釋門歸敬儀 1.77

1.77

A sūtra states: 'During the day, you should diligently cultivate good dharmas without letting the time be lost; do not neglect it during the initial watch and the final watch of the night either (this refers to day and night constantly practicing the contemplation of the Way with one mind, restraining body and mind, because there is neither person nor dharma); during the middle watch, recite sūtras to rest and soothe yourselves (this means that exerting one's mind day and night may lead to drowsiness and dullness, so one uses vocal recitation of sūtras to disperse emotional distraction).' According to this textual evidence, day running into night, how could there be leisure time? However, ordinary mortals of the degenerate age have turbid and heavy afflictions; if commanded to practice constantly, they retreat to dwell in the worldly flow. Or they steal robes under false pretenses, spending years in cultivation, yet with nowhere to lodge their minds and nowhere to throw their bodies; for days and nights on end, they do not perform a single act of reverence, letting karma drift and drown—how could they rise? Therefore, the six periods were established to receive the foolish and confused; gathering merit slightly and gradually is still better than sinking into stupor. Later, as they gradually become clear and skilled, connecting the periods and carrying them continuously, they still consider it good; because they hold it as good, it must be eliminated. When ordinary people generate practice, each belongs to a different class: what they have practiced before they delight in, and what they have not practiced they abandon, leading to taking and rejecting, with all kinds of activities in confusion. I have heard that there are many gates to enter the Dharma realm of nirvāṇa; though the ten thousand practices differ, their essential source returns to abandoning attachment. Because sinful karma contradicts principle, it is avoided entirely; meritorious karma accords with life, so one cultivates or relinquishes it in accordance with the time; supramundane karma of the Way has never been traversed, so one must be single-minded and must not easily abandon it. Though sūtras explain them broadly, they do not go beyond these three; seeking the texts according to principle, these completely subsume them all.