法苑珠林 17.73

17.73

Furthermore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: "If anyone does not believe in this scripture, in the present life they will be afflicted and harmed by immeasurable suffering from illness, and will mostly be reviled and insulted by sentient beings. After their life ends, they will be held in contempt by people, their facial features ugly, their livelihood difficult, and they will constantly lack sufficient provisions. Even if they obtain a little, it will be coarse, astringent, inferior, and wretched. They will constantly abide in poverty-stricken, lowly households of evil views that slander the saddharma. When nearing the end of life, they may encounter times of famine and chaos, where weapons contend, monarchs are tyrannical, and they are pressed and harassed by adversaries and enemies. Even if there are good spiritual friends, they will not meet them. What they need for livelihood, they seek but cannot obtain. Even if they obtain small gain, they will constantly suffer hunger and thirst. They will be acknowledged only by the vulgar and lowly; kings and ministers will entirely refuse to count them. Even if they hear what such a person expounds, even if it is reasonable, they will ultimately not believe and accept it. Such a person is like a bird with broken wings unable to fly; this person is likewise so, unable to reach the good destinies of humans and devas in future ages. If, on the other hand, there is someone who can believe in such Mahāyāna scriptures, though the bodily form they originally received was coarse and ugly, through the virtue of the scripture it will immediately become upright and handsome; their dignified countenance and vitality will increase day by day. They will constantly be joyfully beheld by humans and devas, revered and cherished with affection, without separation. Kings, ministers, and family kin will all respectfully believe what they say. If among my śrāvaka disciples there are those who wish to perform the foremost, extraordinary deeds, they should broadly proclaim such Mahāyāna scriptures for the world. Good man, for example, although mist and dew tend to linger, they do not outlast the rising of the sun; once the sun has risen, they vanish without remainder. Good man, all the evil karma of these sentient beings is also like this; its power to remain in the world does not outlast the sighting of the sun of the Mahāparinirvāṇa. Once this sun has risen, it can entirely eliminate all evil karma."