法苑珠林 20.5

20.5

Examining the ultimate sages' bestowal of compassion and the consummate beings' benefiting of creatures: their intention is to guide the four types of born beings to the jewel repository and convey the three realms of existence into the Great Cart. Master and disciple follow different tracks yet reach the same return; the Dharma and the secular tread separate paths yet attain the same goal. Therefore, statues are erected to manifest the true, and constant models are instituted for ordinary customs; pointing fingers serve as traps to reveal the moon, showing the constant regularities of transcendence. Yet, because of delusions and grasping at self and person, beings fall into negligence and drift along with the flow, tossed about and submerged in accordance with karma without any thought of reform. This is truly because across accumulated kalpas of delusion they do not recognize the Three Jewels, and in their folly and stubborn clinging they rarely encounter the ten stages of sages. Therefore, life is like a candle in the wind, hard to arrest; form is identical to a spark from a flint, how could it endure for long? How much more so as the five turbidities mutually encroach and the four serpents constantly menace, yet they are able to bear complacency and dally with these empty illusions! Therefore, the Great Sage, with compassion and sympathy, appropriately transformed, educated, and guided them; among practices, none is more essential and urgent than paying homage, repenting, and walking the Way. Hence Nāgārjuna's Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā states: “A bodhisattva has three periods each during the day and night; in these six periods, they pay homage to the Buddhas of the ten directions, repent, entreat, rejoice, and dedicate merit. When a bodhisattva reaches the stage of avaivartika, relying on this practice they will quickly achieve non-retrogression.” Just as in mindfully recollecting the Buddha Guṇaprabha of the eastern direction and the others, it is due to the power of the original vows of the Buddhas of the ten directions. If there are sentient beings who have planted roots of goodness in the presence of past Buddhas, upon hearing these Buddhas' names they will immediately be able to believe and accept them, and will attain an irreversible mind of bodhi. It is also because foolish consciousness constantly hears evil sounds; now, upon suddenly hearing the call of the name “Namo Buddha,” they are abruptly startled and rejoiced, their feelings and thoughts become delighted and peaceful, their sins are eliminated, and blessings are generated. Therefore, the sutra says: “Paying reverent homage to this Buddha can eradicate the heavy sins of one million births and deaths.” Another says: “It can eradicate the heavy sins of a thousand kalpas of birth and death.” If one does not rely on these gradual stages to move the ordinary mind, then those burdened with sins will suffer disasters for accumulated kalpas. Yet upon hearing the Buddha's name, none fails to leap with joy: “What sin do I possess that I cannot see his true countenance?” Shedding a torrent of tears, with single-mindedness they join their palms. “What good do I possess that I hear the Buddha's name?” Joyful and increasing in reverence, they gaze up at the holy visage, loving and longing without satiety. Through this sorrow and celebration, their roots of faith increase daily. With feelings comprehending and the mind without burdens like this, they constantly increase their taking of refuge in paying homage. Recently, I have observed clergy and laity hearing the Buddha's name chanted: though their bodies follow in paying homage, their minds are conditioned by external objects; stumbling and blundering halfway through, they do not reflect or repent at all. Lack of faith and lack of shame are found here! Or there are clergy and laity who pay homage in secluded places: now rising, now sinking, with body and mind negligent, without the slightest apprehension; their sins of disrespect thus increasingly multiply. Or there are clergy and laity who pay homage before assemblies: thousands of monks and myriad laypeople chant in harmony with loud voices, paying homage with hasty speed; their bodies do not keep up with the bowing, and their minds do not think with reverence. They resemble soldiers answering roll call, merely registering empty names; like a pestle going up and down, it entails much toil to no benefit. The brief account above is not without such faults: they merely seek fame and profit and harbor neither loyalty nor reverence. Relying on faith, one is able to enter and generate wisdom and consciousness; if faith is not practiced, where can the capacity to enter rely? Below, I briefly set forth five principles, all relying on the holy teachings to show what is genuine and what is false, entreating all to eliminate falsehood and return to truth so that their merit may be accomplished to the ultimate.