緇門警訓 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1

Preface on Host and Guest, by Vinaya Master Xuan of Mount Zhongnan

Indeed, sacrificing oneself to benefit others is the proper principle of the saṅgha; harming other beings to secure oneself is not the principle of a son of the Śākya. Possessing the capacity to reward good and penalize evil, one decides matters of right and wrong, fairness and unfairness. If one puts others first and oneself second, one accords with the compassionate mind of all Buddhas. If one acts on the premise of 'your death, my survival,' one violates the wondrous practice of the six harmonies. If a host preserves benevolence and righteousness, he will move the patched-robe monks of the ten directions to gather like clouds. But if he privately receives personal favors, he will invite ill fame that spreads over a thousand miles. If a guest harbors respect, maintains propriety, and possesses righteousness, he will find a peaceful resting place everywhere he goes. If he seeks improperly, schemes madly, and lacks righteousness, he will stir up enmity wherever he turns. Now, having had the good fortune to be born in a central land and to rely on the gate of emptiness, one has escaped the fire-pit of ten thousand fathoms and cast off the tangled nets of a thousand layers, like a prisoner leaving jail, or a bird whose cage is opened. Treading ground where gold was spread to accumulate good, and abiding in a land of the seven treasures free from calamity, one is reverently respected by devas and nāgas, and venerated by spirits and ghosts. Without silkworms, one wears fine clothing; without plowing the fields, one eats exquisite delicacies. Why then should one form enmities, covet profit unrighteously, scheme for wealth, and seek the hollow fame of a snail's horn, thereby closing the smooth road to the human and heavenly realms, or grasp the petty gains of a turtle's hair, digging a deep pit toward the hells, piling up grudges in this life and suffering torment in the life to come? Even if gold and jade fill the hall, they only bind and entangle one's own foolish body; even if silks and satins pack the chests, they merely stir up strife among heavy-karmic descendants. By seeking little and using frugally, one spares the field of the mind from pressure; by knowing contentment and eradicating greed, one spreads sweet fragrance across the ground of intention. Whether dwelling in a pure monastery or lodging in a cloud hall, do not discuss the wrongs of others, but only examine your own faults. If there are those of high talent, let them take the Tripiṭaka to investigate thoroughly; let those of shallower aspiration recite and chant the five vehicles. Above all, do not practice benevolence with the mouth while harboring blades and spears in the belly, nor wear a smile on the face while concealing swords and halberds in the heart. Do not fail to pity the poor, nor fail to feel compassion for the aged; do not forget the deep kindness of compassionate parents in rearing and nurturing you, nor violate the substantial virtue of masters and teachers in guiding and supporting you. Harboring intentions such as these causes the faith of dānapatis of the ten directions to retreat; grasping the false and remaining deluded about the true invites the ridicule and mockery of the worthy and talented across the four seas. Therefore, I offer earnest admonitions and thorough instructions: may those who hear them shatter the high mountain of arrogance, and those who peruse them dam the vast sea of stupor and confusion! All should receive them with faith, and I universally pray that all turn their minds around. It is only fitting that the next life surpasses this present life; do not let this present life surpass the next! I respectfully urge the great assembly to awaken to this swiftly: when the great limit draws near, regret will be too late.

