緇門警訓 2.22

2.22

With respect I address my disciples and others: Pravrajyā to cultivate the Way is supremely grave and supremely difficult; you must not make light of yourselves, nor take it lightly. What is called 'grave' is to bear the Way and wear virtue, to encompass benevolence and shoulder righteousness, and to uphold the pure precepts until death brings an end. What is called 'difficult' is to cut off the world and leave mundane life, to sever kin and affection forever, to transform sentiment and alter nature so as to be unlike the multitude, to practice what people cannot practice, to abandon what people cannot abandon, and to endure hardship, suffer humiliation, and cast aside life and limb. Because of these difficulties, one is called a person of the Way. A person of the Way (daoren) is one who guides others (daoren). One's conduct must be treadable; one's speech must serve as a model. Donning robes and leaving household life, every movement must serve as a standard. Be neither greedy nor contentious, neither slanderous nor secretive. Let learning be elevated and far-reaching, and let the will rest in profound stillness. Thus one's name and fame will participate in the rank of the Three Honored Ones; one surpasses the worthy and enters the realm of the sagely, purifying the essential spirit. Therefore, rulers do not expect their recompense, and parents do not rely on their labor. None under the broad heavens does not take refuge in them, reducing wives' rations and curtailing sustenance to offer food and clothing, bending down and looking up without shrinking from toil or harboring resentment—this is because their aspiring conduct is pure and immaculate, communicating with the divine; tranquil, empty, and luminous, they are rare and venerable. Since these chaotic times have descended, the Way and Dharma have consequently declined. Novice practitioners do not comprehend the standards; clinging to the deviant, they abandon the upright and forget their reality. They take petty cunning for wisdom and slight deference for sufficiency. Satiated with food all day long, they employ their minds on nothing. Turning back to examine this, it is truly lamentable. Considering those who have undergone pravrajyā nowadays, some have done so for years, yet they do not comprehend the scriptural studies and cannot resolve the texts. In vain they squander a lifetime, accomplishing no reputation. Regarding such matters, can one not reflect deeply? The limit of impermanence is either morning or evening; the painful sufferings of the three paths make no distinction between strong and weak. Because the righteousness between teacher and disciple is profound, I therefore declare this, that it may serve as an everlasting admonition for all sentient beings.