四明尊者教行錄 1.65

1.65

Pure assembly gathered together at present: since you have jointly extended your request seeking the precepts, you must first arouse faith. If faith is established, the three trainings will be spontaneously replete, and the Buddhist fruition of the three bodies and four wisdoms, complete and eternal, can definitely be anticipated without any further doubt or hesitation. First, have deep faith that all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature. Second, you must believe that by diligently cultivating superior practices you will realize bodhi. Third, have firm faith that all will ascend to the Buddhist fruition of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. Thus the sūtra states: 'Let the minds of the assembly have firm faith: you are ones who will become buddhas, and I am a buddha already become. If one constantly maintains such faith, the categories of precepts are already fully complete.' The Avataṃsaka Sūtra states: 'Faith is the source of the Way and the mother of merit, nurturing all good roots, cutting through the net of doubts to emerge from the river of craving, and disclosing the unexcelled path of nirvāṇa.' Hence know that if you arouse faith, you will definitely internalize and obtain the precepts. Precepts are the vanguard of myriad practices and the foundation of the six perfections; just as in building a house one first solidifies its foundation, if there is no foundation and one fruitlessly frames it in empty space, it will never be accomplished. Precepts are the provisions for the Great Path, the raft for crossing the ocean; without precepts, the great sea of birth and death cannot be crossed. To adorn the Dharmakāya, take precepts as the necklace of jewels; to extinguish burning afflictions, take precepts as refreshing coolness. The Precept Sūtra states: 'Precepts are like the bright sun and moon, and also like jewel-strung necklaces; the multitude of bodhisattvas [as numerous as] dust motes through these attained true awakening.' Good people, you must believe that the pure bodhisattva precepts received are the root by which all buddhas of the ten directions and three periods accomplished the Way, and the model for the cultivation of all great bodhisattvas. A verse in the Precept Sūtra states: 'Like all the buddhas of the past, as well as those of the future, all the World-Honoured Ones of the present, jointly revere the precepts.' The Satyaka-nirgrantha Sūtra states: 'The Tathāgata's body of merit takes receiving the precepts as its root, and holding the precepts as its beginning.' It also states: 'If one does not hold the precepts, one cannot even obtain the body of a mangy jackal, much less the merit-body of the Dharma.' The Candrapradīpa-samādhi Sūtra states: 'Though one possesses physical strength and extensive learning, if one lacks pure precepts, one is like a beast; though dwelling in lowliness with little hearing or seeing, one who can uphold pure precepts is called a superior person.' The Avataṃsaka Sūtra states: 'Precepts are the root of unexcelled bodhi; one should completely uphold the pure precepts. If one can firmly maintain the pure precepts, this is praised by the Tathāgatas.' The Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: 'Wishing to see the buddha-nature and realize great nirvāṇa, one must with a profound mind cultivate and maintain the pure precepts.' The Brahmajāla Sūtra states: 'When sentient beings receive the buddha-precepts, they immediately enter the rank of the buddhas; if they do not receive these precepts, they are persons of heterodoxies and wrong views, beasts and blocks of wood—equal and without difference.' Hence know that for one who does not receive the bodhisattva precepts, even if one studies the Buddha's Dharma and practices diligently and bitterly for thousands of myriads of kalpas, one is merely called a sentient being; wishing to escape birth and death, wishing to break karmic hindrances, wishing to accomplish bodhi, wishing to realize the Buddhist fruition, there is ultimately no principle by which it can be obtained. For this reason, when kings in the Western Heavens ascend the throne and the hundred officials assume office, all first receive these bodhisattva precepts, because they wish to benefit the people of their realm. Good sirs, it is better to receive them and then violate them than not to receive them at all. Even if one violates them after receiving them, one is still a disciple of the Buddha; if one does not receive them, one is called a non-Buddhist. Therefore a sūtra states: 'Though the campaka flower withers, it still surpasses all other flowers; monks who break the precepts still surpass all non-Buddhists.' As for the great assembly present, all disciples of the Buddha, immeasurable sentient beings in the six paths suffer the torments of the three evil destinies and do not hear the Buddha's Dharma; even if they gain human rebirth, they may dwell in the borderlands, or encounter times of chaos, or be deluded by sounds and forms, or receive the retribution of foolishness, or cling to wrong views. The Buddha's Dharma is difficult to encounter; who would willingly believe and follow it? Today let us jointly celebrate that we recognize good and evil, know that there is a Dharma of precepts to receive, and know that there is a Pure Land to be born in—this may truly be called hard to meet in myriads of kalpas, encountered once in a thousand