廣弘明集 28.30

28.30

all have their share in it. When separated among many, even sharing a little is still unequal; if I possess a surplus, by what means could others have enough? The mind of the benevolent should not be like this. Encroaching upon another's property is called theft by the world; among the extremes of theft, what surpasses this? Investigating it in the unseen and the manifest, not one part is permissible. Relying on the arrival of favorable times, I have long ridden upon auspicious fortunes; grains of jade were cooked in the morning, and splendid candles shone at night. From then until now, thirty years have elapsed. Thus I donned the ceremonial cap and brought honor to the state, received enfiefment, and succeeded to the house. Moisture filled my own person, and blessings flowed down to servants and maids; my house was not empty like an overturned chime stone, and my salary included double measures of gold. To fend off the cold, a single heavy fur robe was enough, yet leftover layers were piled in the hampers; on winter nights, having already covered myself with layered silks, surplus quilts remained in the trunks. From this on up, extravagance and excess were not singular. Although matching those wealthy magnates, my baseness was already extreme; compared to impoverished households, what I exceeded was truly vast. Realizing that these are impermanent things stems from the Buddhas; harboring the wish to renounce and disperse, one should bring luster to the bodhimanda. Hunger, cold, distress, and suffering are urgent afflictions; spreading through provinces and counties, it is difficult to exhaustively address these conditions. One ought to match one's strength, acting according to circumstances at once according to one's age. The head, eyes, marrow, and brain are truly difficult to lightly emulate, and diminishing oneself to provide for others is not easily practiced all at once. I vow to broadly contemplate profound grace and accumulate the subtle into the prominent, hoping that I may be able to tread the road of giving and the gate of dāna. On the eighteenth day of the second month, when the year was at Xuanxiao, the sun was at the constellation of Yin, and the birds crossed the interval of the Jiazhong pitch-pipe, in the eighth year of the Tianjian reign era of the Great Liang, at the newly established imperial residence at Jiangling, I invited the Buddha and the Saṅgha, resembling the Jetavana. There were one hundred superior gentlemen who have stilled their minds. Although the fruits fall short of the Āmrapālī grove, and the meal is not from the Land of Fragrance, wild grains and mountain vegetables may equally satisfy hunger. In addition, I renounce one hundred and seventeen kinds of personal requisites, clothing, and utensils, slightly divesting and removing them myself, to offer to the present Saṅgha. The troubles and sufferings of the household are not as severe as the knife and the butcher's block; shaving and shedding them, one becomes untrammeled, and the physical form is transcendent. All those wriggling living beings possess the Buddha-nature; without shaving and cutting, there is no way through this path. Because conditions and karmas are discordant, conventional truths are troublesome to record; changing one's form and altering one's adornment are difficult matters at present. Therefore, the eight branches are opened to guide those of pure faith, so that for one day and one night they are like the Buddha leaving the household. Originally expounding the external teaching, the affair does not follow the full monastic vinaya. Yet worldly sentiments are discordant, together straying upon this path: they invite and trouble famous monks, placing them in empty chambers, while the master lies high, taking his ease in the tranquil hall; calling it the eight precepts, it is in truth far from it. Although there are conditions of offerings and giving, it is not the practice that cuts off outflows. From this morning until tomorrow dawn, Yue now respectfully casts aside worldly burdens, completely conforming to 'come, good monk.' I detain these virtues of superior caliber to encourage and fulfill my slight intention. Relying on this light cause, I hope to realize future fruits. As for words of merit and virtue, I do not dare speak of them.