The Dharma of Pure Land can assist people of three different potentials to attain liberation, and may be accepted and upheld by practitioners independent of their mental capacities.  However, the Pure Land practice is more relevant to the laity.  Lay people have to make a living or take care of their families and it is not easy for them to find the time needed for the study of sutras or for the practice of Ch'an; only the method of reciting 'Buddha' can harmonize both with the theory and with the potential.  Those reciting "Amida Buddha" sincerely and single-mindedly until their obstacles and karma have come to a halt will see their original face the way it was before they were born, and the true nature of Tathagata Garbha.  Between now and the end of this life, the superior class must be attained in the Pure Land in the West.  Perhaps the practitioner cannot bring his/her karma to a halt and cannot abandon attachment because of some inferior root.  Assisted by the Buddha and supported by true faith and a sincere vow the adept can elicit the Tao of Bodhi and obtain rebirth in Pure Land regardless of his/her karma.  The wonderful Dharma of Pure Land is like this.  A Ch'an adept who studies the teachings but does not understand the meaning and has not relinquished the obstacles of ignorance and karma must be reborn in the cycle of birth and death and cannot leave samsara.  One should not be presumptuous, lest one be pitied by those countless worldings who were reborn in the Western Pure Land in spite of their karma.  How unfortunate that those who benefit the most are usually average.  The clever ones most often quit because they prefer to be self-reliant rather than surrender to Buddha.  That view costs them their liberation; unable to leave the Saha world, they repeatedly return to transmigration.  What a pity.

Many sages of antiquity who have followed in the footsteps of the compassionate Buddha advocated Pure Land practice and wrote commentaries to that effect.  Translated long ago into classical Chinese, these texts are most difficult to relate due to the language and they are not easy to comprehend by those without previous introduction to the terminology of the ancient masters.  Upasaka Lee Yuan Chin succeeded in conveying the integral content of Pure Land sutras in this booklet, using idiomatic language; the following ten chapters do not contain a single word originating outside these sutras, or upasaka Lee Yuan Chin's own views.  This work is viewed as an excellent introduction to Buddhism and therefore it is listed as a library series.  Wishing to encourage people to study and practice the Buddhist way, the authorities have decided to reissue this work using large characters, making it accessible to those with impaired vision; I was invited to write the preface, thereby encouraging people to generate the right faith.  No more words are needed; all the important meaning is contained in the pages that follow.  The dharma of Pure Land is the Dharma Ocean to which all the other dharmas return.  Those who believe in this teaching and practice accordingly can attain rebirth in Pure Land in this life: They will enlighten themselves and others, thereby attaining perfect enlightenment.  Should anyone have a problem with this statement, that is not my responsibility; it is the responsibility of Shakyamuni Buddha and of Amita Buddha.

Written in the year of Hsin Wei, on June 19.