摩訶止觀 4.12

4.12

Regarding natural morality, regardless of whether one has received [the precepts] or not, transgressing them is a transgression; regardless of whether one has received them or not, upholding them is good. If one has received the precepts, upholding them generates merit, and transgressing them incurs guilt. If one has not received them, there is no merit; if one has not received them, transgressing them incurs no [vinaya] guilt. For instance, in felling grass or killing an animal, the offense is the same; when confessed face-to-face, both offenses are extinguished. The Da zhidu lun explains: 'The offense of violating the unmanifest (avijñapti) is equally extinguished, yet the debt of life still remains.' Thus we know that the received precepts differ from natural morality. Therefore, when the Four-Part Vinaya asks about obstructive conditions, it says: 'Have you not committed an extreme offense?' An extreme offense is precisely an offense against nature. This offense obstructs the upāsaka precepts, how much more so the great precepts! If natural morality is pure, it is the root of the perfections of morality and the initial cause of liberation. Dependent on this natural morality, one obtains the unmanifest received precepts.