[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) › [寶王三昧念佛直指](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974) › 2.3 # 寶王三昧念佛直指 2.3 寶王三昧念佛直指 2.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2.3) 相國裴公美休甞著《圓覺經疏序》，其略曰：夫血氣之屬必有知，凡有知者必同體，所謂真淨明妙、虛徹靈通，卓然而獨存者也。以是觀之，則知蜎飛蠕動至微之物，及彼大身師象巴蛇之類，與十方佛圓覺妙心，虛徹靈通同一真淨，奚可分優劣乎？生佛既同，人雖至靈，豈不亦與彼等同一體性，共稟四大五行之質。同生天地之間，如虛鼠危燕之類，上應乾象、肖乎日月，反能司人災福，焉得不及人也？此理既明，乃知人與物類性均天倫。彼既無別，豈可逞我一時之強暴，乘彼之微弱而盜行殺戮哉？又彼所以異於人者，但因無始妄想極重惡業所牽，故不覺不知改頭換面異類受形耳，非謂心體有異也。體既無異，又與彼類俱在生死，云何析其皮骨、潰其血肉腸胃肝膽，或稱量買賣、煎煮百端，咀嚼其軀、恣取甘美，於一時間飫我貪饕、適我口腹，曾不顧懼未來惡道長劫之痛。可謂失之甚也。人雖或謂優彼，但業對未至耳，豈真優於彼哉？況彼類中，有報盡當為人者、為天者，有聖人諸佛菩薩示同其類者，我障不識，奚可殺彼所極愛重之身命，資我片時之口欲？忽爾人業報盡，反有不及彼者，奚謂彼類是我食啖而定不及我乎？又況我身昔同彼類、彼類同我，於類類中亦曾互為父母兄弟妻子姊妹諸親眷屬，形體變流、心亦迷沒，不復相識、妄謂彼劣。今殺食之，即殺我父母先親眷愛。又我身不離四大，亦殺自己四大故身也。又佛言：一切眾生皆有佛性。以未來必成佛故，尚當供養給侍如父母想，奚忍殺之？若殺之，是亦殺未來佛也。可不懼乎？嗟今傷殺之人不識先因，為親之時於逆境中多生違逆，從親起冤、從冤結恨，冤恨連讎世世不失，於是相生相殺展轉不已，如彼海潮盈虧往來不能自止。審彼約己，可不痛傷？故《梵網經》中既禁自殺，乃至教他、方便讚歎、誓呪等教，及因緣法業，皆制令永斷。此佛誠教誡也。我若不止相吞食者，則必令彼佃獵漁捕惡求之人展轉滋多，使水陸空行一切眾生藏竄無地。纔入其手，毛羽鱗甲一時傷毀，哀聲未絕便供食啖，或易他物以養吾體。豈知一切物類怕死貪生之心本與我同，若能知是先親，同斷殺業，亦能全乎孝道。經云：孝名為戒。即戒殺為孝也。且彼物類性具先知，避不擇時、逃不擇處，況復天地寬闊，亦有自養之處，今故不能自生，而兩恰相值必入人之手者，蓋以先因不可逃耳。先因既不可逃，今因自當深思痛戒。倘或不戒，則彼此殺害之業必如前牽入其類，亦安可逃耶？經云：假使百千劫，所作業不亡，因緣會遇時，果報還自受。豈虛語也？故我世尊滿淨覺者現相人中，於諸法會以此戒殺之訓，叮嚀告誡非不再三。且以此戒列於諸乘之首，於梵行中非不嚴切。又復示現琉璃大王盡殺釋種，佛亦頭痛，及金鎗之報垂誡於世，欲使人知因果難逃而同止其殺也。可不信乎？或謂佛必無此而為物示此者，則聖人有誑人之過。佛既無過，此奚不實？此既是實，佛自尚爾，何況於人，故知報償之理如影隨形。又如世人平生友善，但或一言之忤、一物之負尚結冤至死，況加以白刃恣食其肉，可忘深恨乎？且彼世典亦有不合圍、不揜群，釣而不綱、戈不射宿，及聞其聲不忍食肉之訓，正與吾佛三藏漸教計食三種淨肉之說頗同。雖不如大乘方等盡止殺業，亦止殺之漸也。止殺之漸尚有至德及禽獸之譽，何況口悉素餐，身必麻襦，意專慈忍不暴一物，使各遂其生，豈不德化無邊可稱譽也。且古聖尚不肯暴露枯骨，枯骨無知，心猶不忍而葬之，何況有命血肉同靈之物乃可殺食耶？老子曰：馳騁田獵令人心發狂。又曰：射飛逐走，發蟄驚巢。縱暴殺傷、非理烹宰，乃至行住坐臥舉動施為所傷殺物，其於天地空中必有司命，欽承上帝好生之德，隨其輕重悉筆記之毫髮無失，使彼生則減紀、招不如意，死則墮獄備受眾若，所有刀山劍樹、斬剉煎煮、抽腸拔肺、剝皮啖肉、切骨削髓、繳首挑眼、焚脚燒手，諸大地獄靡不經歷，拂石塵沙無可喻其壽命。縱彼大獄之報有盡，於百千劫復墮餓鬼，於如是劫又墮畜生，於畜生中必殺一酬一。殺心若重，或殺一報之千萬乃至無盡，方與相殺之人如前相值，或殺或食，以償宿債錙銖無差。如其先有微善得生人中，尚世世貧窮孤苦、多病短命、癲癎失志、盲聾瘖瘂、疥癲癰疽、膿血諸衰，百千等苦以自莊嚴，眾怨境界畢集其身，親族棄捨不可堪忍。此皆殺業既深，故受如是極苦也。是以梓童帝君有化書戒殺之篇。書經亦云：作惡降之百殃。不其然乎。又況異類亦有仁心，理不可殺。羔羊跪乳、慈鳥返哺，有行孝之禮。胡犬護主、獬豸不屈，有忠直之能。蜂蟻君臣、鴛鴦夫婦、雁行兄弟、嚶鳴友朋。觀彼群生，與人何異？人雖至靈，反不能推同體之慈以及含識，更殺彼命以養一己，可謂靈乎？可謂仁乎？又如陸亘大夫問南泉云：弟子食肉是？不食是？泉云：食是大夫祿，不食是大夫福。義亦可了。縱彼世俗延會賓客及行時祭之禮，豈無蘋藻瓜果庶羞可薦之儀，得全齋戒之道也。譬如經說，昔有屠殺之子欲求出家。因不肯殺，其父以刀及羊并子共閉密室。諸若不殺羊，當殺於汝。其子因即自殺。緣是功德便生天上，於多劫中受天快樂。是知不殺之人既生善處，必善其身，世世得長壽之報，又能以德遠及子孫世代矣。然今佛法欲滅，如一絲繫於九鼎，多有為佛弟子不能體佛慈悲，飲啖自若，見素食人反謗為小乘為魔頭，甚至比為牛羊為鵝豕，或謂其心太毒及百般綺語訐露其過。此等惡人，雖天神見而怒之謂若啖人羅剎，其如世人得彼類已反謂之條直也。嗚呼！此佛法將滅之兆，不可不知。夫子產於魚，尚發得其所哉之歎；齊王不忍，乃稱無傷仁術之言。戴記殺獸有不孝之談，書生救蟻中甲科之選。當知殺與不殺，損益昭然。況我釋氏四眾，乃可行此殺業乎？《楞嚴》云：以人食羊，羊死為人、人死為羊。汝償我命，我償汝債。以是因緣，經百千劫常在生死。又云：生生死死，互來相啖，惡業俱生，窮未來際。《法華》云：佃獵漁捕，為利殺害、販肉自活之人，皆勿親近。又有偈云：若欲殺生者，應作自身觀，自身不可殺，物命無兩般。此等誠訓寧不昭然？或有邪見之人，謂彼眾生俱妄生妄死，罪福本空，殺之無報者。則何不道我等亦妄求妄食，舌味本空，食之無益也。是以既有貪心，豈無報境？若云此類不食何用，則蜈公蛇虺皆無用者，可食之乎？以上所述乃是審己例彼，平等不殺，仁人各行之道。若我出家之子欲修念佛三昧，正欲清淨三業、解冤釋結、生於淨土，豈可不斷殺食，於臨終時而自障乎？大藏經中廣有教旨，諸佛一音始終不二，三教聖訓莫不皆然，片紙之中豈能備引。但願法界眾生聞斯義趣，體道好生，同躋仁壽、俱盡天年，免諸冤結。更能如法化人，充聖人慈濟之道，使彼已悉證慈心，必同造於蓮華之域成正覺矣。 > The Prime Minister, Lord Pei Meixiu, once composed the 'Preface to the Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment', which states in brief: 'Whatever possesses blood and breath must have awareness, and all that have awareness must be of one substance—the so-called truly pure, luminous, and marvelous, emptily pervasive and spiritually cognizant, towering and solely abiding.' Viewed from this perspective, we know that the most minute creatures that fly and wriggle, as well as those of large bodies such as lions, elephants, and giant serpents, together with the marvelous mind of perfect enlightenment of the Buddhas of the ten directions, are emptily pervasive, spiritually