梵網經古迹記 2.101

2.101

Explanation: The single gate of the myriad practices is grasping the meaning; when one acts having grasped the meaning, there is nothing that is not right. A novice bodhisattva is ignorant when encountering affairs; in principle, he should travel to study in order to accomplish noble practice. As a sūtra says: 'Even if the world were filled with fire, one must cross through it to hear the Dharma; one will certainly achieve the Buddha path and broadly deliver the stream of birth and death.' Why is this so? As stated in chapter seventy-nine [of the Yogācārabhūmi]: 'Unexcelled bodhi has wisdom as its essence; wisdom can generate all the remaining perfections. Therefore, when one gives rise to wrong practice regarding wisdom, know that the bodhisattva gives rise to wrong practice regarding that bodhi and the dharmas capable of generating it.' Therefore, a bodhisattva treats his body lightly and values the Dharma highly. Why? A verse says: 'Wisdom in all virtuous practices / Is like being supported by a boat's oars; / A hundred thousand blind people who have lost their way / Are preserved by a single eye.' Question: If so, why does a verse in the Avataṃsaka state: 'Like a poor person / Counting another's treasures day and night / Without half a coin of his own— / So too is extensive learning.' Answer: That is only to prevent taking hearing as ultimate; it does not prohibit extensive hearing as the root of noble wisdom. As a verse in the Yogācārabhūmi says: 'Extensive hearing enables knowing the Dharma; / Extensive hearing enables distancing evil; / Extensive hearing abandons what is meaningless; / Extensive hearing attains nirvāṇa.' Regarding 'vinaya': this is translated as 'taming and subduing', because it can extinguish the blazing evil of the three karmas. Regarding 'listening, receiving, inquiring, and questioning': chapter thirty of the Yogācārabhūmi states that a beginner practitioner, to realize beneficial meaning, should first establish right mindfulness in four areas, and only then question. What are the four areas? A summary verse says: 'Without jealousy and without arrogance, / Not to display one's own ability, / Establishing the good of oneself and others— / Only then should one request a Dharma master.' The Bodhisattvabhūmi states: If one does not go to listen and receive out of a mind of arrogance, dislike, or resentment, it is a defiled violation. Laziness is not defiled. Situations of non-violation are: being sick and weak; knowing that the teaching is inverted; having already heard repeatedly what is taught; protecting the speaker's feelings; or diligently cultivating other virtues.