梵網經菩薩戒本疏 5.158

5.158

初、制意者，菩薩理應入諸苦趣，開導眾生令發大心受菩薩戒。《瓔珞經》云：若化一人令發心受菩薩戒者，勝造大千世界滿中佛塔也。又《華嚴》云：「為一眾生故，阿毘地獄中，無量劫燒煮，心淨如最勝。」解云：菩薩尚應入苦獄而化眾生，何容新學來求不好為答？亦增惡乖善失於處犯，既違三聚成過非小，故須制也。

First, the intention of the regulation: A bodhisattva should rightly enter the various painful destinies to guide sentient beings, causing them to generate the great aspiration and receive the bodhisattva precepts. The Yingluo jing states: "If one transforms a single person, causing them to generate the aspiration and receive the bodhisattva precepts, it surpasses building stūpas filled with the trichiliocosm." Furthermore, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra states: "For the sake of a single sentient being, / In the Avīci hell, / Burned and boiled for immeasurable eons, / The mind is as pure as the Supreme Victor." Explanation: A bodhisattva should even enter the hell of suffering to transform sentient beings; how could one allow a new student to come seeking [the Dharma] and fail to respond to him properly? This would also increase evil, oppose good, and fail with respect to the conditions [of cultivation]; since it violates the three clusters of precepts and constitutes no small fault, it must be prohibited.