金光明經文句記 2.30

2.30

Second, from 'Poor' below, explaining retribution based on the sūtra text. The four castes are Vaiśya, Śūdra, Brāhmaṇa, and Kṣatriya. Although among humans two are called low and two noble, since they lack noble wealth, all four castes and the three realms belong to poverty. Hui means whirling water; fu means deep water. Keeping precepts with a contaminated mind to seek desirable fruit is precisely to be trapped in the whirlpool of the stream of existence and to wander in the three realms of existence; hence it is called 'the stream of existence,' not one of the four floods. Contaminated causes and effects are fully endowed with the three obstacles, which can obstruct seeing the Buddha, the Deva among Devas. It also obstructs the Heaven of the Supreme Truth. Because of this obstruction, it is conceptually spoken of as abandonment. This is phenomenal keeping turning into a transgression of principle. According to the sūtra, it incurs the retribution of poverty and distress, and abandonment by the devas.