5.3

Chan Master Yan of Dongshan Seeing Off a Disciple on Itinerant Pilgrimage

5.4

In general, on an itinerant pilgrimage one must take the mind for the Path as paramount. You must not receive ready-made offerings and idly pass the days. You must stick the two characters 'birth and death' upon your forehead, and throughout the twelve periods of every day tear off your face to demand a clear accounting before you are done. If you only follow the crowd, run in a pack, and spend your days causing a clamour, then when you suddenly die and Old Man Yama tallies your food money, do not say I never told you! If you are doing cultivation, you must constantly examine and moment by moment raise awareness: Where is there strength? Where is there no strength? Where has it been lost? Where has it not been lost? If you examine yourself and do your cultivation in this way, there will definitely come a time when you reach home. There is a class of practitioners who neither read the scriptures nor bow to the Buddha; no sooner do they step onto the meditation cushion than they doze off, and once awake they indulge in wild and random thoughts; no sooner do they step off the meditation cushion than they chatter idly with others. If you cultivate like this, even when Maitreya Buddha descends to be born, you will not yet have found a way in. You must vigorously summon your spirit, bring up the single word 'Mu', and confront it face to face day and night. You must not sit in the shell of doing nothing, nor may you sit dead upon the meditation cushion; you must handle it with vitality. If you fear that miscellaneous thoughts are arising in profusion, you must by no means confront them face to face; the more you battle them, the more they will multiply. There are people who, reaching this point, do not know when to advance or retreat, cannot untie and discharge them, and so become manic and mad, ruining their entire lives. You should gently let go right where the profusion arises, turn around, go down to the floor, take a walk around, and then get back on the meditation cushion. Open both eyes, clench both fists, straighten your spine, and as before raise the huatou you are inquiring into; you will immediately feel clear and cool, just like pouring a ladle of cold water into a pot of boiling soup. If you do your cultivation in this way, over months and years there will naturally come a time when you reach home. When the cultivation has not yet taken hold, you must not give rise to afflictions, lest the demon of afflictions enter your mind; if you feel you have gained strength, you must not give rise to joy, lest the demon of joy enter your mind. The various Chan illnesses are too numerous to recount. If there is a seasoned companion on the Path in the assembly, by all means ask for guidance at all times. If there is none, take the words of the former generations and ancestral masters teaching people how to do cultivation and read them through once, just as if meeting them in person. Nowadays, people who turn toward this Path are rare to find. Put forth all your effort! Moving forward, I hope you will quickly smash the lacquer bucket and return to scrub this old monk's back. The verse says:
When looking to the wind and parting the grass as you leave home,
Well protect the single thought along the road.
In recent days the flavour of the monasteries has become strange;
Wherever your feet lead, be on your guard.

5.5

Chan Master Shiwu Gong's Farewell to Attendant Qing Returning to His Native Place to Inquire after His Master

5.6

Your master is old at Zhongshan Monastery,
Morning and evening with no one to look after and attend to him.
Not returning to sweep and sprinkle, or hold the towel and pitcher—
Does this accord with the ritual propriety between master and disciple, or not?
Your mother is, moreover, advanced in years;
Besides you alone, there is no second child.
Looking out through the autumn wind, she has not seen you return;
Leaning on the gate day by day, her tears long flow down.
Leaving your master and abandoning your mother to enter the mountains,
What, after all, do your aims accomplish?
Being content with poverty and delighting in the Path is indeed difficult;
Dwelling in a thatched hut—how could it be easy?
One must plant bamboo and cultivate pines;
one must hoe the mountains and dig the earth;
One must carry water and haul firewood;
one must water the vegetables and irrigate the taros;
One must practice the Path and recite scriptures;
one must gather the mind and banish sleep.
Goosefoot broth and millet rice plug the wound of hunger;
Bland pickles and thin congee clear the bowels and stomach.
In human life all are busy for the sake of mouth and body;
I too cannot escape the burden of this physical frame.
If your own mind-ground is not yet illumined,
The karmic consciousness is vast and adrift, without a fundamental basis.
Passing through by waterside and under trees for a short while,
For neither me nor you is this a plan for long dwelling.
Upādhyāya Yuejiang has sent a letter,
Urging you to return home to inquire [after your kin] with deep meaning.
Opening the seal, before reading it, immediately withdraw your person;
Do not fail the incoming message, fulfilling both filial piety and righteousness.
There is a saying: 'Filial piety comes first among the hundred practices';
Be it among the laity or among the monastic saṅgha, who is not like this?
Attending to one's master and revering one's mother is called the field of respect;
What need is there to enter the assembly and practice Chan inquiry?
If suddenly you long for quiet and dislike clamour,
With a short walking stick it is fine to leisurely come and go.

