法苑珠林 94.19

94.19

依宣律師感應記云。四天王等告宣師曰。佛在世時放大光明。佛告天人龍鬼神等。我之正法滅後。多有諸比丘執我小乘教迹。不解毘尼意。噵我聽諸比丘食肉。於是諸比丘等。在僧伽藍內。殺害眾生。猶如獵師屠肆之處。復有比丘。純著繒帛游行婬女酒肆之舍。不習三藏不持禁戒。痛哉苦哉。諸惡比丘。謗黷我教。舌何不落。告諸比丘。我於無量劫來。捨頭目髓腦。或於飢饉世作大肉身施彼餓者。或內外財施未曾悋惜。從初發心乃至成佛。豈教弟子噉眾生肉耶。我既涅槃。諸惡比丘。次補我處。為天人師。開導眾生。令得道果。豈有天人之師口噉眾生肉耶。我初成道時。雖開毘尼中聽食三種淨肉。亦非四生之類。是諸禪定之肉。是不思議肉。非汝所知。何故謗黷我教。我於涅槃楞伽經中。一切生命雜肉皆已斷訖。不聽持戒之人食諸眾生身肉。若有惡比丘噵毘尼教中聽食魚肉聽著蠶衣者。此是魔說。我成道已來至於涅槃。唯服麤布白㲲三衣。未著繒帛。何為謗我耶。

According to Vinaya Master Xuan's Record of Sympathetic Resonances, the Four Heavenly Kings and others addressed Master Xuan, saying: "When the Buddha was in the world, he radiated great light. The Buddha addressed the devas, humans, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits, saying: 'After my saddharma has disappeared, many monks will cling to the traces of my Hīnayāna teachings, failing to understand the intention of the Vinaya, and saying that I permitted the monks to eat meat. Thereupon the monks kill living beings inside the saṃghārāma, just like in a hunter's quarters or a butcher's shop. Furthermore, there are monks who wear garments solely of fine silk and roam into the houses of prostitutes and taverns, neither studying the tripiṭaka nor maintaining the prohibitive precepts. How painful! How bitter! Why do the tongues of these wicked monks, who defame and desecrate my teaching, not fall out? I tell the monks: throughout immeasurable kalpas, I renounced head, eyes, marrow, and brain; or during times of famine, I took on a great fleshy body to bestow upon those who were starving; or I gave inner and outer wealth without ever begrudging it. From my first generation of the aspiration [for awakening] up to my attainment of buddhahood, would I ever teach my disciples to devour the flesh of living beings? Once I have entered nirvāṇa, these wicked monks succeed to my place as teachers of devas and humans to guide living beings and cause them to attain the fruits of the path. How could a teacher of devas and humans have a mouth that devours the flesh of living beings? When I first attained the path, although I granted permission in the Vinaya to eat three kinds of pure meat, it was not the flesh of the four kinds of birth; it was the meat of various dhyānas, inconceivable meat, not something known to you. For what reason do you defame and desecrate my teaching? In the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, I have already completely severed all living life and assorted meats. I do not permit those who hold the precepts to eat the flesh of living beings. If there are wicked monks who say that in the teachings of the Vinaya it is permitted to eat fish and meat and permitted to wear silken garments, this is the preaching of Māra. From my attainment of the path up to nirvāṇa, I have worn only coarse cloth and three robes of white fine cotton (kārpāsa); I have never worn fine silk. Why do you defame me?'"