慈悲道場懺法 1.25

1.25

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Once again, with sincere devotion, guard your thoughts well. Together we have already entered the gate of taking refuge with faith; we need only hold firm to this intention and take reaching the goal as our aim, without creating further hindrances regarding internal or external dharmas. If, through lack of clarity about our own past karma, we are unable to do good ourselves, then upon seeing others produce merit, we should only encourage them, snapping our fingers and joining our palms to clearly promote their virtue; we ought not to arouse thoughts of creating obstacles and causing those practitioners to turn back in discouragement. If they do not turn back and their progress continues as before, since they suffer no diminution, one will only harm oneself—how can constructing disputes in vain benefit one's person? If one can be free of obstructing what is good, one may be called a powerful, great person attuned to the Way. If one creates obstacles now, how can one attain mastery of the Buddha-Way in future lives? Inquiring into the matter in terms of principle, the damage is truly grave; the offense of impeding others' wholesome roots is indeed not light. As the Sūtra on Guarding the Mouth says: There was a hungry ghost whose form was hideous and vile; whoever saw it had their hair stand on end and felt terror. Fierce flames burst from its body like a mass of fire, and maggots poured ceaselessly from its mouth. It adorned its body with pus, blood, and assorted decays, and its foul stench reached far, making it unapproachable; or its mouth spat flames, and fire arose from its joints, as it wailed loudly and ran east and west. At that time, the arhat Māntālikā asked the hungry ghost, 'What past offense did you commit to suffer this torment now?' The hungry ghost replied, 'In the past I was once a śramaṇa. Clinging to the requisites of life, stingy, greedy, and unable to renounce them, I did not safeguard the deportments and uttered coarse and evil words. Whenever I saw someone keeping the precepts and making energetic progress, I would immediately revile them and cast evil glances from the corners of my eyes. Relying on my wealth and strength, thinking I would never die, I created countless roots of unwholesomeness. Recalling it now, regret is of no avail. I would rather cut off my own tongue with a sharp knife and willingly suffer pain from kalpa to kalpa than defame the good of others with a single word. When the Venerable One returns to Jambudvīpa, please admonish the monks and disciples of the Buddha with my form: Guard well against faults of the mouth and do not utter words rashly. Even if you see those who keep precepts or do not keep precepts, be mindful to praise their virtues. I have endured the body of a ghost for thousands of kalpas, and through day and night I suffer extreme bitterness and torment. When this life ends, I shall enter the hells again.' Having spoken these words, the hungry ghost wailed loudly and threw itself upon the ground like the collapse of a great mountain. Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! As spoken in the sūtra, this is greatly to be dreaded. Merely for a fault of the mouth one reaps retribution for accumulated kalpas—how much more so for other roots of unwholesomeness! Discarding the body and suffering pain all arise from the deeds one performs. If one does not create the cause, how can one obtain the fruit? If one creates a cause, the fruit is never lost; retribution for offenses and blessings is not far off—oneself must bear it, just as shadows and echoes cannot be separated [from form and sound]. Arising on account of ignorance, one also dies on account of it. Among those who have practiced heedlessness in the past, future, and present, none has ever been seen to attain liberation. Those who can guard against it will receive endless blessings. Today, let everyone in the assembly feel shame and conscience, wash clean their bodies and minds, and repent and apologize for past errors; ending the old and not creating the new is praised by all buddhas. Together, from this day forth, if we see the good of others, let us not debate whether it is accomplished or unaccomplished, lasting or brief; even if it is for a single thought, a brief moment, an hour, a quarter, a day, a month, half a year, or a year, it is already inherently superior to not doing it at all. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra says: 'If a person with a scattered mind / Enters a stūpa or temple / And utters "Namo Buddha" just once, / They have all already accomplished the Buddha-Way.' How much more so when someone is able to generate such a great mind and strive in meritorious deeds—the sages mourn for those who do not rejoice [in their merit]! We, [so-and-so] and the others, reflect that since beginningless birth and death up to the present day, we must have had countless evil thoughts impeding others' superior good. Why is this so? If it were not for this, why today are there so many hindrances regarding all wholesome dharmas: dhyāna cannot be practiced, wisdom cannot be cultivated, after a brief period of bowing we already complain of great suffering, and holding a scroll of the sūtras for a moment we again give rise to weariness and laziness? All day long we are troubled and perturbed, giving rise to all kinds of evil karma, causing this physical body to be unable to attain liberation, like a silkworm making a cocoon, entangling and binding itself, or like a moth flying into a flame, scorched through the long night. Such obstacles are boundless and infinite: obstructing the bodhicitta, obstructing the bodhi-vows, and obstructing the bodhi-practices—all arising from evil thoughts defaming the good of others. Now, beginning to awaken, we give rise to great shame and conscience, touching our foreheads to the ground to beg for mercy and repent of these offenses. We only pray that all buddhas and all great bodhisattvas, with minds of compassion and loving-kindness, will together confer their spiritual power, causing what we, [so-and-so] and the others, repent to be extinguished, and what we regret to become pure, so that all obstacles and countless karmic offenses, through this present repentance, are purified entirely without remainder. Let us all together, with equal earnestness, prostrate with our five limbs touching the ground and take refuge in the Great Compassionate Father of the world.