釋門自鏡錄 2.29

English (machine translation) 2.29

Language: English

2.29.1

Your disciple Xiao Yan respectfully addresses the Venerable Ones: Rectifying the Buddha's Dharma is the duty of the black-robed [clergy]; it is indeed not the urgent concern of your white-robed disciple. Yet the sūtra teachings also state that the Buddha's Dharma is entrusted to laypeople; therefore your disciple cannot remain silent. Now may the Venerable monks and nuns open their minds to listen and accept this, not harboring doubts or closed hearts. That those who have left renunciation differ from the non-Buddhists is precisely because they believe in causes and effects, believe in what the sūtras clarify, and believe that these are the Buddha's words. The sūtras say that those who practice the ten unwholesome actions receive evil retributions, and those who practice the ten wholesome actions receive good retributions. Now those who have left renunciation still indulge in drinking wine and eating fish and meat; this conduct is identical to that of non-Buddhists. Non-Buddhists cling to views of annihilationism and eternalism, holding that there is neither cause nor effect, neither giving nor retribution. Now the Buddha's disciples indulge in wine and crave meat, fearing neither the cause of guilt nor the fruit of suffering; this is simply not believing in causes and not believing in effects. How is this any different from those who hold there is neither giving nor retribution? In this matter, their view is the same as that of non-Buddhists, and yet they fall short of non-Buddhists in several ways: Non-Buddhists each believe in their own teacher: what the teacher says is right, the disciple says is right; what the teacher says is wrong, the disciple says is wrong. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'Today I institute a rule for all disciples that they must not eat any meat.' The Vinaya says: 'Drinking wine incurs a prāyaścittika.' Now the monks and nuns drink wine and eat meat; this matter violates their Teacher's instructions. This is the first way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists, though deviant, uphold the bovine and canine vows; once they have received the vows, they do not violate them thereafter. Now those who have left renunciation, having received the precepts, treat them with contempt and transgress them. This is the second way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists, though scorching their bodies with five fires or throwing themselves into abysses and plunging into flames, do not necessarily devour sentient beings. Now those who have left renunciation devour fish and meat. This is the third way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists of other schools, though not according with the truth, each practice their teacher's dharma without concealment. Now those who have left renunciation devour fish and meat; among those who are close to them they blend in, while among those who are distant they hide and evade. Acting like this is the fourth way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists each value their own teaching, even saying, 'None is as true as our path'; before all different people they hold nothing in dread. Now those who have left renunciation devour fish and meat: sometimes they avoid their fellow students, sometimes they avoid their disciples, sometimes they avoid the white-robed laity, and sometimes they avoid monastery officers. Harboring narrow, devious intentions, they conceal themselves through winding paths. This is the fifth way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists act directly according to their inclinations; they can nurture the evils of their own followers, but cannot nurture the evils of other groups. Now those who have left renunciation devour fish and meat; before what their white-robed disciples hear and see, they have no inner shame, and instead embellish deviant discourses, saying, 'The Buddha's teaching as a principle originally envisions distant causes; as for the present day, it has not yet completely prohibited everything.' The foolish white-robed laity, hearing this spoken by monks, take it as truthful speech and thereupon believe and accept it, personally practicing unwholesomeness and augmenting all evils. This is the sixth way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists, though preaching what is not Dharma as Dharma, each believe in their scriptures and would die rather than transgress them. Now the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra says: 'Killing living beings for profit, netting all meat with wealth—both actions are unwholesome, and at death one falls into the Raurava Hell.' What is meant by 'netting meat with wealth'? Setting snares and nets on land, and setting fishing nets in water—this is netting meat with nets. If one buys meat with money from butchers among people, this is netting meat with wealth. If one supposes that this person does not net meat with wealth, yet he adopts evil precepts and captures and harms living beings, would this person do so solely to feed his own mouth, or would he have other intentions as well? If he has other intentions, how could those who eat the meat be free from a share in the killing? How could they say, 'I do not kill living beings'? This clearly transgresses the sūtra text. This is the seventh way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, non-Buddhists harmonize with those who share their teaching, and severely discipline those who differ from their teaching, commanding what is to be done and prohibiting what is not, so that none fail to comply. Now those who have left renunciation, whether acting as masters or as monastery officers, personally open the prohibition against wine and devour fish and meat; they are no longer able to administer admonitions. As soon as they want to speak, others mock and taunt them. Since their own persons have flaws, they cannot subdue others or make them practice the Great Vehicle. Simply letting things be, they merely tolerate conditions so that those residing in the monastery are at variance, and those receiving the Path become negligent. This is the eighth way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, when non-Buddhists receive gifts from people, they receive them according to their own rules: those under the crow vows receive the crow-vow offerings; those under the deer vows receive the deer-vow offerings. A person under the crow vows never conceals his vows to receive the deer-vow offerings, nor does a person under the deer vows conceal his vows to receive the crow-vow offerings. Now those who have left renunciation say, 'I am capable of vigor; I am capable of asceticism,' temporarily concealing their appearance to deceive all the white-robed laity; when going out they drink wine, opening the gates of all evils, and when entering they devour meat, accumulating the root of all suffering. This is the ninth way they fall short of non-Buddhists. Furthermore, wine is a foul water-grain mixture that has lost its original nature to become this distinct taste. Sentient beings, on account of sinful karma, receive this foul contact. This is not the genuine Path or Dharma, nor is it the supreme flavor of amṛta. Why do ordained monks and nuns confer the five precepts on the white-robed laity, enjoining them not to drink wine and not to tell lies, yet conversely drink wine themselves, violating and breaking their sworn commitments? In the precepts for the seven classes, the eight precepts of fasting, the five categories and seven divisions, the long and short codes of discipline—under which heading does such a text appear? If white-robed people indulge in this mad medicine, one should still rebuke and stop them; how could those who have left renunciation drink it themselves? Falling into the Nirbudda Hell, their bodies will be like chunks of meat, devoid of consciousness. Who are these people? They are all ordained monks and nuns who drink wine. How can they not deeply believe in the sūtra teachings? How can they not feel inner shame, while still wearing the Tathāgata's robes, receiving the donations of the faithful from people, dwelling in stūpas and monasteries, and gazing up before the revered images? If they drink wine and eat meat, they fall short of householders: Although householders drink wine and devour meat, they commit no sin of violating precepts. This is the first way [clergy] fall short of householders. Although householders drink wine and devour meat, each has their own house, hill, or cave, and they never thereby look up and defile the revered images. This is the second way [clergy] fall short of householders. Although householders drink wine and devour meat, they never vomit or soil the monastery quarters. This is the third way [clergy] fall short of householders. Although householders drink wine and devour meat, they incur no criticism or suspicion; but if those who have left renunciation drink wine and devour meat, they cause people to disparage the Buddha's Dharma. This is the fourth way [clergy] fall short of householders. Although householders drink wine and devour meat, their gates, doors, wells, and stoves each pacify their own spirits.