lifetimes! The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra states: 'The Buddha's Dharma is hard to meet, and the time is also hard to encounter; with deep past blessings, one is born to meet the Buddha's Dharma.' You all must reflect: impermanence is swift, birth and death are difficult to anticipate. Once life ends, the consciousness is without a master; wishing then to receive the Buddha's precepts, there will be no way to obtain them. Each of you should be vigorous and strive to seek them. Cast aside worldly conditions, observe the fasts, uphold the precepts, and be mindful of the Buddha; when the work is accomplished and the matter completed, you will surely transcend to the Pure Land of Peaceful Nurturance, each attaining longevity and receiving superior and wonderful bliss. However, there are many kinds of precepts: the five precepts and eight precepts are named 'nigh-dwelling liberation'; if one receives these precepts, one only obtains proximate retributions among humans and devas. The two hundred and fifty precepts of the Small Vehicle are called 'precepts of individual liberation'; if one receives these precepts, by upholding each single item one individually attains liberation. Yet, though one escapes the river of craving in birth and death, one only advances to the Small Vehicle arhat fruit, unable to realize the permanently abiding buddha-nature and broadly transform sentient beings. Now these three clusters of pure precepts of the bodhisattva, if one receives them, one's retribution will be the complete Buddhist fruition: boundless marks and characteristics, the three clarities and five eyes, the ten powers and fearlessnesses—not a single merit will fail to be complete. Right in this very body, in a single thought-moment up to the attainment of buddhahood, one is fully endowed with eight kinds of extraordinary merits. First is the extraordinary approach to the bodhimaṇḍa. You should know that one who receives the bodhisattva precepts is like the great roc bird lifting its wings to fly high, capable of reaching over a hundred and nine thousand li. When a bodhisattva arouses the mind to receive these great precepts, one can transcend the six destinies and the paths of the two vehicles, proceeding directly to unexcelled bodhi and sitting in the bodhimaṇḍa. Second is the extraordinary arousing of the mind. If a person in a single thought arousing the mind of great compassion and wisdom receives the bodhisattva precepts, this surpasses the realm of the two vehicles. Just as of old there was a novice walking in attendance upon an arhat: suddenly he aroused the bodhimind and sought to receive the bodhisattva precepts; that arhat in turn gave rise to respect, carried his robes and bowl for him, and yielded the road for him to walk. Third is the extraordinary field of merit. Supposing there were someone who made offerings to great arhats filling Jambudvīpa, it would not equal making offerings to one who has aroused the mind to receive the bodhisattva precepts, because the operation of that person's mind is vast. Fourth is the extraordinary efficacy. For one who receives the Small Vehicle precepts, it is like a firefly, capable only of illuminating oneself; for one who receives the bodhisattva precepts, it is like the midday sun, shining everywhere upon all things. Fifth is the extraordinary eradication of offenses. Let none of you doubt, fearing that you cannot firmly maintain the precepts and thus dare not receive them. A sūtra states: 'Violating them after receiving the precepts still surpasses non-Buddhists.' Those who do not receive the precepts hold non-Buddhist wrong views, sinking eternally into evil destinies without a time of emergence. A person who breaks the precepts, through the majestic power of the precepts, even if falling into the evil destinies, will suffer light offenses: if falling into hell, one will be a king in hell; if falling among animals, one will be a king among animals; if falling into the ranks of hungry ghosts, one will be a king among ghosts and spirits; if in the human realm, one will be a king among humans; if born in the heavens, one will be a king among devas—in every place of birth, one does not lose the royal rank. A sūtra states: 'One who violates is called a bodhisattva, because there are precepts to break. One who does not violate is called a non-Buddhist, because there are no precepts to break.' Sixth is the extraordinary gestation in the womb. When a person who has received the precepts is in the womb, they are constantly protected together by devas, dragons, and good spirits. Seventh is the extraordinary spiritual penetrations. A person who has received the precepts, through the power of maintaining the precepts, can churn the long river into ghee, transform the great earth into gold, transcend a thousand lifetimes in a single thought, and deliver countless multitudes within a single day. Eighth is the extraordinary karmic retribution. A person who has received the precepts is himself a bodhisattva, destined to be born in the ocean of the Lotus Treasury, receive the dharmatā-body, and once attaining the true and eternal, never retrogress. As extensively cited from the sūtras above to open the gate of practice for all disciples of the Buddha: may each person present on this seat today internalize and obtain the pure Dharma of the precepts, to serve forever as a ferry and a bridge, as the cause for seeing the Buddha, and as the karma for the Pure Land.