大乘法苑義林章 6.9

6.9

Regarding the maintained [Three Jewels]: when the World-Honoured One was finally about to enter parinirvāṇa, he resided in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven and expounded the Dharma. King Udayana and others longed for his golden countenance, and carved an image out of sandalwood to make offerings to it. When the Buddha was just descending the jewelled staircase from Trāyastriṃśa, the sandalwood image rose, bowed, and came forward to welcome him; the World-Honoured One rubbed its head and prophesied to the image, saying, 'Maintain [the Dharma] in the future, performing extensive Buddha-work.' Therefore, when the Avataṃsaka speaks of the ten Buddhas, among the first five mundane Buddhas there is the Buddha who maintains [the Dharma]. Furthermore, another sūtra states, 'For those who have not yet crossed over, causes and conditions for their crossing over have also already been made'; that is, the relics, the bodily remains, and the images are all subsumed under the Buddha-jewel that maintains [the Dharma]. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the Dharma has three periods, namely the correct, the semblance, and the final [eras]. Possessing all three—teaching, practice, and realization—is called the correct Dharma. Having only teaching and practice is called the semblance Dharma. Having teaching but nothing else is called the final Dharma. The teaching and practice subsumed under the tainted, as well as the written characters on leaves, are all the Dharma-jewel that maintains [the Dharma], because the three untainted dharmas are the real Dharma-jewel. Among the two śramaṇas who indicate the path and who live by the path, those ordinary persons who possess the precepts and possess [right] view and can maintain [the teaching] in the correct, semblance, and final Dharma [periods] are the Saṅgha that maintains [the Dharma]. Furthermore, among the four śramaṇas expounded in the Daśacakra, the fourth is called the śramaṇa who corrupts the path. Although not real, he is also included in the category of fields of merit. A monk without shame or remorse is called a corpse in my correct Dharma and should be expelled from the clear ocean-like community, as he is not a noble vessel. To that person I do not call myself the Great Master, and that person is also not my disciple. [Yet,] there are monks without shame who give rise to deep reverence and faith toward my relics, my images, my Dharma and Saṅgha, and the precepts cherished by the noble ones; who have no false views themselves and cause others to have none; who can propagate the correct Dharma, praising it without disparaging it; and who constantly make right vows, repeatedly repenting according to their transgressions, so that their karmic hindrances are all eliminated. One should know that the power of this person's faith in the Three Jewels and the precepts surpasses that of all non-Buddhists by many hundreds of thousands of times; wheel-turning kings cannot equal it, let alone other sentient beings. Therefore, sentient beings are exhorted with these words: 'If one has shaved off hair and beard within my Dharma, I never permit him to be reviled, humiliated, interrogated, or punished. These renunciants are protected by the compassionate mindfulness of all Buddhas of the three times; therefore, to slight or revile them is to revile all the Buddhas.' There are monks without shame who break the prohibitive precepts, are not vessels of the noble Dharma, give rise to false views themselves and cause others to give rise to them, and slander the three vehicles without praising the single vehicle. Such precept-breaking, evil-practicing bhikṣus deceive sentient beings and cause them to produce evil views; master and disciple alike sever their roots of goodness and will fall into hell, like swollen, rotten, foul-smelling corpses. If one associates with them, dwells with them, and shares tasks with them, one will be contaminated by the foul filth and lose the wealth of the noble Dharma; master and disciple alike will sever their roots of goodness and will fall into hell. Therefore, if there are none of the first three kinds of śramaṇas, one should seek among those who corrupt the path one who, though having broken the precepts, has not destroyed right view, and draw near to, attend upon, and listen to the essentials of the Dharma from him; one should not draw near to an evil-practicing bhikṣu whose precepts and views are both destroyed. Considering the intention of the preceding text, the first kind of shameless [monk] may also be called the Saṅgha-jewel that maintains [the Dharma], and images of elders and the like are also such. However, the fourth fascicle of that sūtra states: 'If a bhikṣu commits any one offence among the fundamentally grave evil offences, although he is called a precept-breaking, evil-practicing bhikṣu, the discipline he obtained within the harmonious saṅgha of his preceptor is still not severed; until he abandons the śīla he has trained in, the fragrance of white dharmas still follows him. Rulers and others, possessing no discipline, should not slight him or subject him to interrogation and punishment. Although he is not a vessel of the Dharma and defiles the pure assembly, because he has not abandoned the precepts, he still surpasses all white-robed householders. If it is so even for one who commits an inherently grave offence, how much more so for one who commits other minor prohibitive offences.' This text refers to the first kind of shameless monk, who breaks the precepts but possesses [right] view, and therefore may possess the precepts. As for the latter kind of shameless [monk], since his roots of goodness are severed, his precepts are also extinguished accordingly, and he is not subsumed under maintaining [the Saṅgha], because maintaining [the Saṅgha] causes the roots of goodness in others to arise. Since the Dharma follows existence, and that [latter monk] causes goodness to be destroyed, the Dharma follows destruction, so he is not subsumed under maintaining [the Saṅgha].