量處輕重儀 2.50

2.50

The items in the preceding section have narrow designations but broad applications. The Buddha first set forth the rigorous edge of the teachings, and only later opened allowances, all because superior retribution declined while worldly duties increased, so the Sage's regulations were applied according to capacity, the intention resting on upholding the Way. If one harbors correct contemplation in mind, maintains discipline surpassing the ordinary, possesses a heroic and resolute will, and wind and frost do not constrain one's mind, then one sits beneath trees, covered only by the three robes and nourished only by begging for food. However, as for intermediate and inferior practitioners, their minds are like superior practitioners, but their bodily retribution is frail and exhausted; they have the aspiration but lack the capacity; though striving forward, their roots of the Way regress. For them, decorated rooms, fine personal property, and various requisites were provisionally permitted, granting provisions according to circumstance and capacity, originally to advance the Way and not merely to sustain the body. Therefore, the Madhyama Āgama states: "That I permit my disciples to possess various robes and items is entirely because of wholesome dharmas." The Chishi and Fozang jing state: "If one does not eliminate the inverted view of self and gives rise to attachments according to things, one is not permitted even to drink a cup of water or wear a patched robe, how much less other things!" Thus we know that the intention behind the allowances is profound and serious. Opening them only when unavoidable, the Vinaya accommodates human sentiment with the intention resting on the cultivation of the Way, while the sūtras restrict the mind and, taking external things as the arising causes, bring about an absolute absence of stockpiling, so that conditions are quiet for cultivating the Way. Therefore, in the Laṅkāvatāra, where smoke arises within a monastery, those who practice according to reality should not eat there. The Daśabhāṇavāra also states that the monastery must be strictly pure ground. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: "Although receiving and possessing them is permitted, such items must be purely bestowed by faithful dānapatis." When the authentic teachings are so clearly decisive, one must all the more scrupulously rely on them. However, when capacities are dull and weak, they are difficult to reform immediately; one must still adapt to capacities in accord with the teachings, allowing the property to be heavy or light. If based on the original allowance, in principle they should be distributed; but because material wealth is a burden and encumbrance, where there are no concerns, one simplifies and eliminates to keep what is quiet and essential. This section covers an extremely large number of categories, its principle encompasses both saṅghas, and its matters span both light and heavy property; if judged according to the Vinaya, it generally decrees that they not be distributed, arguing from the majority. Now, collecting all categories in summary, they must be divided into three rubrics: first, intrinsically light and intrinsically heavy; second, circumstantially light and circumstantially heavy; third, light and heavy by usage (each divided in half, making three light and three heavy).