觀心論疏 1.8

1.8

The verse says: / 'We are not sons of the Buddha; / we do not be mindful of this bequest. / Slack in the vehicle, internally there is no path; / slack in the precepts, one falls into the three destinies.' / From this verse onward there are four and a half lines, directly clarifying the errors and inversions of the aforementioned three masters—the dharma masters, vinaya masters, and so on—as well as the fourfold assembly, in not complying with the Buddha's teaching, not relying on the smṛtyupasthānas, and cultivating the path without abiding by relying on the prātimokṣa precepts, causing the Buddha-Dharma to perish and the Three Jewels to fall into ruin. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'One who is slack in the precepts is not called slack; one who is slack in the vehicle is called slack.' However, the Mahāyāna precepts are themselves the vehicle's precepts; being urgent [in them] is being urgent in the vehicle. Why? Because these precepts can move and can deliver. In the Great Vehicle of the Middle Way, this vehicle is itself the precepts. Why? Because this vehicle can guard against wrongs and halt evils; hence urgency in the vehicle is urgency in the precepts. Now, merely taking the non-moving, non-delivering precepts such as the three refuges, five precepts, and ten precepts as 'precepts', and taking the contemplation of the smṛtyupasthānas that can move and deliver as 'vehicle', they together form four propositions. Urgency in precepts attains the body of a heavenly or human being; slackness in precepts attains the body of the four destinies. Urgency in the vehicle can attain the path; slackness in the vehicle cannot attain the path. As for the first proposition: urgent in the vehicle and slack in the precepts. Being urgent in the vehicle, one attains the path; being slack in the precepts, one falls into the three destinies. What the sūtras now explain as 'attaining the path with the body of the four destinies' is this very meaning. Second: urgent in the precepts and slack in the vehicle. Being urgent in the precepts, one attains the body of a human or heavenly being; being slack in the vehicle, one does not attain the path. That there are presently human and heavenly bodies that do not attain the path is this very matter. Third: urgent in the vehicle and urgent in the precepts. What is now clarified as having a human or heavenly body and attaining the path is this very matter. Fourth: slack in the vehicle and slack in the precepts. What is now clarified as having a body in the three destinies and not attaining the path is this very matter. Now it is clarified that the aforementioned three masters and the fourfold assembly, by not cultivating the path in reliance on the four smṛtyupasthānas and not abiding by relying on the prātimokṣa, are not sons of the Buddha and are not mindful of the bequest of the Compassionate Father; this is the fourth proposition, being slack in both vehicle and precepts. Internally they entangle themselves in poisonous suffering; externally they destroy and ruin the Three Jewels and cause others to lack faith. Therefore the treatise verse says: 'We are not sons of the Buddha; we do not be mindful of this bequest. Slack in the vehicle, internally there is no path; slack in the precepts, one falls into the three destinies. Because of not inquiring into the contemplation of mind, others' faith gradually thins,' and so forth.