འཕགས་པ་དཀན་མཆག་སྤྲན་ཅས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.29

1.29

Alone and in secrecy, bodhisattvas may leave for their hermitage. Once there, however, they do not think, ‘Living here in solitude I am following the Dharma-Vinaya of the Thus-Gone One. Other mendicants, or brahmins, live with people and are engaged in plenty of social activity. So they have strayed from the Dharma-Vinaya of the Thus-Gone One.’ Such is the bodhisattvas’ freedom from incorrect mental engagements.⁴³

“What, you may wonder, does the bodhisattvas’ fear of karma consist in? Bodhisattvas consider how the Blessed One has taught: ‘Monks, virtuous acts must be engaged in with respect, discipline must be observed with respect, and insight must be cultivated with respect. Why is that? Because when one acts with respect for virtue the karmic ripening will be experienced as desirable, sensible, delightful, and beautiful.’ With conviction in that teaching, they avoid all unvirtuous qualities. Such is the bodhisattvas’ fear of karma.

“What, you may wonder, does the bodhisattvas’ fear of evil consist in? Bodhisattvas perceive even very subtle forms of evil as something frightening and they are careful to avoid even minor forms of negativity. As such, they consider how the Blessed One has taught: ‘Monks, people can die from weak poison just as they die from strong poison. In the same way, lesser negativity takes one to the lower realms just as great negativity does.’ With this in mind they are afraid of evil, and this, then, is the bodhisattvas’ fear of evil.

“What, you may wonder, does the bodhisattvas’ consideration of danger consist in? Brahmins, royalty, townspeople,