金剛經纂要刊定記 2.40

2.40

答：「但轉重成輕，非令不受，故無違也。如此經云：『若有人受持讀誦此經，為人輕賤者，是人先世罪業應墮惡道，以今世人輕賤故，先世罪業則為消滅，當得阿耨菩提。』言先世者有二意：一、前生之前名為先世。二、未持經前名為先世。雖通此二，後義為正也。今以三塗之業，用輕賤代之，令報不定，生報現償，令時不定，此皆轉重令輕也。其滅輕不受，經則無文；經雖無文，義乃合有。然有兩意：一者以重況輕，意云：重業既轉之令輕，輕業故宜不受。二則曾墮三塗之者，出在人中猶有餘業，即貧窮諸衰等苦，今既不墮三塗則餘業必免，亦是時報俱不定也。」

Answer: "It merely transforms the heavy into the light, rather than causing it not to be experienced at all; therefore there is no contradiction. As this sūtra says: 'If a person upholds, reads, and recites this sūtra and is despised by others, this person's sinful karma from past lives should cause them to fall into the evil destinies; but because they are despised by people in the present life, the sinful karma from past lives is eradicated, and they will attain anuttarā samyaksambodhi.' The words 'past lives' have two senses: first, lives prior to the previous birth are called 'past lives'; second, the time prior to upholding the sūtra is called 'past lives'. Although both apply, the latter sense is the standard one. Here, taking the karma of the three destinies, it is substituted with being despised, making the retribution indeterminate; retribution in a future birth is repaid in the present, making the time indeterminate: these are all transforming the heavy into the light. As for extinguishing the light so that it is not experienced, the sūtra has no explicit text; though the sūtra lacks explicit text, in principle it must be so. There are two senses: First, inferring the light from the heavy, meaning: since heavy karma is transformed into light, light karma ought rightly not to be experienced. Second, those who have fallen into the three destinies, upon emerging among humans, still have residual karma—namely, the sufferings of poverty and various afflictions; now, since they do not fall into the three destinies, their residual karma is necessarily spared, which is also both time and retribution being indeterminate."