cognizant, and of identical true purity—how could any distinction of superior and inferior be made? Since sentient beings and Buddhas are identical, although humans are supremely spiritual, are they not also of identical substance and nature with them, jointly endowed with the physical substance of the four elements and the five phases? Being born together between heaven and earth, creatures such as the rat of Xu and the swallow of Wei correspond above to celestial patterns and resemble the sun and moon; they can conversely govern humans' disasters and blessings—how could they fail to equal human beings? Once this principle is understood, one knows that humans and animal species are equal in nature and heavenly fellowship. Since they are without difference, how can one indulge one's fleeting violence, take advantage of their slightness and weakness, and stealthily carry out slaughter? Furthermore, the reason they differ from humans is merely that they are pulled by the extremely heavy evil karma of beginningless delusion, and thus, unawares and unawares, change their heads and alter their faces, receiving physical forms as diverse species; it is not that their mental substance is different. Since the substance is not different, and we dwell together with those species in birth and death, how can one flay their skin and bones, rend their flesh and blood, intestines, stomach, liver, and gall, or weigh and trade them, boil and fry them in a hundred ways, chew their bodies, indulging in their sweetness, merely to sate our greed for an instant and gratify our mouths and bellies, never fearing the pain of long kalpas in the future evil destinies? This may be called an extreme failure. Although humans may claim to be superior to them, it is only that the confrontation with karma has not yet arrived—are they truly superior to them? Furthermore, among those species, there are those whose retributions are ending and who will become humans or devas, and there are sages, Buddhas, and bodhisattvas who manifest as their kind. Blinded by our obstructions, we do not recognise them; how can we kill the bodies and lives they hold most dear and precious merely to gratify our momentary appetite? When suddenly our human karmic retribution ends, we may instead fall inferior to them; why claim that those species are our food and must definitely be inferior to us? Moreover, our own bodies were once the same as those species, and those species were the same as us; throughout the various species, we have mutually been fathers, mothers, brothers, wives, children, sisters, and all kinds of kin. As our physical forms shifted and flowed, our minds also became deluded and submerged, no longer recognising one another, falsely deeming them inferior. Killing and eating them now is killing our parents and former cherished relatives. Furthermore, our body is not separate from the four elements, so it is also killing our own former body of the four elements. Moreover, the Buddha said: 'All sentient beings possess the buddha-nature.' Because they are bound to become Buddhas in the future, we should still make offerings and attend upon them with the thought of them as parents; how can we bear to kill them? If one kills them, this is also killing a future Buddha. How could one not be terrified? Alas! Those who kill and harm today do not understand past causes. When they were relatives, in adversity they often generated antagonism; from kinship arose enmity, and from