金光明經文句 1.27

1.27

Furthermore, taking what is not given is termed phenomenal stealing; taking what is given is termed phenomenal non-stealing. Explained as a Dharma gateway: as the Buddha said, 'Not taking others' property is termed the Dharma gateway non-stealing. When no one gives bodhi and yet one takes bodhi, this is termed the Dharma gateway stealing.' Precepts of non-stealing are of various different kinds. If one keeps precepts and creates karma seeking desirable fruits, desirable fruits are impermanent, swiftly decaying, and are entirely 'others' property'—as foul as dung-fruit, as harmful as poisonous food. A wise person should not seek them; even if obtained, the mind takes no delight in them. Why diligently drink suffering and eat poison, injuring oneself? The poverty of the four castes is just this: the swirling hardship and anguish of the three realms—what could surpass the flow of existence? The three obstructions obstruct the Buddha, and they are abandoned by the heavens of the ultimate truth; this is called stealing, not non-stealing. Moreover, people of the two vehicles observe the body, sensations, mind, and dharmas with the wisdom of the four truths; despising birth-and-death, they joyfully seek nirvāṇa. When the mind of nirvāṇa arises, whether it is [held to arise] from self, from other, from both, or without cause, as soon as a single slight thought arises, one is taking another's property; this is taking at an improper time. Realising it without regard to the causes spoken of, the scorched seeds do not sprout. Seeing suffering, severing accumulation, cultivating the path, and reaching extinction is not seeking the Dharma. Clinging that there is nirvāṇa forms a view of nirvāṇa. If there are those who cling to emptiness, they are not saved by the Buddhas: their bodies are three hundred yojanas tall yet without both wings; they fall into the pit of the three unconditioned states, undergoing suffering equal to death or worse than death. The Lotus Sūtra says, 'Starving, emaciated, their bodies afflicted with sores and scabs'—is this not poverty and hardship? The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa says, 'They do not see the Buddha, do not hear the Dharma, and do not enter the assembly'—is this not being estranged from the heaven of the ultimate truth? This is still called stealing, not non-stealing. As for the bodhisattvas of the distinctive teaching, theirs is sequential practice, sequential learning, and the sequential path: progressing from the shallow to the deep, relinquishing one and taking another; coming and then coming again, going and then going again. All are disgraced by the marks of coming and going; this is also taking what is not given. Relinquishing after taking is also poverty. Taking again after relinquishing, continually discarding and taking, is precisely hardship. Not being immediately attuned to the ultimate truth is precisely estrangement. This is still called stealing, not non-stealing. The person of the perfect teaching contemplates the true mark of all dharmas: taking is not taking, not taking is also not taking, both taking and not taking is not taking, and neither taking nor not taking is also not taking. Neither taking nor not taking, not grasping—this is bodhi, because it obstructs all vows. This Dharma is equal, without high or low; because it is not high, there is no taking; because it is not low, there is no relinquishing. Contemplating thus, one contemplates the tathāgatagarbha as complete and lacking nothing: it is a wish-fulfilling jewel yielding treasures at will; it is an asura lute producing music at will; this is precisely great wealth. Being greatly wealthy, there is no taking; having no taking, it is precisely the ultimate truth; being the ultimate truth, heaven does not estrange oneself. This is called ultimate observance of the precept of non-stealing. The person of the perfect teaching also has the Dharma gateway of stealing: where no one gives bodhi, one takes bodhi. Like the ocean swallowing streams without obstructing the myriad currents, like the earth bearing the four heavy burdens, all sentient beings are crossed over, all afflictions are severed, all Dharma gateways are known, and the Buddha path is completed. This meaning can be understood and need not be elaborated further. The preceding practices of the precepts were shallow and obstructed, not a universal path; the perfect precepts are magnificent and far-reaching, traversing different paths to arrive at the same destination. Therefore it is called the ultimate observance of the precept of non-stealing.