5.7

Informal Instruction on the Binding of the Retreat

5.8

The style of the Buddhas and ancestors is about to fall to the ground;
Speaking of it makes one's heart and gall break to pieces.
Sustaining it rested entirely upon my descendants,
Yet unexpectedly the descendants were the first to commit corruptions.
In swarms they run north and rush south,
Obscuring the true cause to manage miscellaneous affairs.
Eyes filled with wind and dust, faces covered with grime,
Karmic consciousness is vast and adrift, without a fundamental basis.
Even though they lodge in the saṅgha hall,
Only when the wooden sounding board strikes do they return to their bedding places.
Huddling together in their quarters to stir up right and wrong,
Pulling up their feet on the cushion, they immediately doze off.
Dense clouds of ignorance gather, dimming the heaven of their nature;
Flint-sparks collide and burn, their minds boiling like a cauldron.
Temporarily still, they stagnate in light pliancy;
Completely darkened, they fall into the unrecorded state.
Unwilling to practice the Pure Rules of Baizhang,
They diligently expound the meanings of externalist scriptures.
Treating cause and effect as plain and ordinary,
With offense and blessing clearly evident, they are completely without fear.
Or they move to a single couch in a single room,
Negligence stemming wholly from body, speech, and mind.
The tiles above their heads, the bricks beneath their feet,
The robes on their bodies, the tastes in their mouths—
Each and every one comes from the gifts of families of faithful dānapatis.
If the work of the Path is not accomplished, how can they digest them?
Touching their hearts, how few know shame!
Today three, tomorrow four—
Time spent in idle places is entirely thrown away.
One day old age and sickness come to seek them out;
Old Man Yama presses with summons, and the tally of death arrives.
The karma created in the past is not forgotten;
From this they fall into the three wretched destinies and seven paths.
Once the kāṣāya is lost, it is difficult to regain;
Scales, shells, and feathers are easy to put on.
Look at those who studied the Path in ancient times:
They utterly forgot the human world, making light of fame and profit.
Boiling Solomon's seal, roasting purple taros,
A single ball of rice, a single vessel of water,
To remedy their withered bodies and barely maintain breath.
Though rocks rotted and pines withered, they were entirely oblivious;
Purifying the mind, they made plans for lifetimes to come.
Pure leisure beyond material things is of supreme flavour;
How could gold in the world be worthy of value?
In the field of the empty kalpa, Buddha-flowers bloom;
Fragrant wind breaks open the nose born of one's mother.
Graduating and returning from the field for selecting Buddhas,
One roams at will in the saṅghārāma of complete enlightenment.
Tonight, on the occasion of the binding of the retreat, during informal instruction,
Unawares, what I said became this verse.

5.9

Ascending the Hall

5.10

In the sixth and seventh months heaven sends no rain;
Farming families night and dawn are busy turning waterwheels.
The skin on their backs is scorched and cracked, the soles of their feet ache;
Their eyes blur and they have no strength, about to faint and die.
Bailiffs come again to press for summer taxes;
Once the tax silk is paid, they demand travel expenses.
Barley and wheat are paid to the utmost,
And three meals a day are not provided in full.
Consider us children who have undergone pravrajyā:
Enjoying ready-made provisions, we do not recognize it at all.
Advancing in the Path, body and mind do not have a single bit;
To the east we wander about, to the west we play.
Gathering three or five heads together,
As soon as we open our mouths we speak of the faults of others.
And when we return to the dark room,
Violating reason and betraying conscience, there is nothing we do not do.
Do not say you will fall among different kinds of beings;
In the next life you are certain to become an old farmer tilling the fields!
The suffering described before is just like this;
At that time it will be hard for it to be the same as today.
An ancient virtuous master had a saying to instruct disciples,
Which I bring up before the assembly of humans and devas:
'In the black-robed field, not a single basketful of effort;
In the Iron Enclosure, the suffering of a hundred punishments.'