enmity hatred was forged. Enmity and hatred connected feud to feud, never lost from lifetime to lifetime, so that they give birth to each other and kill each other in turn without end, like the ocean tides that wax and wane, coming and going, unable to cease of themselves. Reflecting upon them and examining oneself, how could one not be deeply grieved? Therefore, in the Fanwang jing, not only is killing oneself prohibited, but even instructing others, expedient praise, vows, curses, and other teachings, as well as the causes, conditions, methods, and karmas \[of killing\], are all commanded to be severed forever. These are the Buddha's sincere admonitions. If we do not cease devouring one another, we will surely cause those wicked seekers—farmers, hunters, fishers, and trappers—to multiply more and more, leaving all sentient beings moving on water, land, and in the air nowhere to hide. As soon as they fall into their hands, their fur, feathers, scales, and shells are instantly damaged and destroyed; before their mournful cries have ceased, they are served as food, or traded for other things to nourish our bodies. How do they not know that the mind of all creatures fearing death and clinging to life is originally identical to our own? If one can recognise them as past relatives and jointly sever the karma of killing, one will also be able to fulfill the way of filial piety. The sutra says: 'Filial piety is named precept.' Thus, refraining from killing is filial piety. Furthermore, those creatures possess an innate foreknowledge; in seeking escape, they choose no time, and in fleeing, they choose no place. Moreover, heaven and earth are vast, and there are places where they could sustain themselves. That they now cannot preserve their lives and happen to encounter humans and must fall into human hands is because past causes cannot be escaped. Since past causes cannot be escaped, one should deeply contemplate and bitterly abstain from present causes. If one fails to abstain, the karma of mutual killing and harm will surely drag one into their species as before; how could one escape it? The sutra says: 'Even after hundreds of thousands of kalpas, the karma created does not perish; when conditions and causes converge, the retribution is received by oneself.' How could these be empty words? Therefore, our World-Honoured One, the fully Pure Awakened One, manifested his form among humans, and in various Dharma assemblies repeatedly and earnestly gave this admonition against killing, not merely two or three times. Moreover, he placed this precept at the head of all vehicles, and within the pure conduct (brahmacarya) it is exceedingly strict. Furthermore, he manifested the great King Virūḍhaka exterminating the Śākya clan, where the Buddha also suffered a headache, as well as the retribution of the golden spear, bequeathing warnings to the world so that people would know that cause and effect are inescapable and would jointly cease killing. How could one not believe it? If some say that the Buddha certainly did not have such things and merely manifested them for the sake of beings, then the sage would be guilty of deceiving people. Since the Buddha is without fault, how could this not be real? Since this is real, if even the Buddha was subject to it, how much more so ordinary people? Thus we know that the principle of karmic retribution follows like a shadow following a form. Furthermore, consider ordinary people who are friendly throughout