法苑珠林 92.70

92.70

爾時世尊。重告僧護。以是因緣。我今語汝。在地獄中。出家人多。白衣尠少。所以者何。出家之眾多喜犯戒。不順毘尼。互相欺𣣋。私用僧物。或分飲食。不能平等。是故我今更重告汝。當勤持戒頂戴奉行。是諸罪人於過去世時。出家破戒。雖復精進。四輩檀越見諸比丘威儀似僧。恭敬僧寶四事供養。猶故能令得大果報。無量無邊不可思議。若一比丘常於毘尼僧伽藍中如法行道。依時鳴稚。若施此人得福無量。說不可盡。何況供養四方眾僧。

At that time, the World-Honoured One again addressed Saṃgharakṣita: 'By these causes and conditions, I now tell you: in hell, monastics are many and laypeople are few. Why is this? The monastic assembly often tends to violate the precepts, disobeying the Vinaya, cheating one another, privately using the property of the sangha, or failing to distribute food and drink equitably. Therefore, I now tell you again: you must diligently uphold the precepts, respectfully receiving and practicing them. When those sinners in the past renounced the householder life and broke the precepts, even though they still practiced vigorously, the dānapatis of the four classes saw that those monks possessed comportment resembling that of the sangha, and so they revered the Sangha Jewel, providing the four requisites of offerings. This could still enable them to obtain a great retribution, immeasurable, boundless, and inconceivable. If a single monk always practices the path in accordance with the Dharma within a Vinaya saṃghārāma and strikes the ghaṇṭī at the proper times, making offerings to such a person brings immeasurable merit that cannot be fully described—how much more so making offerings to the sangha of the four quarters!'"