5.11

Upādhyāya Zhongfeng's Bequeathed Admonition to His Disciples

5.12

In the Buddhadharma there is no place for you to understand; in birth and death there is no place for you to escape. A body of a single retribution is like a wind-blown lamp or sparks of flint; thought after thought is like saving your head when it is on fire. You still have no place where you have settled and completed it; what desperate urgency drives you to seek out so much bustling chaos on flat ground? In the blink of an eye, you are already forty or fifty years old! What do you call the Buddhadharma? Even if you, with your hundred and thousandfold cleverness, were from beginning to end to explain and annotate the teachings of the three vehicles and twelve divisions of scriptures, and down to the one thousand seven hundred cases of rotten old entanglements, as well as the hundred schools and various philosophers, so tightly that water could not leak through, it would all still be beating about outside the gate; when speaking you seem awakened, but facing objects you are still deluded. Regarding this matter, it has been said to you: there is no place for you to understand. The more you want to understand, the less you will correspond. Do not, upon hearing such speech, plan to produce some other intellectual understanding. Even if you have another path of vitality where thousands and tens of thousands cannot squeeze in, it still does not go beyond the delusive thought of wanting to understand. Only by possessing great roots of faith and truly investigating and actually awakening within your own person can you shoulder it. If you generate the thought of shouldering it, you still have no connection with it. Therefore, an ancient teaching states: 'Even if the entire world were full of beings like Śāriputra, exhausting their thoughts together to measure it, they could not fathom the Buddha's wisdom.' Nowadays there are people who pick up a piece of orange peel and consider it to be fire, everywhere engaging in loud and lofty talk to advocate their own school, saying, 'I understand the Buddhadharma,' wanting people to respect them—what advantage is gained from this? For thirty or forty years this illusory one has applied effort to this matter, shifting and turning, yet still does not correspond to the two words 'Buddhadharma'; this is why day and night I harbour shame, and how could I dare improperly occupy the master's seat? Usually, when encountering sweet words and generous gifts, it is no different from a poisonous arrow entering the heart; repeatedly trying to avoid them, it has proved impossible. This is caused by conditions and karma from many lifetimes, and is an illusion; fundamentally it is not brought about by the power of the Path. I often see people of the Path, when it is not essential, encounter some slight disagreeable matter, and with a spark of ignorance they indulge their karmic consciousness, acting with wild minds and toxic conduct, framing and trapping people on flat ground, calling it 'holding to public justice.' Little do they know that from beginningless kalpas, they have been bound by ignorance through such 'public justice,' and there has never been a single matter where by means of 'public justice' they met with the thought of the Path. Moreover, regarding the 'public justice' held today, do you know how many people behind your back do not even have time to cover their noses? In birth and death there is no place for you to escape. One's own great matter of birth and death adheres to the skin and connects to the bones, thought after thought without interruption. From beginningless kalpas, the hundreds and thousands of tricks have all been played out completely; it is only that this mind refuses to rest. In vain before thousands of Buddhas and myriads of ancestors you have repeatedly made heavy vows, dragging on until today, bumping into the three robes and being called a person of the Path. Yet, alas, you still do not break through the consciousness before your eyes; whenever you move, you produce thoughts and give rise to notions—is not all this nourishing the fetters of birth and death, forgetting the initial resolve of your pravrajyā? In such frantic agitation, lasting for thousands and myriads of births, in vain you lengthen the wheel of karma; what benefit is there in principle? Let me instruct you clearly: the fetters of sentient beings are thick and heavy; there is nothing you can do about them. If you have no strength, then in being among the assembly simply let go of your entire body, and in a half-room thatched hut, cool, indifferent, withered, and still, beg for food in patched robes, striving for the time being to liberate yourself, and also avoiding treading upon others' sprouts and crops and becoming a person without shame. Therefore know that in the Buddhadharma there is no place for you to understand, and in birth and death there is no place for you to escape. Since you cannot understand and cannot escape, just persevere and hold on right in the place where you cannot. Nor ask whether it takes thirty years or twenty years; if suddenly in the place where you cannot, you abruptly break through, only then will you believe that my words have not deceived you.

