釋門章服儀 1.23

1.23

I answer: "Now, as for the norm of making offerings and giving alms, it must be pure in three respects; if it is defiled in any one of them, it is called an impure gift. The treatises divide this into four propositions; how could it be otherwise? Furthermore, pure conduct eradicates afflictions, whereas creating merit is difficult to bring into accord [with liberation]. When circumstances and conditions arise, making offerings and gifts is permitted so that beings may cast off their root greed; [the Buddha] did not bar pure wealth, [yet this] leads to mixed retributions. If one were to bar and reject them completely, then the ignorant laity would have no way to plant causes [of merit]; yet if one receives mixed retributions, one will drown life after life constantly in the ocean of suffering. Both offenses and blessings are invoked together; the principle lies right here. And the Aṅgulimāla-sūtra says: 'Silk, floss, and leather goods come passing through many hands, removed from the hands of the killer; nevertheless, one who upholds the precepts ought not to wear them. If one does wear them, although it is without compassion, it does not break the precepts.' According to this doctrinal gate, opening and closing have different points of departure: closing shows that sentient beings can be saved and that causing injury and harm is truly difficult to bear; opening allows that robes may be made from the loss of life as a temporary expedient to rescue beings from cold and suffering. Moreover, the admonition that it is 'without compassion' ultimately serves as a pronouncement of permanent prohibition; the measure permitting its wearing was merely to remedy the hardship of the moment. As for cases where monks are freezing in the mountains or robbed by bandits, they are permitted to wear pelts and furs; when intensely tormented by sudden, severe illness, they are allowed to sustain themselves with milk and honey. These are not universal transformations, but slight provisions of expediency; looking up and measuring the true texts, the intended meaning is indeed reasonable. Leather garments and skin robes are fully regulated in the Vinaya: their great extravagance is eliminated, and taking contentment as the root. As for black and white felt robes, the Vinaya also has a general regulation: if seeking and demanding them is excessive, harming worldly customs and ruining the Way, they are regulated to be surrendered to the Saṃgha; but shearing wool preserves life and genuinely serves to manifest benevolence, so wearing them is permitted. That being so, the encumbrance of harming life has ramifications that are difficult to purify; I cite this briefly to serve as a lasting motto beside one's seat. Furthermore, the body is a vessel of suffering; how could one tie it up without eating? Grain rations that accompany the body are truly weightily necessary to maintain life. Yet setting fire to burn mountains and channeling water to irrigate fields turn over and kill or injure, inflicting devastation even more severely. What is more, imprisoning calves to milk cows, robbing bees of their honey, insects lodged in vegetables, and maggots and pupae gathering around food utensils—the living beings in firewood and water exceed the grains in storehouses; the conscious beings in grass and soil gather together to form villages. What passes through body and mouth can truly hardly be free of faults. Yet, among the greatest of offenses, none exceeds silk robes. Observing the procedures for rearing and killing them, the sūtras call it an evil precept; compared to the count of butchering and hunting, it is tens of thousands of times greater. People in the world speak of butchers and there is none who is not ashamed of them; yet when it comes to sharing the profit of silk and satin, they speak openly and show their tracks without any revulsion, because mutual evil aids one another. One truly ought to regulate it uniformly, so as to put an end to worldly sentiments. But the five turbidities are not yet extinguished, and the three obstacles constantly encircle us; is this not caused by the shifts of craving and desire? One should know that to live as a karmic retribution in a decadent age, dwelling in this body and spirit, using and employing them to harm others to benefit oneself, brings distress and disgrace, and is deeply to be loathed. Consider Monk Śāṇakavāsin, whose body was covered by a womb-robe, or the Śākya prince Face-King, whose karmic clothing followed his body. They pointed to the four seas as their home for a long time, seeking the Way on a single meal a day, free from desire and free from contrived action; this is truly worthy of esteem. Furthermore, in the north there are trees that produce clothing, and in the heavens above there are apparitional garments, light or heavy according to one's mind, novel and wondrous with every change. Or, yielding one's physical form in a pure land, one takes the joy of the Dharma as food; lodging one's spirit inside a lotus flower, one takes modesty and shame as clothing. This Way can be sought; practicing its cause, there is nowhere one will not reach."