2.29.2

If renunciants drink alcohol and eat meat, the foul stench steams and billows up so that all good spirits depart far away, while all the hordes of Māra rejoice. This is the fifth way in which they are inferior to householders. Although householders also drink alcohol and eat meat, they ruin their own property and do not ruin the property of others; when renunciants drink alcohol and eat meat, they ruin the good teachings for themselves and ruin the field of merit for others. This is the sixth way in which they are inferior to householders. Although householders also drink alcohol and eat meat, it is entirely provided through their own efforts; when renunciants drink alcohol and eat meat, it is entirely from the donations of the faithful. This is the seventh way in which they are inferior to householders. Although householders also drink alcohol and eat meat, it is an ordinary sinful karma and nothing out of the ordinary; when renunciants drink alcohol and eat meat, the hordes of Māra and non-Buddhists all find their opportunity. This is the eighth way in which they are inferior to householders. Although householders also drink alcohol and eat meat, they still do not lose their worldly livelihoods—though those who are heavily mired in stupor fail even at this; when renunciants drink alcohol and eat meat, whether much or little, they utterly cut off the seed of Buddhahood. This is the ninth way in which they are inferior to householders. Furthermore, one who eats meat cuts off the seed of great benevolence. In general, great benevolence causes all sentient beings equally to attain peace and happiness. If one eats meat, all sentient beings become one's adversaries, and all are equally deprived of peace and happiness. If one eats meat, one strays far from the teachings of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, strays far from the bodhisattva's fruition of Buddhahood, and strays far from the teachings of bodhi and nirvāṇa. If one eats meat, it obstructs rebirth in the six desire heavens, not to mention the four dhyānas, the four formless attainments, the thirty-seven factors of awakening, and the six pāramitās; it also obstructs the four great vows, the four means of embracing, all samādhis, the five eyes, the ten powers, and even unsurpassed bodhi. Why is this? If one eats meat, it obstructs the bodhimind; there are no bodhisattva teachings, no four immeasurable minds, and no great benevolence or great compassion. Because of these causes and conditions, the lineage of the sons of the Buddha is broken. Therefore the sūtras state: 'One who eats meat cuts off the seed of great benevolence.' Although you renunciants may not be able to practice great benevolence and great compassion, bring bodhisattva practice to perfection, and accomplish unsurpassed bodhi, why can you not endure this rank stench and cultivate the path of the Two Vehicles? Even jackals, dogs, and foxes know to relish meat; humans possess the greatest understanding and surpass all sentient beings—why should you share in relishing such foul stench alongside these beasts? As stated before, these are all remote matters, not yet immediate and pressing. Venerable monks and nuns! If one devours sentient beings, this is the conduct of Māra and the seed of hell. It is the causal condition for terrifying loss of life, scorching, and boiling; it is having one's skin and flesh flayed and peeled, one's hands and feet hacked off, one's belly ripped open and bowels scooped out, one's marrow crushed and eyes gouged out; it is poverty, lowliness, freezing, starving, ugliness, deafness, blindness, muteness, lameness, crippled limbs, carbuncles, and ulcers. All painful suffering and all saṃsāra arise from this conduct, down to the Black Rope, Crying, cold and heat, and the immeasurable extreme torments of Avīci, hungry ghosts, and beasts—all are the result of killing karma received as such retribution. Furthermore, you should contemplate a great matter: if one devours the parents of sentient beings, sentient beings will also devour one's parents in retribution; if one devours their children, sentient beings will likewise devour one's children in retribution. In this way, adversaries devour each other in retribution through long kalpas and endless night without cessation. As a sūtra states: there was a woman who killed the young of a wolf for five hundred lifetimes, and the wolf also killed her