釋門章服儀 1.19

1.19

答曰：「至聖立教，隨教攝修，是非利益，罔不通道。夫道在清心，無壅為義，如世夷途，莫有滯者。今人行道，事理兩分，言事則俗習未亡，尋理則真心體附。斯則強分二諦，有凡聖之殊途；故張兩儀，無去取之恒式。致使於衣知足，務在無瑕；事清心淨，便懷入道。故十種遺棄之衣，世情所捨；三聖服之無厭，道儀所歸。觀事無異俗之嫌，涉理有資神之用。斯則挹酌二諦，寄空有而攝修；歸承四依，諒無愧於流範。故有持彼糞衣，遠詣遠池而洗濯者，諸天欣其解脫，取其穢汁，用自浴身，莫不以財淨而心清，不以穢迹而累於道也。及得通外道，持㲲往浣，諸天遙遮，勿污吾水。告曰：『邪心感利，凡聖之所忌也。』以此文證，故知道在清心，不虛設也。是知求財之時，如法受畜，不陷刑科，內不愧於戒神，外無慚於負俗，可也。焉得崎嶇世路，婆娑恒習，惡求多求喪命耶？生則為佛之賊，死則為鬼之囚，剃染依佛為師，師教拒而不用。自陳損力，謂三途之可推；不思此形，有四山之相逼。故文云死時懷恐懼者，即斯人也。何異螗蜋拒轍之智勇乎？不聞經論之明誡乎？肉衣、鐵衣，隨感而至，受惱受熱，抑可言哉？一生形體，委之溝壑；累世靈神，繫於業道。任運長赴，無由返源，固當擺撥常習，遵仰聖言，外無犯於憲章，內有涉於清蕩，屬斯懷觀，夫復何求？」

I answer: When the Supreme Sage established the teaching, he accommodated practice according to the teaching; whether in right and wrong or benefit and detriment, none failed to accord with the Path. Now, the Path lies in purifying the mind, its essential meaning being unobstructedness, just as on an ordinary level path there are none who are impeded. When people today practice the Path, they divide phenomena and principle into two: speaking of phenomena, secular habits have not vanished; inquiring into principle, the true mind unites with essence. This is to forcibly divide the two truths, creating separate paths for the ordinary and the holy; thus setting up two poles, there is no constant standard of discarding and choosing. As a result, in being content with robes, one's goal is to be without fault; when phenomena are clear and the mind is pure, one then harbors entry into the Path. Therefore, the ten kinds of discarded robes are what worldly sensibilities abandon, yet the three sages wear them insatiably, and they are that to which monastic deportment returns. Contemplating phenomena, they are free from the suspicion of differing from the vulgar; engaging principle, they serve to nourish the spirit. This is indeed drawing upon the two truths, lodging practice within emptiness and existence; returning to and relying on the four resources, one will truly have no shame before traditional standards. Therefore, there was one who carried those rags of discarded clothing to wash them in a distant pool: the devas rejoiced in his liberation, and taking the foul water, used it to bathe themselves. In every case this was because the material was pure and the mind clear; they did not allow foul traces to encumber the Path. But when a tīrthika who had attained supernormal powers brought fine cotton to wash, the devas barred him from afar: 'Do not defile our water!' They told him: 'Gain induced by a corrupt mind is abhorred by both ordinary beings and sages.' Proved by this passage, we thus know that the Path lying in purifying the mind is not an empty assertion. Hence we know that when seeking material goods, if one receives and stores them according to the Dharma, does not fall into penal infractions, internally feels no guilt before the spirit of the precepts, and externally feels no shame before the expectations of the worldly, it is acceptable. How could one stumble along worldly paths, flounder in habitual practices, and through wrongful seeking or excessive seeking lose one's [religious] life? In life one is a thief of the Buddha; in death one is a prisoner among ghosts. Shaving the head and dyeing robes, one relies on the Buddha as teacher, yet one rejects the teacher's instructions and does not use them. Boasting of diminishing strength, one claims the three destinies can be averted, not considering that this body is pressed hard by the four mountains. Therefore the text says that those who harbor dread at the time of death are precisely such people. How does this differ from the wisdom and courage of a mantis resisting a chariot? Have you not heard the clear warnings of the sūtras and treatises? Robes of flesh and robes of iron arrive in accordance with what is stimulated; suffering torment and suffering scorching heat—how can words express it? The physical body of a single lifetime is abandoned to ditches and ravines; the spiritual consciousness of successive kalpas is bound to the paths of karma. Swept away at fate's whim on a long journey, there is no way to return to the source. One must indeed cast off routine habits and revere the holy words, externally committing no infraction against the statutes and internally engaging in clear purification. Harboring such a perspective, what else could one seek?