佛告彌勒 其有得聞彼佛名號 歡喜踊躍 乃至一念 當知此人 爲得大利 則是具足無上功德 是故彌勒 設有大火 充滿三千大千世界 要當過此 聞是經法 歡喜信樂 受持讀誦 如說修行 所以者何 多有菩薩 欲聞此經 而不能得 若有衆生 聞此經者 於無上道 終不退轉 是故應當 專心信受 持誦說行 佛語彌勒 如來興世 難值難見 諸佛經道 難得難聞 菩薩勝法 諸波羅蜜 得聞亦難 遇善知識 聞法能行 此亦爲難 若聞斯經 信樂受持 難中之難 無過此難
Fó gào mí lè qí yǒu dé wén bǐ fó míng hào huān xǐ yǒng yuè nǎi zhì yī niàn dāng zhī cǐ rén wéi dé dà lì zé shì jù zú wú shàng gōng dé shì gù mí lè shè yǒu dà huǒ chōng mǎn sān qiān dà qiān shì jiè yào dāng guò cǐ wén shì jīng fǎ huān xǐ xìn lè shòu chí dú sòng rú shuō xiū xíng suǒ yǐ zhě hé duō yǒu pú sà yù wén cǐ jīng ér bù néng dé ruò yǒu zhòng shēng wén cǐ jīng zhě yú wú shàng dào zhōng bù tuì zhuǎn shì gù yīng dāng zhuān xīn xìn shòu chí sòng shuō xíng fó yǔ mí lè rú lái xīng shì nán zhí nán jiàn zhū fó jīng dào nán dé nán wén pú sà shèng fǎ zhū bō luó mì dé wén yì nán yù shàn zhī shí wén fǎ néng xíng cǐ yì wéi nán ruò wén sī jīng xìn lè shòu chí nán zhōng zhī nán wú guò cǐ nán
Key Message
To encounter this sūtra and receive it with joyful faith is the hardest of the hard — the very fact of encountering this teaching is itself a merit beyond measure.
▸The closing section of the Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is an entrustment passage in which the Buddha charges Bodhisattva Maitreya to transmit this sūtra and circulate it in future generations.
The closing section of the Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is an entrustment passage in which the Buddha charges Bodhisattva Maitreya to transmit this sūtra and circulate it in future generations. The Buddha emphasizes that anyone who hears the name of Amitābha Buddha and feels even a single moment of joyful faith has already obtained the unsurpassed merit and great benefit. Even if the entire trichiliocosm were filled with fire, one must pass through those flames to hear this sūtra, receive it with joyful faith, uphold, recite, and practice it. The reason is that many bodhisattvas long to hear this sūtra but are unable to do so, and any sentient being who hears it will never regress from the supreme path. The Buddha declares to Maitreya that it is difficult for a Tathāgata to appear in the world; difficult to encounter the Buddha's teachings; difficult to hear the bodhisattva's supreme Dharmas; difficult to meet a good teacher and practice what one hears — but to hear this sūtra and receive it with joyful faith is the most difficult of all: 'the hardest of the hard' (難中之難).