慈悲道場懺法 9.3

9.3

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! From taking refuge down to the end of this chapter, it has been constantly said that although the myriad dharmas differ and their functions are not identical, when it comes to the contrast between light and dark, there are only good and evil. Good refers to the superior paths of humans and devas; evil refers to the divergent tracks of the three wretched paths. Cultivating benevolence and righteousness leads to what is superior; indulging in cruelty and harm precipitates one into what is inferior. That those who dwell in the superior do so is entirely due to their superior karma; it is not achieved through contention. They experience natural, marvelous bliss and anticipate the ease of liberation. That those who fall into the inferior do so is entirely due to their inferior karma: dwelling amidst fiery cities and iron nets, their food consists of iron pellets and hot iron, and their drink of boiling stone and molten copper. The passing of years exceeds creation, and the number of kalpas equals the infinite. Furthermore, the sufferings of hell are such that one cannot bear to encounter them personally: when the spirit departs from this body and consciousness is cast into that city, retribution applies wheels of blades to the body, and restitution uses fiery grindstones to destroy the form; life refuses to be shortened, and one endures agony for a long age. Even if one should gain release, one falls again among the hungry ghosts, with fire bursting from the mouth, life barely sustained. Dying from there, one falls again among animals to endure various sufferings once more: either bearing heavy burdens to distant places, driven through perilous hardships, or carved up in cauldrons and boilers, spread across chopping blocks and tables, their flesh supplying food, their lives lost beyond reckoning. Truly, these are the heavy sufferings of the three evils; grievous is the long night so difficult to dawn! Yet though the superior and inferior are as clear as day, none can believe it: because of self and me, they are fond of giving rise to doubt, and because of doubt, most do not turn toward the good. Therefore the Buddha said: There are ten things in the world by which one dies and enters the evil paths: having an intention not devoted to the good and not cultivating merit; greedily craving food and drink like a hungry tiger; being addicted to the taste of liquor and fond of harboring the poison of anger; constantly practicing ignorance and not accepting others' admonitions; relying on one's own power to carry out all evil deeds; being fond of killing sentient beings and oppressing the weak and orphaned; constantly siding with evil persons to invade and violate other realms; making statements that are untrue and unessential; and having no compassion for all beings, initiating all manner of evil karma. If a person is like this, they will not long remain in the world, and upon death will enter the evil paths. Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! As the Buddha said, who can escape this? Since we cannot escape it, we all have our share of guilt in hell. Let everyone in the assembly awaken to this meaning! We only pray that the great assembly should vie with time, practice the bodhisattva path, diligently seek all dharmas, and benefit sentient beings: first, to extinguish one's own sins, and second, to generate others' blessings; this is to benefit oneself and benefit others, benefiting both that and this. Together today, let us give rise to a courageous mind, give rise to a resolute mind, give rise to a compassionate mind, give rise to a mind to deliver all, and give rise to a mind to rescue sentient beings; until sitting in the bodhimaṇḍa, do not forget this vow! Looking up with reliance to all the buddhas and all great bodhisattvas throughout the ten directions and the entirety of space, through the power of their great supernatural faculties, the power of their great compassion and loving-kindness, the power to liberate hells, the power to ferry across hungry ghosts, the power to rescue animals, the power of their great divine dhāraṇīs, and their great majestic power, may they cause the benefits we perform and the vows we make to be fulfilled. Equaling a single pierced heart, let us make prostrations with the five limbs touching the ground, on behalf of sentient beings suffering in the great Avīci Hell, and extending to the eighteen freezing-ice hells, the dark hells, the eighteen hot hells, the eighteen sword-wheel hells, the forest of swords hell, the fire-cart hell, the boiling feces hell, and the boiling cauldron hell—and such hells also have eighty-four thousand subsidiary hells and the like—on behalf of all sentient beings suffering within them, we, [so-and-so] and the rest, with bodhicitta, with bodhisattva practices, and with bodhisattva vows, all take refuge in their stead in the great compassionate Father of the world.