法苑珠林 81.52

81.52

如優婆塞戒經云。佛言。若人有財見有求者。言無言遽。當知是人已說來世貧窮薄德。如是之人名為放逸。自說無財。是義不然。何以故。一切水草人無不有。雖是國主不必能施。雖是貧窮非不能施。何以故。貧窮之人亦有食分。食已洗器棄蕩滌汁施應食者。亦得福德。若以塵[麩-夫+少]施於蟻子亦得無量福德果報。天下極貧誰當無此塵許[麩-夫+少]耶。誰有一日不食三摶[麩-夫+少]命不全者。是故諸人應以食半施於乞者。善男子。極貧之人誰有赤體無衣服者。若有衣服。豈無一線施人繫瘡一指許財作燈炷耶。天下之人誰有貧窮當無身者。如其有身見他作福。身應往助歡喜無厭。亦名施主。亦得福德。或時有分。或有與等。或有勝者。以是因緣。我受波斯匿王食時亦祝願。王及貧窮人所得功德等無差別。如人買香。塗香末香散香燒香。如是四香有人觸者。買者量者等聞無異。而諸香不失毫釐。修施之德亦復如是。若多若少。若麁若細。若隨喜心身往佐助。若遙見聞心生歡喜。其心等故所得果報無有差別。若無財物見他施已。心不喜信。疑於福田。是名貧窮。若多財寶自在無礙有良福田。內無信心不能奉施。亦名貧窮。是故智者自觀餘一摶食。自食則生。施他則死。猶應施與。況復多耶。智者復觀。世間若有持戒多聞乃至獲得阿羅漢果。猶不能遮斷飢渴等。若房舍衣服飲食臥具病藥。皆由先世不施因緣。破戒之人若樂行施。是人雖墮餓鬼畜生。常得飽滿無所乏少。雖富有四天地受無量樂。猶不知足。是故我應為無上樂而行布施。不為人天。何以故。無常故。有邊故。若施主歡喜不悔。親近善人。財富自在。生上族家。得人天樂。至無上果。能離一切煩惱結縛。

As the Upāsaka-śīla-sūtra says: The Buddha said: If a person possesses wealth and, upon seeing someone begging, claims to have nothing or claims to be in haste, you should know that this person has already foretold their own poverty and meager virtue in future lives. Such a person is termed heedless. That they say of themselves that they have no wealth is not so. Why is this? There is no one who lacks water and grass entirely. Though one be the lord of a country, one may not necessarily be able to give; though one be poor and destitute, it is not the case that one cannot give. Why is this? A poor person also has their portion of food. Having eaten, if they wash the vessel and give the rinse-water to beings that ought to eat it, they also obtain blessings and virtue. If one gives a grain of parched grain to an ant, one likewise obtains immeasurable karmic fruit of blessing and virtue. Who among the most destitute under heaven could lack even this dust-speck of parched grain? Who is there who, not eating three morsels of parched grain in a day, would fail to keep their life intact? Therefore, people should give half their food to beggars. Good sons, who among the most destitute is entirely naked without any clothing? If they have clothing, can they not have a single thread to give someone to bind a wound, or an amount of wealth the size of a finger to make a lamp wick? Who among the people under heaven is so poor as to have no body? If indeed they have a body, upon seeing others cultivate blessings, their body should go and assist them, rejoicing without weariness; they too are called a dānapati, and they too obtain blessings and virtue—sometimes having a portion, sometimes equal to the giver, and sometimes surpassing them. For this reason, when I received food from King Prasenajit, I also made this aspiration-prayer: the merit obtained by the king and by the poor person is equal and without difference. It is like a person buying incense: paste incense, powdered incense, loose incense, and burning incense. When someone touches these four kinds of incense, the buyer and the weigher smell them equally, without distinction, yet the various incenses lose not the slightest fraction. The virtue of cultivating dāna is also like this: whether much or little, whether coarse or fine, if with a mind of sympathetic joy one’s body goes to assist, or if seeing or hearing of it from afar joy arises in the mind, because the mind is equal, the fruit and retribution obtained are without distinction. If one has no wealth or material goods and, seeing another give, one’s mind is neither pleased nor faithful, but doubts the field of merit, this is called poverty. If one has abundant wealth and jewels, free and unhindered, and there is a fertile field of merit, yet inwardly one lacks faithful mind and cannot offer gifts, this is also called poverty. Therefore, the wise person reflects upon themselves: even if only one morsel of food remains, such that eating it oneself means life, and giving it to another means death, one should still give it away; how much more so when there is plenty! The wise person further observes: in the world, even if there are those who uphold the precepts, have heard much, and have even attained the fruit of an arhat, they still cannot avert hunger and thirst; their lack of dwellings, clothing, food and drink, bedding, and medicine for illness all arises from the karmic cause of not having given in previous lives. If a person who has broken the precepts delighted in practicing dāna, then although that person may fall among the hungry ghosts or animals, they will always be fully satiated, lacking nothing. Although one may be wealthy across the four continents and experience immeasurable pleasure, one is still not satisfied. Therefore, I should practice dāna for the sake of the unexcelled bliss, not for the sake of humans or devas. Why is this? Because they are impermanent, and because they are bounded. If a donor rejoices without regret, attends closely upon virtuous people, is unhindered in wealth, is born into a high-caste family, and obtains the bliss of humans and devas, they will reach the unexcelled fruit and be able to leave behind all afflictions and fetters.