children for five hundred lifetimes. There was also a woman who cut off the life-root of a ghost for five hundred lifetimes, and the ghost likewise cut off her life-root for five hundred lifetimes. This is spoken in the sūtras and cannot but be believed; the rest of reciprocal retribution can be understood by analogy. Furthermore, there is another great matter that ought to be faithfully accepted: from the beginningless past down to this present life, we have passed through the six destinies and undergone every kind of retribution. All our close relatives have pervaded every place; simply because of passing through births and undergoing deaths, our conscious spirits are separated by barriers so that these kin no longer recognize one another. Today's sentient beings may have previously been our fathers, mothers, teachers, elders, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, and friends, yet today we lack the power of the eye of the Way and cannot discern them. We turn around and devour each other without realizing it ourselves. At the time of being devoured, this creature possesses a spirit; it immediately conceives resentment and hatred, turning once again into an adversary. What was once a most intimate relative turns once again into a foremost adversary! How could one fail to contemplate such a matter? For the brief satisfaction of the tongue and palate, a momentary trifle of flavor, to become adversaries forever with past relatives—this is truly heartbreaking, beyond words! Furthermore, you should contemplate another matter: anyone who devours sentient beings makes enemies of all sentient beings in this manner. These enemies pervade the six destinies; if one wishes to practice, they all become obstacles and difficulties. There are two kinds: obstacles in principle, and obstacles in phenomena. What are obstacles in principle? Through the causal conditions of karma, obstacles and difficulties arise of themselves, causing this practitioner to be foolish and lacking in wisdom, ignorant of the essential escape and devoid of expedient means. Even if meeting a good friend, they cannot faithfully accept [their teachings]; even if they faithfully accept them, they cannot practice them. As for obstacles in phenomena: these adversaries may be among evil ghosts and venomous beasts, or among divine nāgas and heavenly māras; in such various places they come to create hindrances. Even if one meets a good friend and faithfully accepts [the Dharma] with deep resolve, just as one is about to practice, difficulties arise again: either they lead one into heterodox paths, or they torment one to confuse the mind. In cultivating morality, concentration, and wisdom, and in cultivating all merits, one is constantly impure and never fulfilled. All these are past adversaries raising various retaliatory obstacles. Such matters should also be contemplated deeply. Your disciple Xiao Yan again respectfully addresses the venerable monks and nuns: your disciple Xiao Yan, before the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha of the ten directions, joins with all monks and nuns to declare an oath. Today's assembly is a matter of great causes and conditions: not only are all Buddhas present here, and all the Dharma and Saṃgha present here, but the devas, the Four World-Protecting Kings, Guhyakapada Vajra, Maheśvara, General Saṃjñeya, and all the nāgas and spirits of the eight classes throughout the ten directions who possess great supernatural power and great majesty and virtue must all be present here, packing the empty sky. In this way, both the unseen and visible without exception observe and witness. The ancients had a saying: 'It is not knowledge that is difficult; the difficulty lies in putting it into practice.' Your disciple Xiao Yan shall today take the vow first to make clear my original resolve: from this day forward until reaching the bodhimanda, if I should drink alcohol, indulge in heedlessness, arouse lustful debauchery, deceive with false speech, devour sentient beings, or even drink milk, honey, butter, and curds, I vow that all ghosts and spirits shall first bitterly punish Xiao Yan's body, and then deliver me to King Yama of the hells to undergo various torments; even until all sentient beings have completely attained Buddhahood, may your disciple Xiao Yan remain in the Avīci Hell! If among the monks and nuns there are those who drink alcohol and eat meat—

