萬善同歸集 3.77

3.77

答：「若出家菩薩，無諸障閡，應純修善，直至菩提；如在家菩薩，事業所拘，未得純淨，傍興善道，以為對治。夫業難頓移，惡非全斷；漸積功德，以趣菩提。若更積惡不修，惡無有盡；須行善業，以奪惡因。《譬喻經》云：『昔有國王，出射獵還，過寺繞塔，為沙門作禮。群臣共笑之，王乃覺知，問群臣曰：「有金在釜，釜中湯沸，以手取金，可得不？」答曰：「不可得。」王言：「以冷水投中，可取得不？」臣白王言：「可得也。」王言：「我行王事，射獵所作如湯沸；燒香然燈繞塔，如持冷水投沸湯中。」』夫作王有善惡之行，何故但有惡無善乎？」

Answer: "A monastic bodhisattva has no obstructions and should purely cultivate good straight through to bodhi. But a lay bodhisattva is bound by worldly duties and cannot yet achieve pure perfection; beside [those duties], he initiates wholesome paths to serve as antidotes. Now, karma is difficult to remove all at once, and evil cannot be severed completely; one gradually accumulates merit in order to advance toward bodhi. If one were further to amass evil without cultivating [good], evil would have no end; one must practice wholesome deeds to overcome the causes of evil. The Avadāna Sūtra says: 'Formerly, there was a king who, returning from a hunt, passed by a monastery, circumambulated a stūpa, and bowed in reverence to the śramaṇas. His ministers laughed at him together. The king, noticing this, asked his ministers: "If there is gold in a cauldron and the soup in the cauldron is boiling, can one obtain the gold by reaching in with one's hand?" They replied: "It cannot be obtained." The king said: "If one pours cold water into it, can it be obtained?" The ministers addressed the king, saying: "It can be obtained." The king said: "When I engage in royal affairs, what I do in hunting is like boiling soup; burning incense, lighting lamps, and circumambulating the stūpa is like taking cold water and pouring it into the boiling soup."' Now, in ruling as a king there are both good and evil actions; why should there only be evil and no good?"