勸發菩提心集 2.4

2.4

The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, fascicle thirteen, says: If, out of compassionate pity for sentient beings, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, and also knowing the true mark of the precepts, the mind does not depend or cling, upholding the precepts in this way will lead one in the future to attain the Buddha Way; this is called attaining the precepts of the unsurpassed Buddha Way. If a person seeks great and wholesome benefit, they should firmly uphold the precepts, as if cherishing a precious jewel, as if protecting bodily life. Why is this? For example, it is like the great earth: all things possessing form abide relying on the earth. The precepts are also like this; the precepts are the abiding place for all wholesome dharmas. For example, wishing to walk without feet, wishing to fly without wings, or wishing to cross over without a boat—these are impossible. Wishing to obtain good fruits without upholding the precepts is also like this. If a person discards these precepts, even though they dwell in the mountains practicing austerities, eating fruits and taking herbs, they are no different from birds and beasts. Even though a person is poor, if they can uphold the precepts, they are superior to the rich and noble. But for one who breaks the precepts, flower incense and wood incense cannot be smelled from afar, whereas the fragrance of upholding the precepts pervades the ten directions. A person who upholds the precepts is endowed with peace and bliss, their fame is heard from afar, they are loved and respected by devas and humans, and in the present life they constantly obtain various joys. If one wishes for wealth, nobility, and long life in the heavens or among humans, obtaining them is not difficult; when upholding the precepts purely, all that is wished for is obtained. Furthermore, a person who upholds the precepts is constantly respected and supported by people of the present world, their mind is joyful without remorse, they lack neither clothing nor food, at death they attain rebirth in heaven, and later they attain the Buddha Way. For a person who upholds the precepts, there is nothing they do not attain; for a person who breaks the precepts, everything is lost. For example, it is like a person who constantly made offerings to a deva: that person was poor, and with single-minded devotion made offerings for a full twelve years, seeking wealth and nobility. The deva took pity on this person and manifested its body to them (explained at length as usual). Furthermore, a person who upholds the precepts is one to whom people delight to give, not begrudging wealth; without pursuing worldly gain they lack nothing, they are repeatedly reborn in the heavens and before the Buddhas of the ten directions, and they enter the path of the three vehicles to attain liberation. It is only those who uphold precepts with various wrong views who attain nothing in the end. Furthermore, for a person who upholds the precepts, even without weapons, multiple sufferings do not afflict them. As for the wealth of upholding the precepts, none can rob it. The close kin of upholding the precepts are not separated even in death. The adornment of upholding the precepts is superior to the seven jewels. For this reason, one should protect the precepts as one protects one's bodily life, and cherish them as one loves a precious jewel. A person who breaks the precepts undergoes ten thousand kinds of suffering, like the poor man who broke the vase and lost his possessions. For this reason, one should uphold the pure precepts.