their lives: if there is but one contrary word or the offense of a single object, they still harbor resentment unto death; how much more so when the cold blade is applied and their flesh is freely devoured—can such deep hatred ever be forgotten? Moreover, even secular classics contain the admonitions not to encircle fully, not to catch the whole flock, to angle with a hook but not use a net, and not to shoot at roosting birds with arrows, as well as not bearing to eat meat after hearing its cries. These are quite similar to our Buddha's gradual teaching in the Tripiṭaka permitting the consumption of the three kinds of clean meat. Although not like the Mahāyāna Vaipulya teachings that entirely stop the karma of killing, they are nonetheless gradual steps toward stopping killing. Even gradual steps toward stopping killing received praise for 'supreme virtue reaching even birds and beasts'; how much more so if one eats entirely vegetarian food, wears hempen robes on one's body, and focuses one's mind purely on kindness and patience without harming a single thing, allowing each to fulfill its life—would not such virtuous transformation be boundless and praiseworthy? Furthermore, ancient sages would not leave even dry bones exposed; dry bones have no consciousness, yet out of an unbearable heart they buried them; how much less should creatures endowed with life, blood, flesh, and the same sentience be killed and eaten? Laozi said: 'Galloping and hunting make the human heart go mad.' It is also said: 'Shooting flying birds and chasing running beasts, digging up hibernating creatures and disturbing nests.' Giving rein to violent killing and injury, improper cooking and slaughtering, and even harming and killing creatures in walking, standing, sitting, lying, or any physical action—for these, between heaven, earth, and the empty sky, there must be the Arbiter of Destiny, who reverently executes the virtue of the Sovereign on High in loving life. In accordance with their gravity or lightness, he records them all with his brush without missing a hair's breadth, causing the perpetrators in life to have their lifespans curtailed and to encounter adversities, and after death to fall into hells to undergo manifold sufferings: all the mountains of knives and trees of swords, hacking and chopping, frying and boiling, drawing out intestines and pulling out lungs, flaying skin and eating flesh, cutting bones and scraping marrow, severing heads and gouging eyes, burning feet and roasting hands—there are none among the great hells they do not experience, their lifespans beyond comparison even by brushing a rock or the sands of dust. Even if the retribution in those great hells comes to an end, for hundreds of thousands of kalpas they again fall among the hungry ghosts, and for such kalpas they again fall among animals. Among animals, they must repay one death for each one killed. If the mind of killing was severe, for killing one they may repay thousands, tens of thousands, or even boundlessly, before finally encountering the person they killed as before, being either killed or eaten, to repay their past debts without the error of a grain or dram. If they previously had slight good deeds and managed to be born among humans, they will still be impoverished, orphaned, and wretched for lifetimes, afflicted with many illnesses and short-lived, epileptic and demented, blind, deaf, mute, suffering from scabies, leprosy, ulcers, carbuncles, pus, blood, and