慈悲道場懺法 5.11

5.11

Today, members of the great assembly in this bodhimaṇḍa who share this karmic endeavor! Together we have now untied enmities with our parents; next, we should untie the knots of enmity with our masters and elders. From the great sages down, whose essences are not yet perfectly consummate, even those who reach the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas are still subject to the changing and extinguishing of the three marks. As for the Tathāgata, he still made use of harsh words to cause evil sentient beings to awaken to the path thereby. If one whose virtues are bright and who transforms beings still manifested such words, how much more so must ordinary fools who are far removed from the pure realm! Now, with good and evil intermingled and the clear and the dark not yet separated, how could one abruptly leave behind the faults of the three karmic actions? If you hear what is spoken, you ought to feel ashamed, and deeply regret and reproach yourselves for the kindness and virtue of your masters and elders, and not harbor doubt or cherish evil thoughts. The sūtra says: 'Although one has gone forth from home, if one has not exhausted the afflictions and has not attained liberation, one cannot straightway say that one is free of all evils. A person in the secular world cannot straightway say that he is entirely devoid of goodness.' Setting this matter aside for now, as the sūtra says, the Buddha told the great assembly: 'You should contemplate the kindness of your masters and elders. Although parents give birth, nourish, and instruct, they cannot cause one to leave the three wretched paths. With great compassion, masters and elders guide and advance the ignorant youth, enabling them to go forth from home and receive the complete precepts; this is conceiving the womb of an arhat and giving birth to the fruit of an arhat, leaving the suffering of birth and death and obtaining the bliss of nirvāṇa. Since masters and elders have such supramundane kindness and virtue, who can repay them? If one can practice the path for one's whole life, that may merely benefit oneself, but does not repay the master's kindness.' The Buddha said: 'Among the good friends in the world, none surpasses masters and elders.' Today, members of the great assembly in this bodhimaṇḍa who share this karmic endeavor! As the Buddha said, masters and elders possess such kindness and virtue. Yet we have never generated a thought to repay the kindness of masters and elders, or we have not believed and accepted their teachings and instructions, even using coarse words to give rise to slander, creating dispute out of nothing and causing the Buddha-Dharma to decline. How could such offenses ever be escaped? No one can take one's place in the bitter retribution of the three wretched paths. When one abandons life, pleasure departs and suffering arrives; the conscious spirit is distressed and aggrieved, the mental functions are confounded and confused, the six consciousnesses are no longer keen, and the five faculties are shattered and ruined. Wishing to walk, the feet cannot move; wishing to sit, the body cannot support itself. Even if one wishes to listen to the words of the Dharma, the ears can hear nothing; wishing to look upon superior realms, the eyes can see nothing. When such a time comes, even if you together think of repenting and prostrating today, how could you obtain it again? There will only be the immeasurable sufferings of hell; such bitter retributions are created by oneself and endured by oneself. Therefore the sūtra says: 'Those who foolishly rely on themselves and do not believe in calamity and misfortune, who slander and defame their masters, who hate and envy their masters—such people are great Māras within the Dharma, seeds of hell, who forge knots of enmity by themselves and receive endless retribution.' Just as the monk Padmaprabha was skilled at preaching the essentials of the Dharma, he had a disciple who constantly harbored arrogance; when the upādhyāya preached for him, he did not believe or accept it at all. He then said: 'My great upādhyāya is completely devoid of wisdom; he can only praise matters of empty space. I vow that in future births I will no longer delight in seeing him.' Thereupon this disciple preached that which is Dharma as non-Dharma, and non-Dharma as Dharma. Although he maintained the prohibitions and precepts without violation, because of his erroneous understanding, after his life ended, in the time it takes to shoot an arrow he fell into the Avīci Hell, constantly enduring great suffering for eighty koṭis of eons. Today, members of the great assembly in this bodhimaṇḍa who share this karmic endeavor! As the sūtra says, how could everyone not give rise to great dread? Merely uttering a single evil word to the upādhyāya caused him to fall into the Avīci Hell for eighty koṭis of eons. How much more so since we went forth from home up to the present day, the unwholesome karma generated toward our upādhyāyas involves immeasurable offenses; when judged upon shedding this bodily form, we will undoubtedly be the same as him! Why is this so? The upādhyāyas and ācāryas constantly provide instruction, yet we have never practiced according to the Dharma, frequently defying various masters and elders, or receiving provisions without satisfaction, or the master becomes angry with the disciple, or