saying

The Four Positions on Chan and Pure Land

Teachings of Yongming Yanshou

Song

Traditionally attributed

Text

With Chan and with Pure Land, one is like a tiger with horns—in this life a teacher of humankind, in the next a Buddha or patriarch. With Chan but without Pure Land, nine out of ten will stumble on the road—without a guide at the moment of death, even a master may lose the way. Without Chan but with Pure Land, if ten thousand practice, ten thousand will arrive—when Amitabha appears, one is born in the Western Land. Without Chan and without Pure Land, the iron bed and the copper pillars await—for ten thousand kalpas, no end to suffering.

license: public_domain

Attribution

Lineage: Fayan

By Yongming Yanshou

Sources