manifold declines, adorning themselves with hundreds of thousands of such sufferings, all kinds of hostile circumstances converging upon their bodies, abandoned by relatives, unbearable to endure. All these arise because their karma of killing was deep, hence they receive such extreme suffering. Therefore, the Imperial Lord of Zitong has a chapter on refraining from killing in his Huashu. The Book of Documents also states: 'Upon those who do evil, a hundred misfortunes descend.' Is this not indeed so? Moreover, diverse species also possess benevolent hearts, so in principle they must not be killed. The lamb kneels to nurse, and the filial bird returns to feed its parents; they have the propriety of practicing filial piety. The northern dog protects its master, and the xiezhi does not yield; they have the capacity for loyalty and uprightness. Bees and ants have ruler and minister; mandarin ducks have husband and wife; wild geese fly in fraternal order; birds chirp in harmonious friendship. Observing those multitudes of living beings, how do they differ from humans? Although humans are supremely spiritual, they conversely cannot extend the compassion of identical substance to sentient beings, and further kill their lives to nourish their own single self—can they be called spiritual? Can they be called benevolent? Furthermore, when Grand Master Lu Gen asked Nanquan: 'Is it right for this disciple to eat meat, or is it right not to eat meat?' Nanquan said: 'Eating is the Grand Master's salary; not eating is the Grand Master's blessing.' The meaning is also clear. Even when secular society hosts banquets for guests and conducts seasonal sacrificial rites, are there not duckweed, algae, melons, fruits, and assorted delicacies that can be offered in ritual, so that the way of fasting and precepts may be preserved intact? For example, as the sutra relates, formerly the son of a butcher sought to leave the household. Because he refused to kill, his father shut the son together with a knife and a sheep in a secret room, saying: 'If you do not kill the sheep, I will kill you.' The son thereupon killed himself. By virtue of this merit, he was immediately born in heaven, enjoying heavenly bliss for many kalpas. From this we know that those who do not kill, having been born in good realms, will surely preserve their bodies well, obtain the retribution of long life lifetime after lifetime, and furthermore their virtue will extend far to their descendants for generations. Yet now the Buddhadharma is about to perish, like a single thread holding nine bronze cauldrons. Many who are disciples of the Buddha cannot embody the Buddha's compassion; they drink and dine with utter indifference, and seeing vegetarian people, they instead slander them as Hīnayāna, as demon heads, and even compare them to cattle and sheep, geese and pigs, or claim that their hearts are too vicious, exposing their faults with a hundred varieties of flattering words. Although heavenly spirits gaze upon such wicked people with wrath, deeming them man-eating rākṣasas, how is it that worldly people, upon hearing their kind, instead call them forthright and upright? Alas! This is an omen that the Buddhadharma is about to perish, which one must not fail to recognise. Master Yan Zichan, regarding a fish, still uttered the sigh, 'It has found its place!'; King Xuan of Qi could not bear \[the slaughter of an ox\], which was called a 'technique of benevolence that does no harm.' The Record