釋門歸敬儀 1.19

1.19

This single sūtra constitutes the root of taking refuge and veneration, and determines the fundamental principle of upholding faith. In principle, one must rely upon and attach oneself to it in order to ascend to lofty and distant destinies. Thus a treatise says: “Taking refuge is a term of turning around.” This is because formerly one turned one's back on the correct to follow heterodoxy, wandering through the destinies of rebirth; now that the Buddha has appeared in the world, uttering the words of supreme honor, one immediately turns around that heterodox mind and changes to follow the correct path. Thereupon, the method of refuge was established, with gradations of five ranks, beginning with the first abandonment of the secular and culminating in the pinnacle of entering the Way, all taking refuge in the Three Jewels as the trace of a teacher for the mind. The one taken as teacher is ultimate, and what is done is great (meaning that initially one complies with one's body, and ultimately one eliminates delusions of the mind); how can one be arrogant, with an attitude lacking all awe and dread? How much worse to add slander and calumny, spreading rumors through the vulgar world, sinking oneself into the ocean of suffering with no hope of deliverance! Furthermore, this causes evil habits of body and mind to increase more and more from moment to moment; it also causes dignified deportment to lose its measure, constantly binding karma. The metaphor of the upturned vessel is as evident as dust and dew before one's eyes; the false pretense of catching mice arises incessantly in one's breast. How can one not take warning? How can one not take warning?