法苑珠林 23.5

23.5

Now, wandering through the three times and revolving within the six destinies, if there is a single wisp of conscious spirit, there is nowhere it has not traversed. Since one's endowment of life is not fixed, there are the wise and the foolish; because the natures received are dissimilar, they do good or do evil. By doing good, there is shame (hrī) and remorse (apatrāpya); by doing evil, there is shamelessness and lack of remorse. Yet the ordinary person's way is to keep delusion dwelling within the heart. If one has not yet attained the path of treatment to eradicate it, one ought by right to spur oneself day and night to cultivate shame and remorse, praying silently to the void and begging pardon of the unseen and the manifest. In the past, through lack of wisdom, one did not recognize the ultimate truth, causing afflictions to gather densely and outflows of defilement to amass in profusion. One hopes to rely on a single good deed to eliminate myriad entanglements, clearing away the heavy darkness so that all becomes open and purely clear. Therefore, the Great Sage earnestly ordained that all clerics and laypeople should feel deep shame at being worthy of offerings (arhat) while receiving the title of a field of merit undeservedly, and should gaze upward with remorse as śramaṇas while falsely assuming the name of mendicants. Progressing, they lack the bodhisattva's ability to provide universal salvation; regressing, they are devoid of the śrāvaka's virtue of self-restraint. They disgrace their masters and fellow monks, and fail their benefactors (dānapati). They are not fit to tread upon the king's land, and have no means to repay the kindness of their parents. Their situation is like a broken pot; their meaning is identical to scorched seeds. They are also like a severed tāla tree: how could it grow again? Once split, a cracked stone can never be joined together again. Demons constantly sweep away their footprints, proclaiming, "These are evil people!" The Tathāgata decreed: "They are not my disciples; they cannot serve as a field of merit for the world. How could they be worthy of the prostrations of others? In the near term, it blocks [rebirth among] humans and gods; in the long run, it hinders the sacred path." How can such accumulations of transgression be fully stated? If this is so for those on the Way, how could those dwelling in the world be saved? Therefore, once a human body is lost, it usually takes multiple kalpas [to regain]; meeting the robes again is just like encountering one's original nature. Now, one should wash away the dust of the precepts with the water of shame and remorse, and wield the blade of confession to cut through the net of concealment. Gazing upward, feel remorse toward the former sages; looking inward, feel deep shame toward the virtues of later generations. Repent with utmost sincerity, penetrating fully to the limits of the future. Seeing all ordinary beings and sages, revere them equally with the thought that they are the Buddha; restrain one's own mind, viewing oneself as humble as the lowliest person. Toward all faults, do not give rise to a single thought of concealment; toward all good deeds, constantly generate the intention to cultivate and learn them. Setting forth this mind in brief: this is called shame and remorse.