緇門警訓 4.60

4.60

損害生命名苦業。筋骨斯盡名苦緣。經云。食者從耕種鋤刈收治。颺簸窖藏運輦舂磨。炊爨蒸煮。聊設供給奉送。又種菜造牆溉灌田園。營為醬酢。計一鉢食出一鉢汗。汗在皮肉即是其血。一食功力出於作者一鉢之血。況復一生凡受幾食。始從耕種乃至入口。傷殺無數雜類小虫。是以佛戒日受一食支持性命。寄過一生。衣服者養蠶殺繭。取柔織絡染浣裁縫。眾緣調度無量辛苦。計上下衣資凡殺幾蠶。出幾氣力。蠶繭入湯受幾痛苦。是故佛教著糞掃衣。障弊陋質。冀得修道。房舍者。從起立牆壁穿坑掘地。傷殺土蟲。斫伐材木傷林樹蟲。造磚瓦時殺泥水蟲。放火陶治殺柴草虫。作人苦力施主費財。飲食眾緣勞損甚大。始成一房。是故行者依於塚樹草蓐自安。念食是苦節身而食。念衣殺命著糞掃衣。念房舍臥具從苦緣生。志樂頭陀三月一移。念四事難消少欲知足。經云。受檀越食如饑饉世食子肉想。受施主衣如熱鐵纏身。入房舍時如入鐵鑊。受床座時如熱鐵床。寧破此身猶如微塵。不以破戒之身受人供給。三塗苦報皆為愛衣貪食樂好房舍。若破戒因緣還償施主。或作奴婢鞭打驅策。或受畜生形披毛帶角。生償筋骨死還皮肉。負重力盡起而復倒。虛受信施樂不足言。及償施主苦過萬倍。是故教汝知慚知愧。慎護後世莫破戒受施。名為淨心。

Harming and destroying life is called painful karma; exhausting sinews and bones is called painful conditions. A sūtra says: 'Food comes from plowing, sowing, hoeing, reaping, harvesting, winnowing, sifting, cellaring, storing, carting, carrying, pounding, grinding, stoking, boiling, and steaming, in order briefly to provide, supply, present, and offer it. Furthermore, planting vegetables, building walls, irrigating fields and gardens, and making bean paste and vinegar—reckon that for a single bowl of food, a single bowl of sweat is shed. The sweat in the skin and flesh is indeed their blood. The effort and labor for a single meal comes from a bowlful of the maker's blood. How much more so over an entire lifetime—how many meals does one ordinarily receive? From the initial plowing and sowing down to entering the mouth, countless varied small insects are injured and killed.' Therefore, the Buddha's precept is to receive one meal a day to sustain life, passing through a lifetime as a temporary guest. As for clothing: raising silkworms kills cocoons; taking the soft thread, weaving, knotting, dyeing, washing, cutting, and sewing require myriad conditions and management with immeasurable toil and hardship. Reckon how many silkworms in total are killed and how much energy and strength are expended for upper and lower garments and provisions; how much pain and suffering do the silkworms and cocoons endure when put into boiling water? Therefore, the Buddha taught wearing rag-robes to cover one's ugly and shabby form, in hopes of cultivating the Way. As for dwellings: from erecting walls, digging pits, and excavating the ground, earthen worms are injured and killed; felling timber harms the insects of the forests and trees; when making bricks and tiles, water-and-mud insects are killed; lighting fires to fire the kilns kills the insects of the firewood and grass. The laborers toil and the donors expend their wealth; the various conditions of food and drink bring immense exhaustion and depletion before a single room is completed. Therefore, practitioners rely on graveyards, trees, and grass mats to keep themselves at peace. Reflecting that food is suffering, they discipline their bodies when eating. Reflecting that clothing kills life, they wear rag-robes. Reflecting that dwellings and bedding arise from painful conditions, their aspirations delight in dhūta practices, moving once every three months. Reflecting that the four requisites are difficult to digest, they have few desires and are content. A sūtra says: 'Receiving food from a dānapati is like thinking of eating the flesh of one's own child in a time of famine. Receiving clothing from a donor is like wrapping oneself in red-hot iron. Entering a dwelling is like entering an iron cauldron. Receiving a bed and seat is like a red-hot iron bed. Better to crush this body like fine dust than to receive the provisions of others with a precept-broken body.' The painful retributions in the three paths are all due to craving clothing, coveting food, and delighting in fine dwellings. If due to causes and conditions of breaking precepts one must repay the donors, one will either become a slave beaten and driven by whips, or take the form of an animal wearing fur and bearing horns, repaying with sinews and bones in life and returning skin and flesh at death, bearing heavy loads until strength is spent, rising and collapsing repeatedly. The vain reception of offerings from donors yields pleasure not worth mentioning, while the suffering of repaying the donors exceeds it ten-thousandfold. Therefore, I instruct you to feel shame and conscience, be prudent in guarding your future lifetimes, and do not break precepts while receiving offerings. This is called the purified mind.