2.29.3

And if they do not repent of their faults, all the mighty ghosts and spirits should likewise interrogate and punish them, so as to augment the multitude of the good and purify the Buddha-Path. If they have not yet been interrogated and punished by the underworld tribunal and are still in the world, I, your disciple Xiao Yan, shall interrogate and punish them in accordance with the law, expelling them into secular life and subjecting them to labor as needed. Your disciple Xiao Yan further addresses all the Venerable monks and nuns: I have just roughly set forth how fish and meat cause obstacles and encumbrances that incur bitter retribution. Now I wish once more to address you all with a word. The lifespan in Jambudvīpa is said to be one hundred and twenty years, yet one rarely hears of such a person in the world. Transitions and decays happen without pause, whether to the old or the young. A sūtra says: 'Within the space of a single thought-moment there are sixty kṣaṇas.' Saṃsāra is impermanent; one possesses the faculties only temporarily, and suddenly they decline and perish. The sufferings of the three paths and the like arrive in an instant; to wish to escape hell is exceedingly difficult. Even those of pure, majestic virtue still fear they may not escape; how much less could those who violate and break [the precepts] possibly escape? Venerable monks and nuns, you ought to know this matter: consuming fish and meat belongs entirely to the realm of Māra; it is to engage in the conduct of Māra. The mind will be unsettled, with many obstructions, and the hosts of māras within and without will conspire to trouble you. Therefore practitioners should reflect: it goes without saying that fish, meat, and liquor are the broth of Māra. Those who consume fish and meat and crave liquor are abandoned by the good spirits and lack correct energy within. For such persons, the Dharma mostly wanes into distress. If one’s mind is resolved, eating vegetarian food with utmost austerity, and great compassion perfumes one's mind, such persons are mostly supported by the power of goodness, and their Dharma will mostly be capable. Venerable ones, from this day forward, guide one another well! Cause those who have not yet attained it to attain it from now on. If you have already cultivated this practice, strengthen your resolve and power; if you have never practiced it, reform completely. Today let us together make seeds of bodhi. Do not take offense at what your disciple Xiao Yan has addressed to you." At that time, 1,448 monks and nuns gathered before the Hualin Hall. Dharma Master Yun of Guangzhai Monastery was ordered to ascend the high seat and preach one quarter of the "Chapter on the Four Marks" from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, expounding the principle that eating meat cuts off the seed of great compassion. The Emperor himself sat on a mat on the ground to the north of the high seat. Later, two hundred doctrinal monks and nuns were also gathered at the Huaguang Hall. Monks learned in the Vinaya were ordered to ascend the high seat. The Emperor spread a mat on the ground, sat down, and issued an inquiry by imperial decree. He asked: "We have gathered the great assembly to investigate the meaning in the Vinaya. We hear monks say that in the Vinaya there is no regulation against eating meat, nor is there a rite of repentance for eating meat. How have you Vinaya masters guided people up to now, so as to cause people to harbor such doubts?" Vinaya Master Fachao answered reverently: "The teaching is one, but people receive it differently. Although the Vinaya permits three kinds of pure meat, the intention was to prohibit it forever. How do we know this? First it clarifies the prohibition of ten kinds of impure meat, next it causes one to eat the three kinds of pure meat, and finally it causes one to eat the nine kinds of pure meat. Such gradual prohibition indeed shows the intention was to cut it off forever." [The Emperor] also asked Sengbian. He replied: "It is only that the teachings have shallow and deep levels, guiding beings through progressive stages. In principle it is indeed an error, but the teaching had not yet reached its culmination." [The Emperor] asked again: "Does one who eats meat have a mind of compassion or no mind of compassion?" He replied: "This is not compassion." He asked again: "Does the Vinaya teaching intend to make people achieve liberation or not?" He replied: "It makes people achieve liberation." He asked again: "Does one who eats meat