四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 3.301

3.301

此入寺法中國傳之矣，余更略出護過要術。謂一切天人龍鬼，是出家人修道之緣；一切出家人，為天人龍鬼生善境界。出家人既為四輩生善之處，不得對彼幽顯，輕有所失；彼四輩既是出家修道之緣，又不得輒便見過。佛已勅竟，假使道人畜妻挾子，供養恭敬如舍利弗、大目連等，莫生見過，自作失善境之緣也。凡出家者，長標遠望，必有出要之期；始爾出家捨俗，焉能已免瑕疵也。智士應以終照遠度，略取其道；不應同彼愚小，拾僧過失。所以天龍鬼神，具有他心天眼，而護助眾僧者，非僧無過，以剋終照遠耳！今人中，無察情鑒失之見；情智淺狹，意無遠達；暫見一過，毀辱僧徒。自障出要，違破三歸，失於前導；常行生死，不受道化。可謂惑矣！小兒癡矣！然則聖人非不能化，但此人不可化，所以拱手，待機熟耳。如嬰兒造惡，父母所以不教者；非父母不解善教，嬰兒不可教耳。比彼可見。諸有同法之儔，幸細覽而傳告。

This method for entering a monastery was transmitted in the Central Region (India); I shall briefly set forth the essential techniques for safeguarding against faults. That is to say: all gods, humans, nāgas, and ghosts are conditions for those who have left the household to cultivate the path; and all those who have left the household are the objective realm that gives rise to goodness for gods, humans, nāgas, and ghosts. Since those who have left the household are the place where the four groups generate goodness, they must not carelessly commit faults in the presence of those in both the unseen and visible realms; and since those four groups are conditions for the renouncers to cultivate the path, they must not rashly pick out their faults. The Buddha has already commanded: even if a practitioner should keep a wife and children, make offerings and pay respect to him as to Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, and the like; do not give rise to picking out faults, creating for oneself a cause for losing the virtuous field! Everyone who has left the household sets a high aim and looks far ahead, and will certainly have a time of definitive deliverance; when they have just left the household and abandoned the world, how could they already be free of flaws? A wise person should discern their ultimate [aim] and consider them with long-range vision, broadly accepting their path; one should not be like those foolish and petty folk, seizing upon the faults and errors of the saṃgha. The reason why the gods, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits—who possess the knowledge of other minds and the divine eye—protect and assist the community of monks is not that the monks are without faults, but because they judge the ultimate outcome and take the long view! Nowadays, among people, there is no insight to perceive true feelings and examine shortcomings; their intelligence is shallow and narrow, and their thoughts do not reach far. Catching sight of a single fault for a fleeting moment, they insult and defame the saṃgha. Thereby they obstruct their own definitive deliverance, violate and destroy the three refuges, and lose their guide; they continuously wander through birth and death, unreceptive to the transformative teachings of the path. One may indeed call them deluded! As foolish as young children! Yet it is not that the sages are unable to transform them, but rather that these persons are currently untransformable; therefore the sages fold their hands and await the ripening of their faculties. Just as when an infant does wrong, the parents do not instruct it—not because the parents do not know how to instruct skillfully, but because an infant cannot yet be instructed. From this analogy it is clear. May all companions of the same Dharma carefully scrutinize this and pass it on to others.