止觀輔行傳弘決 7.18

7.18

From “If, as above” onward, the text next explains the perfection of morality subsuming the three [types of morality]. First it explains the subsumption of the Dharmas, listing the teachings and rebuking defects, as in the text. In the invocation for empowerment, “flaws and blemishes” refers to: a flaw (xia) is an imperfection in jade; a blemish (dian) is a defect in jade. Serious transgression is like a blemish; slight breach is like a flaw. Regarding “poisonous dragon” and so forth, the Dazhidulun, scroll thirteen, states: “For example, Śākyamuni Bodhisattva in a past life was once a mighty bodhisattva poisonous dragon; if it touched, smelled, or looked [at someone], the weak would die at once, and the strong would die when it exhaled its breath. This dragon once received the precepts for a day and a night, and entered a quiet forest to sit alone in contemplation. After sitting for a long time, it became tired and weary, and fell asleep. According to the nature of dragons, when sleeping its form became that of a snake, with markings of the seven treasures. When a hunter saw it, he was startled and then ran, saying: ‘Such a rare and hard-to-obtain skin! If offered to the great king, would it not be suitable?’ He pressed its head down with a staff and stripped its skin with a knife. The dragon thought to itself: ‘My power is as I wish; overturning this country would be as easy as turning over my palm. How could this petty man distress me? Now, keeping the precepts, I do not consider this body; I must follow the Buddha's words.’ Thereupon it restrained itself, closed its eyes and did not look, held its breath and ceased respiration, feeling pity for this man. Single-mindedly it endured being skinned without giving rise to regret. Having lost its skin, its raw red flesh lay on the ground. At that time, scorched by the sun, it rolled in the dirt, wishing to head toward a large body of water. Seeing various insects and ants biting and eating its body, in order to protect the precepts it dared not move again. It thought to itself: ‘I now give this body of mine to these insects and ants for the sake of the Buddha-path. Now I give my flesh to sustain their lives; later, when I attain buddhahood, I shall bestow the Dharma upon them to benefit their minds.’ Having made this vow, its body dried up and its life ended, and it was immediately reborn in the second heaven, the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. The hunter was Devadatta, the six teachers, and so on; the small insects were the eighty thousand devas who attained the path at the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma.” Regarding “Sudatta” and so forth, this is the name in the Dazhidulun; in the Renwang [jing] he is named King Puming (Prabhāpāla). The sūtra states: “He was captured and taken away by King Kalmāṣapāda. He begged of him a wish: to practice giving for one day, feed śramaṇas, and prostrate to the Three Jewels. After Kalmāṣapāda granted this, he returned to his kingdom and, in accordance with the Dharma of the seven buddhas, invited a hundred Dharma masters to preach the Renwang bore [jing] twice a day. The first Dharma master spoke a verse for the king, saying: