佛祖歷代通載 7.68

7.68

Now, what Buddhist teaching clarifies differs primarily according to whether one is in worldly life or has withdrawn from it. People in worldly life or withdrawal fall into four categories. Those who propagate the teaching and accommodate all beings match emperors and kings in their merit, and their transforming influence embraces the way of government. As for moving the mundane and awakening the times, no era has been without them; it is only that what they encounter involves action or retirement, so their flourishing and decline manifest as hiding or showing. Among them, regarding what can be discussed, let me speak briefly. Those who uphold the Dharma while remaining in the household are subjects who follow the natural order. Their feelings have not abandoned mundane customs, and their traces remain within the realm. Therefore, they have the love due to natural kin and the ritual due to serving their ruler. Ritual and reverence have their root, and teachings are established following this. Tracing the root of their cause, their merit stems from past deeds. Therefore, through kinship one teaches love, making the people know natural kindness; through solemnity one teaches reverence, making the people know natural majesty. The arising of both truly stems from hidden retribution; if retribution is not in the present, one should seek its root. Thus, punishment is based on retribution for offenses, making people fearful and thereby cautious; heavenly realms are given as rewards, making them joyful and thereby active. These are all teachings clarifying retribution like shadows and echoes, adapting and following in order to guide without altering nature. Why so? Because cherishing the body and preserving life results in clinging to attachments; deeply grounded in the self, it is not yet forgotten. People take passions and desires as their parks and pleasures, and sights and sounds as their excursions, wallowing in worldly pleasures, unable to liberate or distinguish themselves. Therefore, the restraint of this teaching takes this as its limit, not yet clarifying what lies beyond. Since what lies beyond is not yet clarified, they largely conform to the worldly order. Thus they must not receive its virtue yet omit its rituals, or partake in its beneficence yet discard their reverence. Therefore, those who delight in the tradition of Śākya always first serve their parents and revere their ruler; those who alter their customs and lay aside the hairpin must wait for permission before acting accordingly. If ruler or parents harbor doubts, they withdraw to cultivate their aspiration to await shared realization. This is how Buddhist teaching values the sustenance of life and assists royal transformation in the way of governance. The proponent's stated purpose appears to share this view; hence I delineate the division between internal and external to clarify the ideal of the three bonds, briefly outlining the meaning of the scriptures to express what is on my mind.