[504] 为什么要常行追荐？
[504] Why Must [There Be] Constant Practice [Of] Delivering [The] Deceased?
◎ 然佛法宏旷，唯成佛方可歇手。欲决得往生，正不妨恳切念佛，常行追荐。即佛经所谓虽知罪性本空，而常悔先罪，不说已得清净。
◎ [Summary]: However, [as the] Buddha’s Dharma [is] great [and] extensive, only [after] accomplishing Buddhahood, then can [there be] rest. Desiring [her to] definitely attain rebirth [in Pure Land, there is] truly no harm [to have] sincere reciting [of Āmítuó]fó[‘s name (阿弥陀佛), to] constantly practise deliverance [of the] deceased. Thus [is the] Buddhist sūtras’ so-called, ‘Although knowing transgressions’ nature [is] fundamentally empty, yet constantly repenting earlier transgressions, not saying [having] already attained purity.’
太夫人盖非常流，固不得以常格律之。其往生可必，其品位当不在中下。
[On your] mother, because [she was] not [an] ordinary kind [of person, there] certainly must not [be] with ordinary standards measuring her. Her rebirth [in Pure Land] can [be] certain, [and] her grade should not be [in the] middle [or] low.
然佛法宏旷，唯成佛方可歇手。
However, [as the] Buddha’s Dharma [is] great [and] extensive, only [after] accomplishing Buddhahood, then can [there be] rest.
欲决得往生，正不妨恳切念佛，常行追荐。
Desiring [her to] definitely attain rebirth [in Pure Land, there is] truly no harm [to have] sincere reciting [of Āmítuó]fó[‘s name (阿弥陀佛), to] constantly practise deliverance [of the] deceased.
即佛经所谓,「虽知罪性本空，而常悔先罪，不说已得清净。」
Thus [is the] Buddhist sūtras’ so-called, ‘Although knowing transgressions’ nature [is] fundamentally empty, yet constantly repenting earlier transgressions, not saying [having] already attained purity.’
莲池谓年中常须追荐先亡，不得谓已得解脱，遂不举行耳。
[Great Master] Liánchí said [that] within [each] year, [there] must constantly [be] deliverance [of the] earlier deceased. [There] must not [be] saying [that they have] already attained liberation, thereupon not holding [this] practice.
《与徐蔚如居士书三》
Third Reply Letter For Layperson Xú Wèirú
净土宗十三祖印光大师
Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
《印光法师答念佛600问》
Dharma Master Yìnguāng’s Answers [For] Mindfulness [Of] Buddha’s 600 Questions
释宗柱法师审阅
[By] Dharma Master Shì Zōngzhù Reviewed
Namo Amituofo : Translation and notes by Shen Shi’an