5.13

Admonition against Idleness

5.14

People in the world never fail to find joy in leisure and relaxation, and together they strive toward it. When I ask them for their reason in reverse, they say: "In the past, we were continually caught up in honour and disgrace, right and wrong, day after day rushing back and forth among affairs. Our minds and wills were fatigued, and our bodies were worn out, to the point that [these anxieties] tied themselves into our feelings and thoughts and joined in our dreams. Thinking quietly upon it, how much time is there in human life? Not finding a single day of peace, even with wealth and status, what benefit is there? From this, we abandoned everything, wishing to sing while walking, to sit in oblivion, and to gaze upon the blue sky and white clouds, so as to wander freely beyond the reach of external things." Or there are those who avoid the admonitions of fathers and teachers, abhor the toils of livelihood and circumstance, and dread making a living as if fleeing from flood or fire, insisting on severing themselves from the dust and distancing themselves from the mundane world to indulge in their leisure. I say: busyness indeed wears out the body and taxes one's thoughts; yet leisure merely wastes the daylight sitting idly by—how does that benefit the truth? Both are simply deluded emotions of craving and aversion. Therefore, the sage has the teaching that the two aspects of motion and stillness are clearly non-arising. There is precisely no need to abhor this busyness while craving that leisure. I shall speak plainly: if a person wishes to learn the way of entering the worldly sphere, if they do not attend to diligent toil, then whether an affair is noble or base, there is no way for it to succeed. However, if one realizes the falseness of the worldly sphere and wishes to investigate the transcendent path of the sages, if one does not forget to eat and forgo sleep, then whether one's faculties are sharp or dull, from what source could one attain it? Therefore, the Great Being of the Snowy Mountains sacrificed bodies and lives as numerous as specks of dust, and served kalyāṇamitras like the sands of the Gaṅgā, amassing kalpas down to the present through experiencing all kinds of hardships—all to show later students that the Way is not easily heard. Thus, entering the worldly sphere, one is loyal to the sovereign and filial to parents, fulfilling all duty; one cannot but be busy. Transcending the worldly sphere, one draws near to teachers and selects friends, inquiring in the morning and knocking [at their doors] in the evening to fulfill the Way; one also cannot but be busy. Having fulfilled duty and also fulfilled the Way, one will see that one's substance is unmoving like Mount Tai, and one's mind is unconditioned like great empty space—how could a single word "leisure" be mentioned in the same breath? Or if entering the world one cannot fulfill duty, and transcending the world one cannot fulfill the Way, solely striving to take peaceful leisure and undisturbed ease as one's business, refusing to submit to toil even for an instant—for this reason the sage rebuked such as "people without shame." How could any person of understanding bear to incur this lack of shame, and once more indulge in leisure within the realm of laxity? Therefore, I have written this as an admonition to those who cast themselves into leisure.

5.15

Chan Master Qianyan Chang's Instruction to the Assembly

5.16

Chan inquiry is first.
Upholding the precepts is second.
Cultivating merit is third.
Bowing and chanting is fourth.
Having become a son who has taken pravrajyā,
You must practice these four kinds of matters.
You must not indulge your mind;
You must not give rein to your intentions;
You must not make your body lazy;
You must not befuddle your wisdom.
Contemplate deeply suffering and pleasure;
Reflect acutely on birth and death.
Do not worry about clothing and food;
Do not crave fame and profit.
Be alert and clear throughout all hours;
Let your chest be wide open and unimpeded.
Let your walking and sitting conform to the pure regulations;
Let your motion and stillness rely on the former rules.
Always stay close to kalyāṇamitras;
Always stay away from evil companions.
If you can believe my words,
Attaining Buddhahood is extremely easy.
If you do not believe my words,
Your pravrajyā is merely in vain.
You are a commoner with a shaved head;
You are an assembly of asuras;
You are the sprouting shoots of the hells;
You are a herd of beasts.
Quickly take off your kāṣāya!
Quickly go out beyond the mountain gate!
Go be a layperson on your own;
Do not live together with me!

5.17

Chan Master Tianyi Huai in His Chamber Inquires of Students Concerning the Pure Land

5.18

"If one speaks of abandoning the defiled and grasping the pure, abhorring this and craving that, this is the sentiment of grasping and rejecting, the deluded thought of sentient beings. If one speaks of there being no Pure Land, this contradicts the words of the Buddha. How should one who cultivates the Pure Land practice?" The assembly was silent. He again answered himself, saying: "As for being born, one is definitely born; as for going, in reality one does not go." He also said: "For example, when a wild goose crosses the vast sky, its shadow sinks into the cold water. The goose has no intention of leaving behind a trace, and the water has no mind to retain the shadow."

