佛祖統紀 33.19

33.19

Making Offerings to the Buddha: All Tathāgatas are the Dharmakāya. Whether they are in the world or after their extinction, the merit of any offerings made is without distinction (from the *Ratnakūṭa Sūtra*). Those who make offerings to the Buddha obtain great merit and swiftly accomplish bodhi (from the *Inconceivable Realm Sūtra*). 'If one gives to an animal, one obtains a hundredfold reward; giving to one who breaks the precepts yields a thousandfold reward; giving to one who maintains the precepts yields a ten-thousandfold reward; up to making offerings to a Buddha, which yields an immeasurable reward. I now explain this because of distinguishing among the various fields of merit' (from the *Upāsakaśīla Sūtra*; this refers to the preeminence of the field of reverence). If someone makes offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions and the various bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, it is not equal to someone giving a mouthful of food or drink to an animal, or even to a starving dog or an ant; the field of compassion is supreme (from the *Sūtra on Resolving Doubts in the Semblance Dharma*; this refers to the preeminence of the field of compassion). Giving one portion to the Tathāgata Duṣpradharsa and giving one portion to the lowliest beggar, the fields of merit are not two (from the *Vimalakīrti Sūtra*; this refers to the non-duality of compassion and reverence). What the world refers to as making offerings to the three thousand Buddhas denotes: in the past Glorious Kalpa, beginning with Padmaprabha Buddha and ending with Vipaśyin Buddha, one thousand Buddhas; in the present Auspicious Kalpa, beginning with Krakucchanda Buddha and ending with Ruci Buddha, one thousand Buddhas; in the future Constellation Kalpa, beginning with Sūryaprabha Buddha and ending with Sumerumūrti Buddha, one thousand Buddhas (each of the three kalpas has a one-scroll sūtra). Making offerings to the thousand Buddhas refers to the thousand honored ones of the present Auspicious Kalpa.