勸發菩提心集 2.17

2.17

Furthermore, although one may break the precepts and fall into sin, once the sin is exhausted one attains liberation. As told in the Utpalavarṇā Bhikṣuṇī Jātaka Sūtra: When the Buddha was in the world, bhikṣuṇīs who were arhats possessing the six supernatural knowledges entered the residences of noble families, constantly praising the Dharma of renouncing the household. They said to the women of the noble families: "Sisters, you may renounce the household." The noble women said: "We are young, vigorous, and beautiful; observing the precepts is difficult, and we might break them." The bhikṣuṇī said: "If you break them, then break them; just renounce the household." They asked: "Breaking the precepts leads to falling into hell; how could one break them?" She answered: "If you fall, then fall." The noble women laughed at her, saying: "Suffering punishment in hell—how could one fall into that?" The bhikṣuṇī said: "I remember my own past causes and conditions: I was an actress, making various costumes and speaking witty words. Sometimes I wore bhikṣuṇī robes as a jest and joke. Through these causes and conditions, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha I became a bhikṣuṇī; relying on my noble clan and beauty, arrogance arose in my mind, and I broke the prohibitive precepts. Because I broke the prohibitive precepts, I fell into hell and underwent various punishments. Having fully exhausted those punishments, I encountered Śākyamuni Buddha, renounced the household, and attained the path of an arhat with the six supernatural knowledges. From this it is known that one who renounces the household and receives the precepts, even if she breaks the precepts, attains the path of an arhat by virtue of the condition of the precepts. If one only does evil without the conditions of the precepts, one cannot attain the path. Because in the past I fell into hell life after life, emerging from hell to become an evil person, and when the evil person died she fell back into hell, I attained nothing at all. Now, using this as proof, I know that though one breaks the precepts after renouncing the household and receiving them, through these conditions one can attain the fruits of the path." It is also said that when someone renounced the household due to drunkenness, the Buddha gave permission; after sobering up, he returned to lay life. Others asked the Buddha the reason. The Buddha said: "For immeasurable kalpas this brāhmaṇa had no mind to renounce the household; now, due to drunkenness, he aroused this slight aspiration, and therefore I permitted him to renounce the household to serve as a cause for the future."