緇門警訓 1.34

1.34

Alas! The Great Dharma has declined, and we are ever farther from the sages. Although many put on the black robes, those who seek the Dao are exceedingly rare. They compete for fame and gain as their personal achievement, and regard the propagation [of the teaching] as child's play. This has caused the Dharma-gates to be seldom opened, and the net of the teaching to border on collapse. Truly we rely upon posterity to be able to shoulder this Dao. You must seek the Dharma with an open mind, and purify yourselves to rely upon your masters. In the near term, strive to establish yourselves and make your name renowned; in the long run, hope to transform from ordinary beings into sages. To illuminate the semblance Dharma, who is there but you? Therefore, you must cultivate the person, act on your words, and be as cautious at the end as at the beginning. Be diligent in your studies; be prudent in your conduct and retirement. Avoid evil companions as you would tigers and wolves; serve good friends as you would your parents. Serve your master with complete propriety; sacrifice your body for the sake of the Dharma. If you possess goodness, do not be proud; when faults arise, be sure to reform them swiftly. Guard benevolence and righteousness and be steadfast and immovable; when dwelling in poverty and low station, find joy so as to forget sorrow. Naturally you will turn away from misfortune and meet with good fortune. Why rely on physiognomy or fate-telling to flatteringly seek the date of prosperity, or pick auspicious days and select times merely to escape seasons of adversity and obstruction? How could this be the far-reaching discernment of a śramaṇa? It is truly nothing but the deluded sentiment of worldly men. It is proper to see worthies and think of equaling them; in the face of benevolence, yield not [even] to your master. Yearn for the pursuit of the Dharma on the Snow Mountains; emulate Sudhana's search for teachers. Fame and gain should not be enough to stir your minds; life and death should not be enough to trouble your thoughts. If your work succeeds and your affairs are accomplished, you will inevitably proceed from the near to the far. Without courting fame, your fame will naturally spread; without summoning the multitude, the multitude will naturally arrive. Wisdom will suffice to illuminate confusion; compassion will suffice to gather people. In obscurity, cultivate your own virtue; when successful, bring good to the whole world. Cause the true wind, having ceased, to blow anew; cause the torch of wisdom, having been extinguished, to blaze again. [Such a one] may be called a true great man! [Such a one] may be called an envoy of the Tathāgata! How can you allow yourselves to lodge in lecture halls, blending your traces with ordinary followers, having no qualms about what is vile and foul, and seeing nothing to revere in practice and understanding, until accumulated habit becomes second nature, destroying yourselves? Beginning by teaching admiration for the superior worthies, in the end one is seen sinking into the lowest evils. People like this are truly pitiable! The Book of Odes says: 'None lacks a beginning, but few can bring it to completion.' This is what it means! Can those of middling capacity and above not take warning? Moreover, the schools of vinaya and prajñā divide, and the Greater and Lesser [Vehicles] differ in their studies; yet all branch out from the Buddha's mind, and all intend the dharmadhātu as their common destination. But failing to comprehend the great way, each seizes upon what he clings to. Those who study the sūtras and treatises regard the study of vinaya as worthless; those who take the vinaya division as their lineage regard the sūtras and treatises as resting on nothing. Those who practice the Great Dharma extinguish the Hīnayāna; those who listen to the Hīnayāna despise the Great Dharma. Merely observing the biased praises of human teachers, they grasp onto them and engage in mutual disputes over right and wrong. How could they know that the Buddha's intention is ever harmoniously fused? If only one penetrates it, there is no seeing of 'this' and 'that'. One ought mutually to support and assist, jointly ripening the conditions of potential [beings]. It is like the myriad streams paying court [to the sovereign]; all without exception reach the sea. The hundred officials attending to their duties are all said to serve the king diligently. We have never seen someone preserve one stream while intending to block the myriad currents, or guard one office while wishing to abolish all other achievements. In origin, when the Dharmarāja bestowed his transformation, he took charge of the myriad sorts [of beings], and each had its proper office. The Lesser Vinaya is like the authority of rites and punishments; the Mahāyāna resembles the responsibility of weighing and balancing the balance. Managing merits is like administering water transport; composing and compiling is like handling the royal decrees. Just as in a state the hundred officials all perform their duties, so it is comparable to the myriad lineages of our teaching competing to expound. If one truly understands this purport, how could one cling to divergent extremes? You must measure your own abilities and spread [the teaching] according to your strength. If your nature is sharp, studying concurrently is best; if your understanding is shallow, specializing in a single gate is appropriate. If it is so, then although each spreads their own manner and way, together they achieve compassionate rescue; together they return to the ocean of concord, and together they sit on the couch of liberation. Being like this, one is truly a compass on a confused path, a wooden bell for the gate of teaching! Occupying the seat of a master, one will truly have no shameful defects; heading toward the fruit of Buddhahood, one will be determined without doubt. Do not boast of petty knowledge and opinions, erecting immense conceited pride, showing contempt for those who awakened first, and bewildering later students. Although it is said that listening and investigating cannot make up for faults and errors, my words may perhaps hit the mark. Give this your contemplation!