5.19

Vinaya Master Dazhi's Admonition to Those Who Willingly Content Themselves with Ruin and Misery

5.20

Among those in the world who study the Buddha, at the beginning none fail to say that birth and death is the great matter. But when they are swayed by fame and profit and submerged in worldly conditions, the great matter of birth and death is set aside and not discussed. Or when questioned by others, they make evasive excuses and cannot decide for themselves. Some say: 'This need not be asked.' Some say: 'One need not know this.' Some say: 'When the tally arrives, just carry it out; do not make calculations.' Some say: 'Take birth anywhere; going out and coming in at will.' Some say: 'Just be born into a family that is neither high nor low, and regain a male body.' Some say: 'Hold fast your spirit; seeing signs of good and evil, you must not follow along.' Some tell people to wait in advance for the time; some teach seizing the skandhas at the verge of death. Some say: 'When the hundred bones collapse and scatter, one thing remains eternally numinous.' Some say: 'When the physical form disperses and the breath dissipates, one returns to quiescence and extinction.' Such various conjectures and confused delusions never depart from the two views of annihilationism and eternalism held by ordinary people and non-Buddhists. When the four great elements disintegrate and the suffering of sickness presses in, the conscious spirit will have no master and follow karma in saṃsāra—of this there is definitely no doubt. Even supposing that on a fixed day and at a precise hour one can sit and cast off or stand and transform, this can be achieved through worldly virtue, and is not yet enough to be considered extraordinary. This is because they have not seen the Sixteen Contemplations Sūtra, do not know the signs of birth in the nine grades, and do not believe in Amitābha's vow power, but instead stubbornly adhere to their own opinions and willingly content themselves with ruin and misery. How could one not grieve for them?

5.21

Chan Master Yongming Shou's Admonition that Those without Realization Should Not Slight the Pure Land

5.22

Question: "Simply seeing the nature and awakening to the Way, one transcends birth and death. What need is there to fasten one's mindfulness upon that Buddha and seek birth in another realm?" Answer: "A true practitioner should examine themselves: like a person drinking water, they know for themselves whether it is cold or warm. Now I set forth a mirror to shatter many confusions. You virtuous ones should observe: in your own practice of seeing the nature, awakening to the Way, receiving the vyākaraṇa from the Tathāgata, and inheriting the position of the patriarchs, can you match Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna? In attaining unimpeded eloquence and realizing the Lotus Samādhi, can you match Tiantai Zhizhe? In being thoroughly versed in both the lineage and the teachings, and cultivating both understanding and practice, can you match National Teacher Zhong? All these Great Beings clearly handed down verbal teachings and deeply urged rebirth [in the Pure Land]. This was to benefit themselves and benefit others; how could they be willing to mislead others and mislead themselves? What is more, the Great Hero praised it, and his golden mouth repeatedly enjoined it. I hope you will respectfully follow the former sages and reverently receive the Buddha's command; there will surely be no error. Moreover, as recorded in the Biographies of Rebirth, the deeds of eminent figures ancient and modern are clearly manifest and not few; one should diligently examine them to illuminate and know oneself. Furthermore, you should assess yourself: when your life is about to end, will you definitely attain freedom in going or staying through birth and death? Will the heavy obstructions of evil karma from beginningless time definitely not appear before you? Will this one retribution body definitely escape saṃsāra? Walking among the three evil destinies and different species, will you definitely be free of suffering and afflictions as you appear and disappear at will? Entrusting yourself as you wish across the heavens, the human realm, and the worlds of the ten directions, will you definitely have no hindrance? If you are clearly and thoroughly self-confident, what could be better? But if you are not yet so, do not, because of momentary haughtiness, end up sinking for eternal kalpas. Losing the good benefit through your own fault, whom will you blame? Alas, how lamentable! What good is sorrow then?"

