龍舒增廣淨土文 4.40

4.40

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.