attain liberation or not?" He replied: "They do not." He also asked Vinaya Master Baodu: "What about you?" He replied: "What my foolish, deficient understanding grasps is that it is simply a gradual teaching. That is why the Vinaya text permits eating the three kinds of pure meat. In the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra], it ultimately does not permit eating meat. Those of sharp faculties, upon the teaching of the three kinds of pure meat, immediately cease to eat it; those of dull faculties await the later teaching." He also asked the bhikṣu Fachong: "If so, why do the monks still eat it?" He replied: "They should not eat it, but their desire for food runs deep." He asked again: "How should one repent?" He replied: "Sincerity and utmost earnestness of heart constitute repentance." He asked again: "After repenting, do they eat it or not?" He replied: "Those with much ignorance perhaps cannot avoid it." [The Emperor] said again: "To profess repentance beforehand and yet consume it nonetheless—this is to know and intentionally violate; it cannot be called shame. If beforehand one did not know, or if it was an inadvertent error, and only afterward did shame arise, that is genuine shame. Furthermore, once ashamed, one must not violate it again. If one violates it again, the sin is even greater." The Emperor went back and forth with the Venerable ones several times, and none could answer. He then ordered Jingyou to ascend the high seat and read such sūtras as the Laṅkāvatāra, Aṅgulimāla, and Nirvāṇa, clarifying the principle of prohibiting meat. After chanting the sūtra texts, the assembly concluded and they dispersed. That evening he also commanded the Leader of the Right Guards, Zhou She, saying: "What Fachong said about being ashamed while eating sentient beings—this is the female rākṣasa described in the sūtras who says, 'I love you, and I eat you.' Fachong’s mindset is precisely the rākṣasa of the sūtra." He also commanded She, saying: "Regarding what Sengbian said about meat from an animal that died naturally—if it were as he says, how is it that kites, crows, doves, and pigeons that dwell in the sky and are not immortal are never seen to die of themselves? Roes, deer, pheasants, and hares fill the fields and marshes, yet one has never seen a single one die of itself. Yet when people look for meat from a dead animal, they go to the slaughterhouse; when they look for dead fish, they inevitably go to the nets. The sūtras say that buying meat and killing it oneself are sins of the same order. I originally did not do this for myself; it is solely to create conditions for the monks and nuns to leave sin behind." He also commanded She, saying: "The reason why sentient beings must not be killed is that every single sentient being possesses eighty thousand families of worms; the sūtras also say there are eighty billion families of worms. If one cuts short the life of a single sentient being, one cuts short the lives of eighty thousand families of worms. As for why sentient beings that died naturally also must not be eaten: although the worms previously attached to them have already perished, the number of worms attached afterward is again vast. If boiled or roasted, none of these newly attached worms will survive. For a tiny taste on the tip of the tongue, one harms immeasurable sentient beings. Those among them that are small cannot be viewed with the fleshy eye; those that are large are clearly visible to all. This destroys the mind of compassion and increases malignant poison. This is truly not something that a śramaṇa, a disciple of the Śākya, should practice." He also commanded She, saying: "When the monks eat meat, they violate a precept of natural wrongdoing and also damage the Vinaya precepts. Speaking on this basis, there is a double sin. If it is learned monks who eat meat, this evil karma is twice as great as before. Why is this so? They personally violate the sūtra teachings, yet expound them to others; their mouths speak of compassion, yet their hearts harbor venomous harm. It is not that they do not know; they know and intentionally violate it. Words and actions contradict each other, thus becoming deception and falsehood. In terms of learning and eating meat, the sins are of three kinds. The reason why understanding the meaning is valued is precisely for practicing according to the teaching. Yet on the contrary, they consume fish and meat, cruel and oppressive to living beings, acting as bad spiritual friends and giving rise to many enmities."

