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八識規矩補註 2.40

English (machine translation) 2.40

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English

2.40

Because this consciousness is the master of collective retribution, when sentient beings enter the womb it is first, and at the end of life it is last. Relying on the sūtra (the Za baozang jing) and the treatises (the Yogācāra[bhūmi] and the [Mahāyāna]saṃgraha), we briefly distinguish the places from which this consciousness departs. Summarizing the sūtra and treatises, the verse says: "Through wholesome karma it cools from below; / through unwholesome karma it cools from above; / both reach the heart, / departing simultaneously from one place (the meaning of the two treatises). / The crown for a sage, the eyes for rebirth in heaven, / the heart for a human, the belly for a hungry ghost, / departing from the knees for animals, / leaving from the soles of the feet for the hells (the meaning of the sūtra)." As for the difference between the sūtra and the treatises: the sūtra examines the distinction among the six destinies, while the treatises explain the two paths of good and evil. For the six destinies do not go beyond good and evil; this is precisely the aforementioned mind of birth and death.

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