本願藥師經古迹 2.13

2.13

The commentary says: This is the section on resolving objections. In it there are five parts: first, the objection; second, the determination; third, the interrogation; fourth, the explanation; and fifth, the conclusion. The meaning of the determination is that the nine kinds of untimely death are all indeterminate karma, being the fruit of similarity and uniform outflow of past karma, and because if one has auxiliary merit, it can be prolonged. As for the statement 'in the end they cannot attain it': indeed, killing living beings causes short life spans, and eating meat causes much sickness; how then could cutting off the life of others prolong one's own life? Although the illness contracted is slight, it destroys the karma for life span, causing untimely death and entry into hell—this is the meaning here. As for the meaning of the conclusion: if life is not prolonged, one falls under the jurisdiction of Yama; the textual phrasing may be understood from this.