四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 3.298

3.298

凡入寺之行，與俗人作入道之緣；建立寺者，開淨土之因；供養僧者，為出離之軼也。今末法中，善根淺薄，不感聖人示導，僅知有寺而已。不體法意，都無敬重佛法，超生因緣；供養福田，而來入寺也（如此者多，非謂全無敬信者）。多有人情來往，非法聚會。又在寺止宿，坐臥床褥，隨意食噉；乞索取借，如俗去還；遂意則喜，違心必瞋；繫綴胸抱，望當圖剝；猶牛羊之抵突，恣頑癡之鄙情。或用力勢逼掠，打撲抄奪。具造惡業，必死何疑。一旦橫骸，神何可滅，隨業受苦，永無救護，可共悲哉（非三寶不能救，由此人不可拔）。若有智之人，終不行此；敬重寺法，準而行之；護惜三寶，諮請法訓，自招大益。故經云：眾僧良福田，亦是蒺䔧園。斯言實矣！當知衰利由心，非前境咎。

In general, the practice of entering a monastery provides laypeople with the condition for entering the Way; establishing a monastery initiates the cause for the pure land; providing for the saṃgha is the carriage for transcending [saṃsāra]. Now, in the final age of the Dharma, wholesome roots are shallow and weak; people do not evoke the guidance of the sages and only know of the existence of monasteries, nothing more. Failing to comprehend the meaning of the Dharma, they have no reverence for the Buddha's Dharma or the causal conditions for transcending birth; they do not come into the monastery to provide for the merit field (those like this are numerous, though this does not mean there are none with reverent faith at all). Frequently there are visits based on personal sentiment and gatherings contrary to the Dharma. Furthermore, lodging in the monastery, they sit and lie upon the bedding, eating and drinking at will; begging, taking, and borrowing, coming and going as if in the secular world; they are delighted when their wishes are met and inevitably furious when thwarted; brooding over it in their breasts, they hope to plunder and strip [the saṃgha]; like the butting of cattle and sheep, they indulge their vulgar sentiments of stubborn folly. Or using force and influence to coerce and rob, beating, thrashing, raiding, and snatching. Fully creating evil karma, death is inevitable—what doubt is there? Once the corpse lies prone, how could the consciousness be extinguished? Experiencing suffering in accordance with their karma, they will be forever without rescue or protection—how truly lamentable! (It is not that the Three Jewels cannot save them, but that these people cannot be extricated). If one is a person of wisdom, one will never do this; revering the rules of the monastery, one acts in accordance with them; cherishing and protecting the Three Jewels, one inquires after instruction in the Dharma, thereby inviting great benefit for oneself. Thus the sūtra says: "The saṃgha of monks is an excellent merit field, yet it is also a garden of caltrops." These words are truly accurate! One should know that decline or benefit originates from the mind, and is not the fault of the objective realm before one.