慈悲道場懺法 1.12

1.12

Assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in today’s bodhimaṇḍa! Why must we take refuge in the Three Jewels? The Buddhas and bodhisattvas possess boundless great compassion to deliver the world and boundless great loving-kindness to comfort the world; they regard all sentient beings as an only child; with great loving-kindness and great compassion, they are never weary, constantly seeking good deeds to benefit all, vowing to extinguish the fire of sentient beings’ three poisons, teaching and transforming them to attain anuttarā samyaksambodhi. If sentient beings do not attain Buddhahood, they vow not to attain samyaksambodhi. For this reason, we must take refuge. Moreover, the Buddhas’ loving mindfulness of sentient beings exceeds that of parents. The sūtra states: “Parents’ mindfulness and loving-kindness toward their child lasts for only one lifetime; the Buddha’s mindfulness and loving mind toward sentient beings is endless. Furthermore, when parents see a child betray their kindness and violate righteousness, resentment arises in their hearts and their loving mind diminishes. Not so with the loving mind of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas: seeing such a sentient being, their compassionate mind grows all the heavier, even entering the great wheel of fire in the Avīci Hell to endure immeasurable suffering on behalf of all sentient beings.” Hence we know that the loving mindfulness of the Buddhas and great bodhisattvas toward sentient beings exceeds that of parents. Yet sentient beings have their wisdom obscured by ignorance and their minds obscured by defilements; they do not know to turn toward the Buddhas and bodhisattvas; when the Dharma is spoken to teach and transform them, they do not faithfully accept it, even uttering coarse words to give rise to slander, never generating a thought to remember the Buddhas’ kindness. Because of their lack of faith, they fall into the evil destinies of hells, hungry ghosts, and animals, traversing the three wretched paths and suffering immeasurable torment. When their offenses are exhausted and they manage to come out, temporarily born in the human world, their sense faculties are not complete to adorn themselves, and they lack the water of dhyāna and the power of wisdom; such obstacles as these stem from the lack of faithful devotion.