大般涅槃經集解 22.60

22.60

Sengliang notes: The preparations for doing evil and the evil of the icchantika do not immediately receive retribution; the retribution for an icchantika is born in the next life, not the present life. 'Like milk turning into curd': milk has a present result, showing that this is not so. 'A fool lightly treads upon it': fools see the present and do not see the future; because it is not a present retribution, they lightly commit it. About to present the conduct of the icchantika, the verse is first spoken. Sengzong says: This returns to explaining why persons who do evil commit transgressions: simply because they do not see future lives. If an earlier thought were evil and a later thought received the retribution, who would dare do evil? Because they do not see future lives, it is like ash covering fire, trodden upon by fools, unaware that it burns. Baoliang says: The third verse clarifies those who do not repent in reliance upon the sūtra.