priesthood or the people who know not the rock of their trust, did Donran the Great Priest guide unto the sure refuge of the doctrine of the Land of Bliss.

142. He abode in the Temple of the Great Rock, being favourably bidden thereto by the King of the Gi Dynasty, and in the evening of his days he travelled into the district of Dun.

143. And this King of the Gi Dynasty reverently offered unto him the holy t.i.tle of Shinran (Ran of Divinity) and the honourable name of "Rock of the Venerable Ran"-that his dwelling-place should be called by it.

144. Great and mighty upon the people was his spiritual power in the temple of Genchu and in the fourth year of Kokwa of the Gi Dynasty the Temple of Yosen became his beloved dwelling.

145. And when he had reached sixty-seven years, he sought his final refuge in the Eternal Kingdom. And at that departing were vouchsafed many holy marvels unto which all men, both of the priests and people, came and did reverence.

146. And when Donran the Great High Priest had departed into the Peace, the King of the Gi Dynasty by a royal order commanded there should be built for him a holy monument in the lands of Dun.

147. What man could know the unsearchable mystery of the faith and deeds of the Divine Promise were it not for that most excelling commentary of Donran the wise Priest, which he wrote concerning the teaching of Vasubandh that had lived aforetime.

148. He who believeth that the Sole Vehicle of the Divine Promise, most perfect, most mighty, receiveth within itself the Greatest of Sinners, and this because it is its chief will so to do, will receive the depth of this essential teaching-namely, that before the eyes of the Instructed, illusion and wisdom are in their Essence One.

149. Among the Five Mysteries that are preached in this Sutra, the mystery of the Divine Power of the Enlightened One is highest, and this is the holy vow of our Blessed One, this and this only.

150. Unto us hath our Father given those two spiritual gifts. Of these the first is the Virtue whereby we attain unto His Kingdom, and the second is the Virtue whereby having so attained we return into this world for the Salvation of men. By the merit of these two gifts are we initiates of the true faith and of its deeds.

151. When we shall have attained unto the faith and the deeds of the Merciful Promise through our Father that is in all things able to give them unto us, birth and death are henceforward as Nirvana. And this is called the Gift of Departure.

152. And when we shall have attained unto that height which is desire for the ingathering of all beings into Paradise, shall we return again into this world that we may be Saviours of Men. And this is called the Gift of Returning.

153. That "Single Mind" expounded unto us by Vasubandh, the Master of Writings that excel, is nothing other than the faith of us that are now fast bound in illusion. So teacheth Donran the Great Teacher in his Commentary.

154. The Buddha of that inexpressible Light that shineth into the worlds of the Ten Regions, being for ever enlightened in the night of ignorance, hath most certainly opened the way of Nirvana to every man who even for one moment rejoiceth in receiving His Divine Promise.

155. By the merit of His Infinite Light, when we attain unto that faith divine and omnipotent, the ice of illusion shall melt into the water of perfect wisdom.

156. Sin is made one with virtue in its essence, even as ice is one with water. The more there is ice, so much the more water is there. So also is the binding up of sin with virtue.

157. In the unbounded ocean of the Holy Name is not seen even one single death of a blasphemer. For the myriad streams of sin are on purity with the ocean of righteousness when they have flowed into the impurity thereof.

158. When the streams of illusion have flowed into the Great Sea of the Merciful Promise of the Enlightened One, whose light shineth into all the worlds of the Ten Religions, then shall they too become the pure water of the Perfect Wisdom.

159. No other way is there of attaining unto the Perfect Enlightenment save only by birth into the Land of Gladness, and therefore have all the Enlightened Ones exhorted men that they should receive the Doctrine of the Kingdom Purity.

160. The Great Priest hath well taught us that in order to cleanse our deeds, words, and thoughts of deceitfulness, our Father hath performed the three of His pure and universal.

161. There is no way unto the Kingdom of Gladness save only by attaining unto the true faith through that Holy Name, the very Jewel of Wonder.

162. When the new birth through the clearness of the Divine Promise is attained in the Eternal Kingdom, it is not like unto the birth of this world; then is there no inferiority even in those that in this world were sinners, for they have entered into Paradise.

163. The Holy Name of the Buddha of that Boundless Light that shineth into all the worlds of the Ten Regions, and the glory of His Wisdom, destroy the darkness of ignorance in the Eternal Night, thus fulfilling all the desires of men.

CONCERNING UNRIGHTEOUS DEEDS

164. These three things are expounded unto us by Donran Daishi. First, that faith is not holiness, for faith is not abiding. At one time it abideth, at another it is gone.

165. And second: This faith is not Single Minded, for it hath not resolution.

And third: It continueth not, for the other thoughts of the heart divide it against itself.

166. The three ways of this faith lead the one to the other one. On this must the believer fix his eyes. If his faith is not in holiness, then hath he not the faith of resolution.

167. And having not the faith that is resolute, that faith cannot endure, and because it endureth not, how can he attain unto the faith of determination? And attaining not unto the faith of determination, the faith is not sanctified in him.

168. For the attainment of Right Practice expounded by the Master of the Written Word is according unto the true faith and this alone.

169. If a man return into the Great Way of the Divine Promise, eschewing the narrow ways of deeds and works, in him shall the true light of Nirvana be made manifest.

170. The mighty king So, he of the Ryo line, worshipped the Great Teacher Donran Daishi, naming him the Bodhisattva of Ran, turning his face in worship unto the dwelling-place of his Teacher.