[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [廬山蓮宗寶鑑](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973) › 6.26 # 廬山蓮宗寶鑑 6.26 廬山蓮宗寶鑑 6.26 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6.26) 佛言「自未得度，先欲度人者，菩薩發心；自覺已圓，復覺他者，如來應世。」故我蓮宗祖師，剏立念佛一門，行解相應、自利利人，化物有方、誨人存理，稱曰導師，專以念佛三昧示導於人，普令超出世間也。是故教傳天下，人皆仰焉。今之為師者，不達其道、局于名相，多集徒眾、不修實行，空有人師之名、無法可師於人，欲人恭敬尊重。無德受人恭敬，誠可恥也。經云「凡欲度人者，先須求自度。」《維摩》云「自疾不能救，云何救他疾？」又《地獄報應經》云「自不清淨，教人清淨，無有是處。」《智度論》云「譬如二人，各有親屬為水所溺，一人情急直入水救，為無方便，彼此俱沒。一人有其方便，往取船栰乘之救接，悉皆度脫水溺之難。」是故為人師者，有度人之心、無度人之智，何得端然拱手、空腹高心，不肯親近明師，惟知倨傲受人禮拜恭敬供養。因貪虛譽，實種禍基。譬如凡夫妄號帝王，自取誅滅。即前之所謂無方便而救人也，豈何妄為哉？大凡為人之師欲度弟子，要當觀照從上佛祖修行之因地、得道之源流、傳宗之正印、念佛之法門，一一攷究明白自信自行，一一修持一一成就，既自利己然後利人，是乘彌陀之大願力船，救接苦海中之沈溺也，彼此利濟不亦宜乎。是謂以先覺覺後覺也。自信此法門，亦教人信此法門；自行此道，亦教人行此道；自願往生淨土，亦教人發願往生淨土；自見本性彌陀，亦教人見本性彌陀。如此用心，豈不是行菩薩之行也。師徒弟子各稟正因同行正道，展轉化度盡未來際一切眾生，俱悟佛乘同出生死，其功德力豈易量哉？以此為人之師，亦何慊焉。其或不然，迷悟兩途、正邪異報。可謂金毛窟裏生獅子，野狐巖下出狐狸。 > The Buddha said: "Not having been delivered oneself, yet first desiring to deliver others, is the aspiration of a bodhisattva; having already perfected self-awakening, then awakening others, is the Tathāgata's responding to the world." Therefore, our ancestral master of the Lotus School established the single gate of buddhānusmṛti, matching practice and understanding, benefiting oneself and benefiting others, possessing methods to transform beings and retaining principle in instructing people. He was called a Guide, dedicated to demonstrating and guiding people through the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, universally causing them to transcend the world. Therefore, the teaching spread throughout the world, and all people looked up to it. > Teachers of today do not comprehend its Way and are confined to names and marks. They gather many disciples but do not cultivate real practice; they bear the name of a teacher of humans in vain, having no Dharma to teach people, yet they desire people to respect and revere them. Lacking virtue while receiving people's respect is truly shameful. A sūtra says: "Whoever wishes to deliver others must first seek to deliver themselves." The Vimalakīrti\[-sūtra\] says: "If one cannot cure one's own illness, how can one cure the illness of others?" Furthermore, the Hell Retribution Sūtra says: "If one is not pure oneself and teaches others to be pure, there is no such possibility." The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "For example, suppose two people each have relatives drowning in water. One person, overcome with distress, enters the water directly to save them; because he lacks skillful means, both drown together. The other person possesses skillful means: he goes and gets a boat or raft, boards it to rescue and pick them up, and all are delivered from the peril of drowning." Therefore, if one who is a teacher of others has the mind to deliver people but lacks the wisdom to deliver people, how can they sit upright with folded hands, with an empty belly and a haughty mind, unwilling to draw near to an enlightened master, knowing only to arrogantly receive people's prostrations, respect, and offerings? Because they crave empty reputation, they truly plant the foundation of disaster. It is like an ordinary man falsely styling himself an emperor and bringing destruction upon himself. This is what was referred to earlier as rescuing people without skillful means; how could one act so recklessly? > In general, for one who is a teacher of others wishing to deliver disciples, one must contemplate the causal stage of cultivation of the buddhas and patriarchs from of old, the source and flow of their attainment of the Way, the authentic seal of the transmission of the lineage, and the Dharma gate of buddhānusmṛti. Investigating each one clearly, personally believing and personally practicing, cultivating each one and perfecting each one, first benefiting oneself and then benefiting others—this is boarding the boat of Amitābha's great vow-power to rescue and receive those drowning in the sea of suffering; is it not fitting that both should be benefited and saved? This is what is called awakening later-awakened ones by means of those who awakened first. Personally believing in this Dharma gate, one also teaches people to believe in this Dharma gate; personally practicing this Way, one also teaches people to practice this Way; personally vowing to be reborn in the Pure Land, one also teaches people to make vows to be reborn in the Pure Land; personally seeing the Amitābha of one's fundamental nature, one also teaches people to see the Amitābha of their fundamental nature. Applying the mind in this way, is this not performing the practice of a bodhisattva? > Master and disciples each receive the correct cause and together practice the correct path, progressively transforming and delivering all living beings to the utmost limits of the future, all awakening to the Buddha vehicle and together escaping birth and death. How could the power of their merit be easily measured? Functioning as a teacher of others in this way, what dissatisfaction could there be? If it is not so, delusion and awakening are two different paths, and the retributions of the correct and the heterodox differ. One might say: inside the cave of the golden-haired one, a lion is born; beneath the wild fox's crag, a fox emerges. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 6.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6.25) - [Next: 6.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6.27) - [Up: 6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973~en-mt.6.26) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [龍舒增廣淨土文](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1970.10.30) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1973.6.26) · Pramāṇa