入道多门，唯人志趣，了无一定之法。
[To] enter [the] path [to Buddhahood, there are] many [Dharma] doors, only [with the] person’s inclination [and] interest, [is it] without one fixed method.
其一定者，曰诚，曰恭敬。
That one fixed [method to enter all Dharma doors, is] called sincerity, [also] called reverence.
此二事虽尽未来际诸佛出世，皆不能易也。
[Of] these two matters, even if exhausting [the] future’s limit, all Buddhas [who] arise [in the] world, [are] all not able [to] change [them].
而吾人以博地凡夫，欲顿消业累，速证无生，不致力于此，譬如木无根而欲茂，鸟无翼而欲飞，其可得乎。
Yet we, as [spiritually] barren ground’s ordinary beings, desiring [to] suddenly eradicate [all] karmic burdens, [to] swiftly realise non-birth, [if] not devoting efforts on them, for example, [are like] trees without roots, yet desiring [to be] lush, birds without wings, yet desiring [to] fly. [How] can that [be] attained?
净土宗十三祖印光大师
(复弘一师书一)
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
First reply letter to Master Hóngyī
Namo Amituofo : Translation by Shen Shi’an