2.29.4

"They will plummet into hell faster than a piercing spear. Truly, all renunciants ought to reflect deeply on this." He also commanded She, saying: "When a śrāvaka receives the discipline precepts, they originally regulate the seven actions of body and speech. Once received, even during sleep, fainting, and so forth, the discipline constantly arises, and from thought-moment to thought-moment one attains unprecedented discipline. Why is this? Sleep and the like do not give rise to evil thoughts; therefore the precepts are not damaged or lost, and indeed constantly arise. If one gives rise to a thought of wishing to kill, under the śrāvaka Dharma, although one does not lose the precepts of body and speech, there is damage to the precepts. It does not merely damage the precept against killing, but also defiles the other precepts. When it comes to clasping with the hands or biting with the teeth, activating the karma of body and speech, one loses the precepts of body and speech. At that time, the unmanifest discipline is immediately severed and does not continue. Having lost the precept against killing, one also defiles the remaining precepts. Why is this? When a caṇḍāla slaughters meat, for what kind of people does he kill? Precisely for those who eat meat. If one eats meat, one partakes in the killing, and in the precept against killing there is thus a deficiency. If one were to claim that partaking in the share of killing while possessing wholesome discipline does not cause a deficiency in the precept against killing, then for a person of unwholesome discipline who observes the eightfold fast, that evil discipline should still continue. If an evil-disciplined person observing the eightfold fast no longer continues in evil discipline, then one knows that when a person of wholesome discipline receives shares of killing, that precept against killing is instantly breached; the prātimokṣa precept is no longer liberating. For a person of evil discipline, regardless of whether they observe the eightfold fast, as soon as a single thought of good arises, the evil discipline is severed. If it were not severed in a single thought-moment, it would also not be severed in many thought-moments; if it is severed in many thought-moments, one knows it is severed at the time of a single thought-moment. For a person of wholesome discipline the matter is also like this: regardless of receiving various shares of killing, if there is even a small share of killing, the discipline of non-killing is immediately severed as well. Bodhisattvas maintain the mind-precepts; therefore they know that in principle there is no such thing as eating sentient beings. If one breaches the śrāvaka precepts, in the end one cannot escape the sufferings of hell and the like."

Linked texts (1)

釋門自鏡錄 — Classical Chinese