佛說盂蘭盆經疏 2.37

2.37

There is a sūtra that says: At the time of Dīpaṅkara Buddha, Maudgalyāyana was named Luobu, and his mother was named Qingti. When Luobu was about to travel, he enjoined his mother, saying, 'If guests arrive, mother should prepare a meal.' After he left, guests arrived, but the mother did not provide for them; moreover, she falsely set up an empty banquet table. When the son returned, he asked, 'When guests arrived yesterday, how did you provide for them?' The mother said, 'Did you not see the place where food was set out?' From then on, through five hundred lifetimes, stinginess succeeded stinginess, and therefore it is said that the roots of offenses are deeply tied. 'Offenses' refers to the karma of body and speech; 'roots' refers to the mind of stinginess and greed. Continuity through many lifetimes is 'deep'; being firmly entwined and difficult to untie is 'tied'. Everything that arose from stinginess is sinful karma, not merely that single false speech back then. Stinginess and greed are the root of suffering, what is done is the karma of suffering, and the hungry ghost is the fruit of suffering—these are the three matters. According to the ten grave precepts, stinginess is also karma, and only greed is the root, because it gives rise to sinful karma.