法苑珠林 96.13

96.13

問曰。菩薩捨身得自殺罪不。答曰。依律未捨命前得方便小罪偷蘭遮。若捨命已無罪可屬。所以不得殺人大罪。若依大乘菩薩。厭離生死為供養佛。及為一切眾生興大悲心。無害他意反招其福。何容得罪。故文殊師利問經云佛言。若殺自身無有罪報。何以故。如菩薩殺身唯得功德。我身由我故。若身由我得罪果者。剪爪傷指便當得罪。何以故。自傷身故。菩薩捨身非是無記。唯得福德是煩惱滅故身滅故得清淨身。譬如垢衣以灰汁澣濯垢滅衣在（自外經明。菩薩捨身。非唯一二。如月光捨頭。尸毘割股。或作師子象王捨牙與皮或作鹿身禽王濟厄樵人。或作大龜大鼈救人水難。或作大魚肉山施飢拔苦。如是具列非一。並散配別篇。恐以文繁不可重述）。

Question: Does a bodhisattva who relinquishes his body incur the sin of suicide? Answer: According to the Vinaya, prior to casting off life, one incurs the minor preparatory offense of sthūlātyaya; once life has been cast off, there is no one to whom the sin can adhere. Therefore, one does not incur the major offense of killing a human being. According to the Mahāyāna, when a bodhisattva renounces saṃsāra in disgust to make offerings to the Buddha and gives rise to great compassion for the sake of all sentient beings, he has no intention of harming others and conversely invites great blessings. How could he possibly incur a sin? Thus, the Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā-sūtra says: 'The Buddha said: If one kills one's own body, there is no retribution of sin. Why is this? Just as when a bodhisattva kills his body, he obtains only merit, because my body is mastered by me. If mastering one's own body brought about retribution for sin, then trimming nails and wounding fingers would immediately entail sin. Why is this? Because one has harmed one's own body. A bodhisattva's relinquishment of the body is not morally neutral (avyākṛta): he obtains only meritorious blessings. Because defilements are extinguished, the body is extinguished, and therefore he obtains a pure body. It is like a soiled garment washed with lye: the dirt is extinguished, but the garment remains.' (Other sūtras also make clear that a bodhisattva's relinquishment of the body is by no means an isolated occurrence: such as Candraprabha offering his head; Śibi carving off his flesh; or taking the form of a lion or king of elephants to give up tusks and hide; or taking the form of a deer or king of birds to rescue a woodsman in distress; or taking the form of a great tortoise or turtle to save people from perils of water; or taking the form of a great fish or mountain of flesh to give food to the hungry and deliver them from suffering. Complete enumerations like these are manifold; they are distributed across separate sections, and out of concern for excessive length they cannot be repeated here.)