寶王三昧念佛直指 2.5

2.5

惑者問曰：今聞念佛直指戒殺之說，可謂指體投機事理悉備，實善世利物之訓也。敢問：為只此殺業當極戒之？為兼盜婬妄等諸惡悉宜深戒之耶？若當悉戒，何以語之略也？答：噫！是何言也。子豈不聞經有具足眾戒之說，奚獨戒殺？但殺業最重，通於貴賤，人所難除，故於正行之首先令斷殺，庶可具乎眾戒，故語之詳耳，戒體豈有取捨哉？又若戒德不修，憑何立行？如器欲貯醍醐，先滌不淨。修三昧者亦復如是，必眾戒清淨乃可得成。縱其宿業深厚不能頓斷，當亦方便制抑，自勸自心、省身悔過，修四念處，了知世間樂少苦多，無常敗壞不久磨滅，一切諸法皆不清淨，如夢幻無我。設諸方便而使必斷，豈可隨妄念而失其宰？又戒德雖具，若不使身心澄定、息諸世間伎能雜術，乃至一切若善若惡能分念者設不屏去，何能一心修此三昧？三昧不一，往生何由，然今一切眾生無明業識遍周法界，苟起一念世心，便被如是等塵勞魔黨牽拽將去，全身陷沒、求出無期。譬如遊魚雖逸，一絲可繫，其害非不大也。心念尚爾，況身行哉？今既修此三昧，正欲如箭一心取的，不待此身報盡，跳出稠林、決生淨土，豈可失戒攀緣、志行因循，使三昧不成，更入惡道。可不痛傷？若果聞之不戒，則臨終無驗，莫謂佛力無感應也。

A confused person asked: "Now having heard the explanation of the direct pointing to buddha-mindfulness on abstaining from killing, it may indeed be said to point to the essence and accord with the capacity, complete in both phenomena and principle, truly a teaching that benefits the world and profits beings. May I venture to ask: is it only this karma of killing that should be strictly abstained from? Or should all other evils such as stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying likewise be profoundly abstained from? If all should be abstained from, why was the explanation brief?" / I answered: "Alas! What words are these? Have you not heard that the sūtras speak of being fully endowed with the multitude of precepts? Why would it only be abstaining from killing? It is only that the karma of killing is the heaviest, pervasive among both the noble and the lowly, and hard for people to eliminate. Therefore, at the very beginning of the primary practice, people are first made to cut off killing so that they may be endowed with the multitude of precepts; thus it was explained in detail. How could the essence of the precepts involve choosing some and discarding others? Furthermore, if the virtue of the precepts is not cultivated, upon what can practice be established? Just as when a vessel is to store clarified butter, one must first wash away its impurities. The cultivator of samādhi is also like this: only when the multitude of precepts are pure can it be achieved. Even if one's past karma is deep and heavy and cannot be cut off abruptly, one must still use skillful means to restrain it, exhorting one's own mind, examining oneself and repenting errors, cultivating the four applications of mindfulness, completely understanding that the world has little joy and much suffering, is impermanent and subject to decay, soon wearing away, and that all dharmas are impure, like dreams and illusions, devoid of self. One should devise various skillful means so as to surely cut it off; how could one follow deluded thoughts and lose one's mastery? Furthermore, even if the virtue of the precepts is complete, if one does not make body and mind tranquil and settled, ceaselessly put an end to worldly skills and miscellaneous arts, and cast aside all things, whether good or evil, that can divide one's thoughts, how can one single-mindedly cultivate this samādhi? If samādhi is not unified, by what means could rebirth occur? However, the beginningless karmic consciousness of all sentient beings now completely pervades the dharmadhātu; if even a single worldly thought arises, one is dragged away by such worldly afflictions and demonic hordes, one's entire body sinking down, with no hope of escape. For example, though a swimming fish is carefree, a single thread can bind it; its harm is not small. If it is so even with mental thoughts, how much more so with bodily actions? Now having cultivated this samādhi, one precisely desires to hit the target with a single mind like an arrow, not waiting for the exhaustion of this bodily retribution, leaping out of the dense forest and definitively attaining rebirth in the Pure Land. How could one lose the precepts and climb upon conditions, following habitual routine in intention and action, causing the samādhi to fail and entering the evil destinies once more? Could this not be deeply lamentable? If one indeed hears this and does not observe the precepts, then at the end of life there will be no verification; do not say that the Buddha's power lacks efficacy."