the disciple resents the master, with immeasurable joys and angers throughout the three times. Such offenses cannot be numbered. The sūtra says: 'If one generates a single thought of anger, the enmities and grievances will be immeasurable.' Such enmities and grievances are not only toward the six relations; the resentment and hatred between masters and disciples is also severe. Furthermore, sharing rooms and living together, seniors, middles, and juniors are unable to deeply believe that going forth from home is a dharma of detachment; they do not know that forbearance is the practice of peace and bliss, do not know that equanimity is the path of bodhi, and do not know that leaving behind forgetting and signs is the supramundane mind. Masters and disciples sharing rooms and living together, with their karmic bond not yet exhausted, oppose and conflict with one another; thoughts of anger and dispute arise in tumult and disorder, which is why generation after generation they cannot be harmonious. Furthermore, among renunciants, whether studying together or sharing the same master, their understandings are unequal; on the day of promotion and advancement, they harbor malice and cherish anger, and do not say to themselves that it is due to wisdom practiced in past lives: 'He has merit and virtue, while I have no wholesome roots.' Hearing of or seeing another's glory, their natures are uneasy; with minds of outflows they repeatedly produce thoughts of superior and inferior, frequently giving rise to contention and rarely able to harmonize. Unable to yield the thick and take the thin, they mutually resent one another; not examining their own faults, they only speak of others' shortcomings. Or through the three poisons they slander one another, without loyalty or faith, without reverence or respect; when would they ever remember that they are violating the Buddha's precepts? They even raise their voices with loud speech, evil curses, and ugly words, not believing or accepting the teachings and instructions of their masters and elders at all. Seniors, middles, and juniors each harbor hatred, and harboring hatred, they blame and condemn one another. In the evil paths there are many enmities and grievances; all of them stem from us, masters and disciples, classmates living together, seniors, middles, and juniors, generating a single thought of resentment, which brings immeasurable grievances. Therefore the sūtra says: 'In the present life, slight resentment, mutual hatred, and jealousy will grow more severe in future lives, culminating in great enmity.' How much more so the evil karma generated throughout one's entire life! Today, members of the great assembly in this bodhimaṇḍa who share this karmic endeavor! None of us knows in which destinies we have generated knots of enmity toward masters, elders, seniors, middles, and juniors. Such enmities and grievances have no end, no term of years, and no count of eons; when undergoing the suffering, it cannot be endured. Therefore the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas discard thoughts of enemies and kin, leave behind concepts of enemies and kin, and embrace beings equally with minds of compassion and loving-kindness. Together today, having been able to generate the bodhicitta and make the vows of bodhi, we should practice what the bodhisattvas practice: the four immeasurable minds, the six pāramitās, the four means of embracing, and the four great vows. As the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have practiced, we today should also practice, treating enemies and kin with equanimity, unhindered in all respects. From this day forward until we reach bodhi, we vow to rescue and protect all sentient beings, causing all sentient beings ultimately to attain the One Vehicle. Together with utmost sincerity, prostrating with our five limbs touching the ground, on behalf of our upādhyāyas and ācāryas with whom we have enmities and grievances through successive lives since we first possessed conscious spirits after going forth from home; on behalf of our precept witnesses at the same ordination platform with whom we have enmities and grievances; on behalf of our fellow students, relatives, seniors, middles, and juniors with whom we have enmities and grievances; and for all enmities of the three times, whether direct adversaries or not, whether light or heavy, each together with their dependents; and if we have enmities and grievances with all sentient beings in the six destinies, who are to receive retribution in the future or present: repenting today, we pray and beseech that they be eliminated. If all sentient beings within the six destinies each have their own enmities and grievances, we today, with minds of compassion and loving-kindness and without notions of enemy or kin, universally seek mercy and repent on behalf of all grievances of the three times. We pray that they will all relinquish and forgive, having no further evil thoughts to inflict upon one another or malicious intent directed toward each other, but jointly relinquish and forgive, all rejoicing. From now on, may the knots be untied with no further anger or resentment; may each revere the other, mindful of repaying kindness, equaling the minds of the Buddhas, sharing the vows of the Buddhas, each with utmost sincerity taking refuge in the Great Compassionate and Loving Father of the world.