of Rites contains the discourse that killing beasts \[unseasonably\] is unfilial, and the scholar who saved ants was selected in the highest grade of the civil examinations. One should know that whether killing or not killing, the harm and benefit are crystal clear. How much less should the fourfold assembly of our Śākya lineage practice this karma of killing? The Śūraṅgama says: 'Because a human eats a sheep, when the sheep dies it becomes a human, and when the human dies he becomes a sheep. You repay my life, and I repay your debt. Due to these causes and conditions, through hundreds of thousands of kalpas they remain constantly in birth and death.' It also says: 'Life after life, death after death, they come mutually to devour each other; evil karma arises together, exhausting the limits of the future.' The Lotus Sutra says: 'Farmers, hunters, fishers, and trappers, those who kill and harm for profit, and those who sell meat to make a living—do not approach any of them.' There is also a verse: 'If one wishes to kill living beings, / one should contemplate one's own body: / one's own body must not be killed, / and the lives of creatures are no different.' Are not such sincere admonitions crystal clear? There may be people of perverse views who claim that those sentient beings are all falsely born and falsely die, that offenses and blessings are originally empty, and that killing them brings no retribution. Then why do they not say that we also falsely seek and falsely eat, that flavors on the tongue are originally empty, and that eating them brings no benefit? Therefore, since there is a greedy mind, how could there not be an environment of retribution? If one says, 'What is the use of these creatures if not eaten?', then centipedes, snakes, and vipers are all useless—can one eat them? What has been stated above is to examine oneself to compare with others, non-killing in equality, which is the path practiced respectively by benevolent persons. If we, sons who have left the household, wish to cultivate the buddha-mindfulness samādhi, precisely desiring to purify the three karmas, untie enmities and dissolve knots, and be born in the Pure Land, how could we not sever the killing and eating \[of flesh\], and thereby obstruct ourselves at the time of death? Throughout the Great Canon of Sutras there are extensive teachings; the Buddhas speak with one voice, from beginning to end without duality, and the sacred instructions of the three teachings are all alike in this—how could they be fully cited in a single sheet of paper? It is only hoped that sentient beings of the dharmadhātu, hearing these principles and import, will embody the Way and love life, ascend together to benevolence and longevity, fully live out their natural lifespans, and be free from all knots of enmity. Furthermore, if they can convert people in accord with the Dharma, fulfilling the sage's path of compassionate relief, causing both others and oneself to fully realise the compassionate mind, they will surely arrive together in the Lotus Realm and attain perfect awakening. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2.2) - [Next: 2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2.4) - [Up: 2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974~en-mt.2.3) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [首楞嚴義疏注經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1799.4.124) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1974.2.3) · Pramāṇa