起信論疏筆削記 20.43

20.43

In the section on slandering, the commentary states: Regarding 'the gravity of the sin', since upholding it brings such great merit, slandering it must incur correspondingly grave sin. According to the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra, a sentient being who slanders the Dharma enters the Avīci Hell for immeasurable kalpas; when this realm is destroyed, he is transferred to a hell in another realm. Transmigrating through the ten directions in this way, he returns to the original place, yet his sin is still not exhausted. Here, 'immeasurable great suffering' belongs to this kind. It is also as the Lotus Sūtra states: 'A person who slanders this sūtra, when his life ends, will enter the Avīci Hell for a full kalpa; when the kalpa ends, he is reborn [there again], transmigrating in this way for countless kalpas. Emerging from the hells, he will fall into the animal realm, etc.' Ceasing slander is also an encouragement to have faith: if incurring sin is like this, one should appropriately desist. Therefore the Śrīmālādevī-sūtra states: 'If one possesses wisdom oneself, one realizes it personally; where one does not understand, one reverently defers to the Tathāgata, recognizing that it is not one's own realm.' If one can do so, what fear is there of calamity befalling future lives?