四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.379

1.379

三教發戒緣。《薩婆多》云：凡受戒法，先與說法，引導開解，令一切境上起慈愍心，便得增上戒。就文如此，今以事求，初明緣境，後明心量。初中，所發戒相，乃有無量。由未受戒前，惡遍法界；今欲進受，翻前惡境，並起善心；故戒發所因，還遍法界。若隨境論，別鈔應有三十餘紙；要而言之，不過情與非情，空有二諦、滅理涅槃、佛說聖教、文字卷軸、形像塔廟，地水火風虛空識等；法界為量，並是戒體。故《善生》云：眾生無邊故，戒亦無邊。《薩婆多》云：非眾生上，亦得無量。如十方大地，下至空界；若傷如塵，並得其罪。今翻為戒善，故遍陸地。即《善生》言：大地無邊，戒亦無邊；草木無量，海水無邊，虛空無際，戒亦同等。《薩婆多》云：新受戒人，與佛戒齊德也。以此而推，出家僧尼，真是功德善法之聚；位尊人天，良由於此。不論受而具持，功德難數；若毀破者，猶利無邊。故《十輪》云：破戒比丘，雖是死人；是戒餘力，猶能示於人天道行，猶如牛黃麝香燒香等喻。佛因說偈：「瞻蔔華雖萎，勝於一切華；破戒諸比丘，猶勝諸外道。」是故行者，破戒之人，功德無量，遠有出期；不受戒者，隨流苦海，永無解脫。《智論》說言：寧受戒而破，初入地獄，後得解脫；不受戒者，輪轉三界。《涅槃》亦云：雖復得受梵天之身，乃至非想，命終還入三惡道中。良由無戒，故致往返。如是隨機廣略，令其悟解；若不知者，心則浮昧，受戒不得，徒苦自他。《薩婆多》云：若淳重心，則發無教；輕則不發。豈可虛濫，理當殷重。

Third, instructing on the conditions that give rise to the precepts. The Sarvāstivāda[-vinaya-vibhāṣā] states: 'Whenever the rite of receiving the precepts is performed, first expound the Dharma to them, guiding and opening their understanding, causing them to generate a compassionate mind toward all objects, and they will thereupon obtain the superior precepts.' This is how the text puts it. Seeking it now through actual matters: first explain the conditions and objects, and afterwards explain the measure of the mind. In the first part, the aspects of the precepts engendered are indeed immeasurable. Because prior to receiving the precepts, evil pervaded the Dharma realm; now, desiring to advance and receive them, one overturns those former evil conditions and completely engenders a wholesome mind; therefore the conditions from which the precepts arise also pervade the Dharma realm. If one were to discuss this according to objects, a separate manual would take more than thirty sheets of paper; to state the essentials, it is nothing more than sentient and non-sentient beings, the two truths of emptiness and existence, the principle of cessation which is nirvāṇa, the sacred teachings spoken by the Buddha, written texts and scrolls, images, stūpas, and temples, earth, water, fire, wind, space, consciousness, and so forth; with the Dharma realm as their measure, all are the precept essence. Therefore the Sujātā-[sūtra] says: 'Because sentient beings are boundless, the precepts are also boundless.' The Sarvāstivāda[-vinaya-vibhāṣā] says: 'Toward what is not sentient beings, one also obtains [precepts] immeasurably.' For example, from the great earth of the ten directions down to the realm of space: if one harms [anything] as tiny as a mote of dust, one commits an offense for each. Now this is overturned to become the good of the precepts, and thus it pervades the land. This is what the Sujātā-[sūtra] means by: 'The great earth is boundless, so the precepts are also boundless; grasses and trees are immeasurable, the ocean waters are boundless, and empty space is limitless, so the precepts are likewise equal.' The Sarvāstivāda[-vinaya-vibhāṣā] says: 'A person newly receiving the precepts equals the Buddha's precepts in virtue.' Deducing from this, ordained monks and nuns are truly an accumulation of meritorious and wholesome qualities; their position is revered by humans and devas, precisely because of this. Setting aside those who receive and fully maintain them, whose merits are difficult to count—even if one violates and breaks them, the benefit is still boundless. Therefore the Daśacakra-[sūtra] says: 'A bhikṣu who has broken the precepts, though he is a dead man, through the residual power of these precepts can still show the conduct of the path to humans and devas,' using the similes of ox-bezoar, musk, burning incense, and so forth. The Buddha on this account spoke the verse: / 'Though the campaka flower is withered, / it surpasses all [other] flowers; / all bhikṣus who have broken the precepts / still surpass all tīrthikas.' / For this reason, practitioners who have broken the precepts have immeasurable merit and will eventually have a time of escape; those who do not receive the precepts drift along in the ocean of suffering and will never have liberation. The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra states: 'Better to receive the precepts and break them, entering hell at first and gaining liberation later; than not to receive the precepts and transmigrate in the three realms.' The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra also says: 'Though one may obtain the body of a Brahmā heaven, up to the [heaven of] Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception, at the end of life one falls back into the three evil destinies.' This is precisely because of having no precepts, which causes one to go back and forth. In this way, adapting to their capacity with breadth or brevity, cause them to awaken and understand. If they do not understand, their minds will be unsettled and dim; they will fail to obtain the precepts, pointlessly tormenting themselves and others. The Sarvāstivāda[-vinaya-vibhāṣā] says: 'If the mind is genuine and profound, the unmanifest [matter] arises; if it is slight, it does not arise.' How could it be empty and casual? In principle, it must be earnest and profound.