觀心論疏 3.11

3.11

Fourth, ceasing all distracting duties: Distracting duties have long hindered dhyāna. An āraṇyaka bhikṣu leaves bustle and approaches quietude; how could they manage distracting duties and ruin their āraṇyaka practice? It is not appropriate. There are four kinds of distracting duties: first, livelihood; second, social affairs; third, crafts and skills; fourth, scholarship. Livelihood duties: managing ways of making a living, which become tangled and disorderly at every turn; gaining one thing and losing another, destroying the Way and confusing the mind. If one busies oneself with various tasks, that belongs to following one's own intent and is not under discussion here. Second, social affairs: congratulations and condolences, bowing and scraping, visiting and sending messages, back and forth without end; moreover, crowds of people intermingling, chasing about in turmoil. Now, leaving kin and parting from teachers originally aimed to seek the essential Way; to forge ties anew across three provinces and strengthen bonds in five commanderies—where does one intend to go? Turning the robe upside down to find the collar, or drilling fire to seek ice—it is not appropriate. Third, crafts and skills: medicine, divination, masonry and carpentry, painting, chess, calligraphy, spells, and the like. Fine patterns of skin, beautiful horns, melting fat, and cracked bells harm the self and damage the body, how much more when cultivating the supramundane Way! Like forests inviting birds or rotting stench attracting flies, would one not be broken and defiled? Fourth, scholarship: reciting sūtras and treatises, debating victory and defeat, and the like. Holding and memorizing them wearies the mind and exhausts the will; words going back and forth make the water turbid and the pearl dim; what leisure remains to cultivate contemplation of mind? Even this matter is to be cast aside, how much more the previous three duties! Livelihood in contemplation of mind: craving is the dharma that nourishes karma, like water moistening a seed; through craving arises grief, and through grief arises fear. If one can sever craving, it is called ceasing the duties of livelihood. Social affairs are karma; karma gives birth to the three realms and shuttling between the five paths. Moistening karma with craving leads to taking rebirth everywhere. If there is no karma, craving has nothing to moisten. As for skills, learning, and the like: without having attained the noble path, one must not cultivate supernormal powers; the phenomena of vain thoughts obstruct prajñā. Prajñā is like empty space, without conceptual proliferation and without words; if one attains prajñā, it is like obtaining a wish-fulfilling jewel. Simply cultivate with a single mind; why be in a hasty rush to use supernormal powers? Studying without having attained the forbearance of non-arising, while cultivating worldly wisdom, eloquence, and various discriminations—these are all broken tiles and rubble, not genuine precious pearls. If one can bring things to a stop, the water becomes clear, and looking down one sees lapis lazuli, calmly and slowly retrieving the jewel. Desiring to walk the Great Path, one should not learn from those small byways.