釋門自鏡錄 2.90

2.90

'I respectfully address all my disciples: Now, renouncing household life to practice the Way is weightiest and most difficult. One must not treat it lightly; one must not take it casually. What is meant by "weighty" is bearing the Way, wearing virtue, embracing benevolence, and shouldering righteousness, maintaining the pure precepts until death and beyond. What is meant by "difficult" is severing ties with worldly society, perpetually parting from loved ones, transforming feelings and altering one's nature, being unlike ordinary people, practicing what others cannot practice, relinquishing what others cannot relinquish, enduring suffering, receiving humiliation, and abandoning one's physical body and life. What is called "difficult" characterizes a person of the Way. A person of the Way is one who guides others: their conduct must serve as a model to tread, and their words must serve as a standard to follow. Donning the monastic robe and renouncing the world, every movement must serve as a rule. Do not covet, do not dispute, do not slander, do not conceal. Pursue lofty learning and set the will upon profound stillness. This constitutes true reputation: standing alongside the Three Honored Ones, emerging from among the worthy to enter sainthood, and purifying the spiritual consciousness. Thus rulers do not expect repayment from them, parents do not expect labor from them, and all people under Heaven take refuge in them and submit to them, curtailing their wives' and families' provisions to make offerings of food and clothing, bowing their bodies in reverence without begrudging toil or bitterness. This is because their aspiration and conduct are immaculate and commune with the divine; their tranquil, luminous emptiness is admirable and precious. Recently, due to unrest, the Dharma has declined. Beginners do not understand the rules: abandoning the correct and clinging to the perverse, they forget the true reality. They regard petty cleverness as wisdom and petty deference as sufficiency. Having sated themselves with food all day, they put their minds to nothing. Reflecting on this inwardly is truly lamentable. Considering those who have renounced the world today, some have spent years at it, yet they do not comprehend the scriptures and cannot decipher the writing, wasting an entire life without achieving anything. Such matters cannot bear deep reflection! The limit of impermanence strikes in the morning or at dusk; the agony of the three evil destinies spares neither strong nor weak. Because the bond between master and disciple runs deep, I have expounded this instruction; let it serve as a lasting admonition to all who possess feeling.'