四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.346

1.346

或問：僧事有限，外客無窮；以有限之食，供無窮之僧，事必不立。答曰：此乃鄙俗之淺度，瑣人之短懷；豈謂清智之深識，達士之高見。夫四輩之供養，三寶之福田，猶天地之生長，山海之受用，何有盡哉！故《佛藏經》言：當一心行道，隨順法行，勿念衣食所須者；如來白毫相中，一分供諸一切出家弟子，亦不能盡。由此言之，勤修戒行，至誠護法，由道得利，以道通用；寺寺開門，處處同食，必當供足，判無乏少。又承不斷客寺倉庫盈溢者，主人心遠而廣施；或寺貧而為客者，由志狹而見微也。若此兩言，人謂僧用不供者，豈是人之智力所辨事乎？若人力有分，不能供無限者；所懷既局，斯言允矣。此乃檀越為道奉給，不由人力所致；若辨非智力，則功由於道。然則事由道感，還供道眾；猶函蓋相稱，豈有匱竭耶（今俗中有義食坊，猶足供一切；自旦至夕，行人往反，飲食充飽，未聞告乏；此亦非人力。由彼行施義普，亦以義然後取；取與理通，所以不竭。此優婆塞等，以知因果，求將來福，猶知如此義行，不匱驗於目前；況出家道眾，如法通食，而當不濟乎？且世俗禮教，憂道不憂貧；況出家之士，高超俗表，不憂護法而憂飲食，其失大甚也）！所患人情鄙吝，腐爛僧粟耳（腐爛餘而不施，世俗恥之；費僧粟而不通，非佛弟子也）。余唯見積事而不存道，未見道通而事塞也。

Someone asks: "Monastery provisions are limited, but visiting guests are inexhaustible; if one feeds an inexhaustible saṃgha with limited food, affairs will certainly collapse." I answer: This is but the shallow calculation of vulgar worldliness, the short-sighted sentiment of petty persons; how could it be termed the profound insight of pure wisdom, the elevated view of an accomplished person? The offerings of the four assemblies and the merit field of the three jewels are like the growth fostered by heaven and earth, the utility provided by mountains and seas—how could they ever be exhausted! Therefore, the Buddha-piṭaka Sūtra states: "You should single-mindedly practice the Path and accord with the practice of the Dharma; do not fret over the necessities of food and clothing. If but a single portion of [the light from] the Tathāgata’s white ūrṇā-curl were used to provide for all ordained disciples, it could never be exhausted." From this we know: if one diligently cultivates the practice of precepts and upholds the Dharma with utmost sincerity, material benefit will arise from the Path and circulate through the Path. When monastery after monastery opens its doors and place after place shares meals in common, provisions will surely suffice; decisively there will be no lack. Furthermore, I have heard that where monasteries never turn guests away, their granaries and storehouses overflow, for the host’s mind is far-reaching and his giving widespread; whereas when a monastery is impoverished by accommodating guests, it is because its intent was narrow and its perspective petty. In light of these two cases, when people say monastic supplies cannot suffice, is this an affair determined by human intellect and effort? If one relies on human strength alone, which has limits, it cannot provide for what is unlimited; when one's intent is so confined, such words ring true. Yet these offerings are provided by dānapatis for the sake of the Path, not brought about by mere human effort; and if their provision does not depend on intellect and effort, then the merit arises from the Path itself. Thus, when an affair is evoked by the Path, it in turn sustains the community of the Path; it is like a box and its lid matching each other—how could there ever be depletion? (In the secular world today there are free public eating houses that fully provide for all: from morning till evening, travelers come and go, eating to their fill, and none has ever heard of supplies running out. This, too, is not achieved by mere human effort. Because their practice of giving is broadly righteous, people also partake only in accordance with righteousness; since taking and giving align with right principle, they do not run out. If these upāsakas, knowing cause and effect and seeking future merit, can carry out such righteous deeds with no exhaustion verified before our very eyes, how much more so for the ordained community of the Path who circulate food in accordance with the Dharma—how could they fail to be sustained? Moreover, secular ethics and teachings urge one to worry about the Path rather than worry about poverty; how much more should the gentlemen who have renounced the world, soaring far beyond mundane conventions, not worry about food and drink instead of upholding the Dharma—their error is grave indeed!) What is to be lamented is only the base stinginess of human sentiment, letting monastic grain rot! (Letting surplus food rot instead of giving it away is a disgrace even in the secular world; wasting monastic grain without circulating it means one is no disciple of the Buddha.) I have only seen affairs managed without preserving the Path, never seen the Path flourish while material affairs were obstructed.