5.23

Repentance Master Ciyun Shi's Treatise on Clarifying Doubts Regarding the Three Robes

5.24

The Dharma robes instituted by the Buddha are only three: first, the antarvāsa; second, the uttarāsaṅga; and third, the saṃghāṭī. These three Dharma robes are definitively the garments of those who have left home (pravrajyā), not to be worn by householders. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: 'The three robes are the insignia of the noble and sagely śramaṇas; they are not intended for layfolk.' The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states: 'Because the Buddha’s holy disciples abide in the Middle Way, they wear the three robes. The non-Buddhists go naked without shame, while the white-robed [laity] are laden with greed and wear heavy garments.' The Saṃyuktāgama states: 'Those who cultivate the four immeasurables shave their hair, wear the three Dharma robes, and leave home.' Based on this, we know they are definitively not lay garments. People of the world say that the Brahmajāla Sūtra permits the laity to wear them. Seeing that this sūtra widely lists kings, ministers, clerics, and layfolk as all eligible to receive the precepts, and speaks of 'one should instruct concerning the kāṣāya and other robes worn upon the body,' people then have men and women who receive the bodhisattva precepts wear the seven-strip robe. Examining the text of that sūtra, it is not necessarily entirely so. Kāṣāya is properly translated as 'dyed' [in improper colors], or translated as 'sleeping mat'. Relying on the translation as 'dyed', this was merely a general regulation: when clerics and layfolk receive the precepts, they must wear ruined colors (kaṣāya), fearing that if they dyed them identically in bright, alluring shades, it would violate the Dharma's regulations; thus it says, 'One should instruct that the dyed robes worn upon the body all be of ruined colors.' Perhaps because local customs could not be completely regulated, yet home-leaving bodhisattvas must have them dyed in ruined colors, the text further says, 'A bhikṣu must differ from lay dress.' How could it ever permit layfolk to wear the seven-strip robe? As for translating it as 'sleeping mat', [Daoxuan of] Nanshan says: 'It is a general name for the three robes.' The Brahmajāla Sūtra says: 'Doffing the nine-strip, seven-strip, or five-strip kāṣāya'—this is its text. If so, what is to prevent the term kāṣāya from specifically applying to those who have left home? It also accords with the text: 'Bhikṣus must all differ from lay dress.' Investigating the commentaries and sub-commentaries of Tiantai [Zhiyi] and Dharma Master [Fazang], both explain it in the sense of 'dyed and ruined colors', and neither contains any statement permitting the three robes to the laity. Although the Vaipulya sūtras permit layfolk cultivating repentance to wear the three robes upon entering the bodhimaṇḍa, they must only be single-stitched and are not allowed to be double-hemmed (cut and pieced). The Buddha said: 'These three robes are called, first, single-stitched, and second, lay dress.' Master Jingxi [Zhanran] said: 'If they are double-hemmed, they are the robes received and held by fully ordained monks (upasampanna). Therefore, this [lay] robe must be specially made. People of the world borrow the robes of those who have left home, which is utterly impermissible.' Thus we know that although they are 'three robes', they are not the home-leaving robes (from the Fuxing ji). Believing this, if the Brahmajāla had already permitted wearing them, why would the Vaipulya sūtras strictly require single stitching? Furthermore, as for the Āgama where the Buddha ordered taking Ānanda's uttarāsaṅga and having the woman Vāsiṣṭhī wear it, and so forth, this stemmed from the Sage’s personal intention, temporarily adapting to circumstances. After his parinirvāṇa, ordinary mortals must rely on the established regulations. All the vinaya codes and the final words reiterated by the Nirvāṇa Sūtra are the definitive standard; that the three robes are permitted to the laity is nowhere found in those texts. Others say: to avert disasters and escape calamities, a small strip was permitted to be given—such as an actress temporarily draping it, or a hunter deceptively wearing it; or they say that obtaining four inches affords ample food and drink, and draping a single scrap prevents rākṣasas from devouring one. These merely reveal the efficacy and power of the three robes, not that the four classes of commoners are permitted to receive and uphold them. Even those who have left home to ward off evil are still ignorant of the protocols for keeping the robes; how could the crowds entangled in worldly dust know the etiquette of revering the