勸發菩提心集 2.9

2.9

問：若不侵我，殺心可息；若為侵害，是當云何？答曰：應量輕重。若人殺己先自思惟：全戒利重，全身利重？破戒為失，喪身為失？如是思惟已，知持戒為重，全身為輕。若苟免全身，身何所得？是身名為老死藪，必當壞敗。若為持戒失身，其利甚重。又復思惟：我前後失身世世無數，但為財利諸不善事，今乃得為持淨戒。故不惜此身捨命持戒，勝於捨戒全身，百千萬倍不可為喻。如是定心，應當捨身以護淨戒。全如一須陀洹人，生屠殺家，年向成人，應當修其家業，而不背殺。父母與刀并一口羊，閉著屋中而語之言：「若不殺羊，不令汝出，得見日月生活飲食。」兒自思惟言：我若殺此一羊，便當終為此業。豈以身故為此大罪。便以刀自殺。父母開門見，羊在一面立，兒已命終。當自殺時即生天上。若如此者，是為不惜壽命而護淨戒。

Question: “If others do not aggress against me, the mind of killing can be quelled; but if one is harmed or aggressed against, what should be done?” Answer: “One should weigh the grave and the light. If someone is about to kill oneself, one first reflects: ‘Is the benefit of preserving the precepts weightier, or is the benefit of preserving the body weightier? Is breaking the precepts the greater loss, or is losing the body the greater loss?’ Having reflected in this manner, one knows that keeping the precepts is weighty and preserving the body is light. If one merely seeks to evade death and preserve the body, what does the body attain? This body is called a lair of old age and death, and will certainly decay and collapse. If one loses the body for the sake of keeping the precepts, the benefit is exceedingly weighty. Furthermore, one reflects: ‘Countless times from beginning to end, throughout life after life, I have lost my body merely for wealth, profit, and various unwholesome deeds. Only now have I obtained the chance to keep the pure precepts. Therefore, not begrudging this body and giving up life to keep the precepts surpasses relinquishing the precepts to preserve the body by a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or million times—it cannot be matched by any comparison.’ With the mind thus resolved, one should relinquish the body to protect the pure precepts. This is just like a certain srotāpanna who was born into a family of butchers. When he was approaching adulthood, he was expected to practice the family trade, but he would not turn to killing. His parents gave him a knife along with a single sheep, locked him inside a room, and said to him: ‘If you do not kill the sheep, we will not let you out to see the sun and moon or to have food and drink to live on.’ The son reflected to himself, saying: ‘If I kill this one sheep, I will end up pursuing this trade for life. How could I commit such a great sin for the sake of the body?’ Thereupon he killed himself with the knife. When the parents opened the door and looked, the sheep was standing to one side, and their son had already passed away. At the very moment he killed himself, he was reborn in heaven. Such a case as this is not begrudging one's lifespan in order to protect the pure precepts.”