龍舒增廣淨土文 4.40

4.40

全持齊戒，又禮佛念佛、讀誦大乘經典解第一義，以此迴向願生西方，必上品上生。所謂齊者何哉？不食肉、不飲酒、不婬欲、不食五辛。所謂戒者何哉？殺生、偷盜、邪婬是為身三業，妄言、綺語、兩舌、惡口是為口四惡，貪欲、嗔恨、邪見是為意三業，總為十戒，能持而不犯，是為十善。若犯而不持，是為十惡。全持十戒，乃生天上。持前四戒，加以不飲酒，是為五戒。能持此五戒，常不失人身。若修淨土者，不在此限也。若全持十戒，加以如上文所言功德，固上品上生矣。若止持五戒而修淨土，亦不失中品上生或上品下生也。若又不能持五戒，豈可以不戒殺生乎？殺生為五戒之首，亦為十戒之首，亦為比丘五百五十戒之首，是不殺則為大善，殺則為大惡。故曰「凡欲殺生者，但將自己看，自身不可殺，物命無兩般。」所以不殺得長壽報，殺則短命報。蓋謂己欲其命長，物亦欲其命長。乃殺物命而欲己之命長，烏有是理？故殺生不可不戒也。凡殺生以資口腹，則口腹之欲何厭？放箸之後滋味已空，而殺業俱在。若殺生以待賓，賓則以平日不殺，人亦無可言者，況其罪已自當之。經云「來而獨自來，去而獨自去，輪迴獨自行，果報獨自受。」觀此則豈可為人而殺生也？若殺生以祭先祖，豈無素食清羞？孔子曰：「雖蔬食菜羹瓜，祭必齊如也。」如是，何有不可哉？若然香誦經，仗佛力以為薦拔，必遂超生。故皆不在殺生也。若止能持此不殺之一戒以修淨土，已不在下品生矣。

Completely maintaining the purification precepts, while also bowing to the Buddha, recollecting the Buddha, reading and chanting Mahāyāna scriptures, and understanding the primary truth, and dedicating this with the vow to be born in the West, one is certain to attain the highest level of the highest grade. What is meant by purification? Not eating meat, not drinking alcohol, not engaging in sexual misconduct, and not eating the five pungent roots. What is meant by precepts? Killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct are the three karmas of the body; false speech, frivolous speech, divisive speech, and harsh speech are the four evils of speech; covetousness, anger, and wrong views are the three karmas of the mind. In total these are the ten precepts; being able to uphold them without violation is the ten virtues. If one violates them and does not uphold them, these are the ten non-virtues. Completely upholding the ten precepts leads to birth in heaven. Upholding the first four precepts, adding abstinence from alcohol, constitutes the five precepts. Being able to uphold these five precepts ensures one does not lose a human body. For those cultivating the Pure Land, it is not limited to this. If one completely upholds the ten precepts, added to the merits spoken of above, one is certainly assured the highest level of the highest grade. If one only upholds the five precepts while cultivating the Pure Land, one still will not fail to attain the middle level of the highest grade or the lowest level of the highest grade. If, moreover, one cannot uphold the five precepts, how can one fail to refrain from killing? Refraining from killing is foremost among the five precepts, foremost among the ten precepts, and foremost among the five hundred and fifty precepts of a monk. Thus, not killing is great goodness, while killing is great evil. Therefore it is said: 'Whenever you wish to kill a living being, simply look at yourself: your own body must not be killed, and the lives of creatures are no different.' Therefore, not killing yields the retribution of long life, while killing yields the retribution of short life. This means that oneself desires a long life, and creatures also desire a long life. To kill the lives of creatures while desiring one's own life to be long—how could there be such a principle? Therefore killing living beings must be abstained from. Whenever one kills living beings to provide for the mouth and belly, when will the desires of the mouth and belly ever be satisfied? Once the chopsticks are set down, the flavor is already gone, yet the killing karma remains intact. If one kills living beings to entertain guests—if one customarily does not kill, guests will have nothing to say against it; moreover, the sin would be borne by oneself. The sūtra says: 'Alone one comes, alone one goes; alone one wanders through saṃsāra, alone one receives the retribution.' Looking at this, how could one kill living beings on behalf of others? If one kills living beings to make offerings to ancestors, could there be a lack of vegetarian dishes and pure delicacies? Confucius said: 'Even with coarse food, vegetable broth, and gourds, when offering sacrifice he necessarily displayed purification.' If so, what could be unacceptable about this? If one burns incense and recites sūtras, relying on the Buddha's power to deliver them, they are sure to achieve transcendent rebirth. Therefore, none of this depends on killing living beings. If one can only uphold this single precept of not killing to cultivate the Pure Land, one will already not be born in the lowest grade.