四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.95

1.95

Now, precepts achieve their merit according to the capacity of the vessel, and practitioners take receiving them into the mind as their aim. Only those who can purify body and mind well and receive them in accordance with conditions can realize the path of correspondence. If one's disposition lacks lofty aspirations, and one errs by a hair's breadth, one merely stains the flow of the Dharma; how could one serve as a pure vessel of the Way? How could the meaning of being a fine field of merit for the world still stand? Therefore, all who wish to purify their bodily actions and aspire from afar to the perfect fruit must not proceed rashly; they must focus their aspiration and restrain their thoughts, making their realization unhindered. Thus a scripture states: 'Although it has no form or color, it can be guarded and upheld'—this text is clear! Why is this? The marks of the precepts have many paths and are not merely of a single bundle; minds have limitations, and grasp them differently. If named according to their objects, they are indeed immeasurable; but relying on the essential pivot, I shall briefly mark four kinds: first, the precept dharma; second, the precept essence; third, the precept practice; and fourth, the precept marks.