Dharma? Nanshan said: 'If received and used according to proper rule, no transgression arises; if one receives them contrary to form, one plunges oneself into deep guilt. In life, one will lack robes to cover the body; in death, one will bear the sage's reprimand—how can one avoid having a share in the evil destinies?' Considering these words, one incurs deep blame upon oneself; how can one bear to take what is contrary to Dharma and wrongly implicate householders? There is an even further error that I cannot keep silent about: I frequently see clerics and layfolk vying to drape the luozi (vestment sash). Its small beginning was long ago, but its rampant spread is recent. Now, the three robes and the five-piece patchwork are set forth in the two canons of prohibitions and permissions; from what text do the name and form of the luozi derive? For those who mistakenly take scraps of the three robes to fashion it, when a bhikṣu's robe is damaged, he is only supposed to patch and repair it so that it is not lost to his practice; how can he be permitted to wear its torn pieces and further establish a disparate name? How does this differ from a bhikṣu who lost his robes to thieves? Or if it is said: 'Temporarily draping it while working in the monastery courtyard does no harm,' the antarvāsa is precisely the robe for within the monastery courtyard—why not wear that? As for lay disciples, if it is to avoid disasters and calamities, they should not constantly drape a scrap of the kāṣāya. If they are permitted to constantly drape it, why not permit the entire three robes, rather than only a single scrap? Nanshan cited the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, where a nāga wore a kāṣāya to escape the distress of the garuḍa, and then stated: 'If one does not comply with the teachings, then what is worn has no power.' If a kāṣāya that defies the teachings is already said to be powerless, how much more so for the luozi of today, which is specially cut and dyed anew and openly manufactured! In both name and substance, it is entirely non-Dharma. This proves that draping it brings guilt and no merit. Now I briefly set down three faults of defying the teachings, hoping that those who read this will see that no fault is too great to pardon if one resolves to reform for the good: First, neither the name nor the substance of the luozi is recorded anywhere; it is entirely absent from the two teachings of prohibitions and permissions. Lacking the five merits and illicitly mingling with the three lowly items, the retribution in the unseen realm for defying the teachings will not be empty. Second, the two teachings of prohibitions and permissions were laid down by the Buddha alone; from bodhisattvas to śrāvakas, they transmitted but did not create. Now that you create the luozi on your own, kind sirs, are you the Buddha? Third, this follows the lot of non-Buddhists, not the lineage of the Buddha. Nanshan said: 'Sewing variegated threads onto a robe to make stripes is a non-Buddhist practice, incurring a sthūlāccaya.' How much worse is it to make an illegitimate robe that completely violates the ancient regulations? If not non-Buddhists, what kind of people are they? I sincerely hope that practitioners of the four quarters who practice the Mahāyāna will ponder the text to the end and not cling to their own prejudices. Carrying hemp while throwing away gold is by no means the mark of a wise person; reforming abuses and following the correct path is what the perceptive do. You should know that in the supreme Buddha Vehicle, understanding admits of no distinction between monastic and lay, but the protocol of transmission and maintenance truly resides in the vinaya and deportment. When the Nirvāṇa Sūtra upholds the vinaya to discuss the eternal, it refers precisely to this. If the standards of the vinaya are destroyed, through whom can the Dharma be transmitted? How could a human being not protect his eyes? Severing the life of the permanent [Dharma]—is that not being a caṇḍāla? Anciently, Dharma Master Jing'ai, encountering the atrocities committed by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou, lamented that he could not protect the Dharma and asked what was the use of having left home; he sat upon a rock, wielded a knife, sliced the flesh from his entire body, pulled out his intestines to hang them on a tree, and clasping his heart with his hands, he died. Alas! Is this how ancient sages protected the Dharma? Since we are unable to emulate that, we should at least ensure that the regulations of the Dharma do not suffer ruin, bringing calamity upon ourselves and others.

5.25

Admonitions for the Buddhist Clergy, Fascicle Five, End.

Linked texts (1)

緇門警訓 — Classical Chinese