法苑珠林 74.6

74.6

夫稟形六趣。莫不貪欲為原。受質二儀。並皆戀財為本。雖復人畜兩殊。然慳惜無二。故臨財苟得。非謂哲人。見利忘義。匪成君子。且錢財玉帛是外所依。幡華僧物是內供養。理應省己貧窘隨喜他富。豈以自貧貪奪他財。所以調達取華遂便退落。憍梵損粟反受牛身。迦葉乞餅被俗譏訶。比丘嗅香池神訝責。是知偷盜之愆。寧非大罪。所以朝䬸無寄。夜寢無衣。鳥栖鹿宿。赤露𤷄𤼣。傍路安眠。循廛求食。遂使母逐鷓鴣而南去。子隨胡馬而北歸。夫類日影而西奔。婦似川流而東逝。莫不望故鄉而腸斷。念生處而號啼。淚交駛而散血。心欝怏而聚眉。如斯之苦。皆由前身不施劫盜中來。故經曰。欲知過去因。當看現在果。欲知未來果。但觀現在因。是故勸諸行者。常須誡勗勿起盜心。乃至遺落不貪。何況故偷他物也。

Now, of those who receive physical form within the six destinies, there is none whose origin is not greedy desire. Of those who take on substance between the two modes [of Heaven and Earth], all have clinging to wealth as their root. Although humans and beasts are distinct from each other, yet in stinginess and possessiveness they are no different. Therefore, one who seeks only gain when faced with wealth cannot be called a wise man; one who forgets righteousness upon seeing profit fails to become an exemplary person. Furthermore, money, wealth, jade, and silk are external dependencies, whereas banners, flowers, and the property of the Saṅgha are internal offerings. In principle, one ought to reflect on one's own poverty and rejoice in the wealth of others; how could one, because of one's own poverty, greedily plunder the property of another? For this reason, Devadatta's plucking of a flower immediately caused him to regress and fall; Gavāmpati's damage to grain brought him in return the body of an ox; Kāśyapa's begging for cakes was ridiculed by laypeople; and when a bhikṣu smelled a lotus fragrance, the pond divinity reprimanded him with astonishment. From this we know: how could the transgression of theft not be a grave sin? Consequently, in the morning one has no reliance for food, and at night one has no clothes to sleep in; one roosts like a bird or lodges like a deer, naked and exposed to bitter suffering; one sleeps by the roadside and seeks food walking through marketplaces. Mothers are driven south like partridges, and sons are borne north following Hu horses. Husbands rush west like the shadow of the sun, and wives flow east like river currents. There is none who does not suffer heartbreak looking back toward their old homeland, or weep aloud when thinking of their birthplace. Tears stream swiftly and dissolve into blood; hearts are melancholic and oppressed, with brows furrowed. Such sufferings all come from having failed to give dāna in previous lifetimes and having committed robbery and theft. Thus the sūtra says: 'If you wish to know the past causes, look at the present fruits; if you wish to know the future fruits, simply observe the present causes.' For this reason, I urge all practitioners: you must always be admonished and vigilant not to give rise to a mind of theft, even to the point of not coveting dropped and abandoned things—how much less intentionally stealing the goods of others!