法苑珠林 35.27

35.27

Also, the Candragarbha-sūtra of the Mahāsaṃnipāta says: The Buddha said: In the past, for the sake of all sentient beings, I practiced various austerities and gave rise to great compassion, abandoning bodies, heads, eyes, ears, noses, tongues, and the like, each like Mount Vipula, as well as abandoning elephants, horses, kingdoms, cities, wives, and children, through three thousand asaṃkhyeya kalpas, having pity on all tormented sentient beings, as well as those who slander the True Dharma, revile the worthy and holy, are without shame and without conscience, unwholesome sentient beings, and those sentient beings cast aside by all pure Buddha-lands. For the sake of such sentient beings, I made vows to attain the unsurpassed path in the evil world of the five turbidities, to rescue the tormented sentient beings of the three evil paths and establish them in the good paths and the bliss of nirvāṇa. If there are sentient beings who, within my Dharma, go forth for my sake, shaving off beard and hair and wearing a kāṣāya, even if they do not receive the precepts or have received and broken them, if someone protects and makes offerings to such a person, they will obtain a great reward, not to mention making offerings to those who fully uphold the precepts. If, in future eras, kings, great ministers, and judges scold, insult, beat, bind, or drive as servants my disciples and those wearing kāṣāyas, or seize their wealth, property, and necessities of life, these people thereby destroy the true retribution-body of all Buddhas of the three times, gouge out the eyes of all devas and humans, and obscure the True Dharma of all Buddhas, causing devas and humans to fall into hell. At that time, Kauṇḍinya and the Brahmā King addressed the Buddha, saying: 'If there are those who for the Buddha shave off beard and hair and wear a kāṣāya, but do not receive the prohibitive precepts, or having received them break them, if kings, great ministers, and judges scold, insult, beat, or bind them, how much sin do they incur?' The Buddha told the Brahmā King: 'I shall now speak of it briefly for you. If a person sheds the blood of a trillion Buddhas, would the sin be great or not?' The Brahmā King answered the Buddha: 'If a person sheds the blood from the body of merely one Buddha, the sin is already immeasurably and boundlessly great, how much more so shedding the blood of a trillion Buddhas? In the end, no one could fully describe that person's sinful karma and its retribution.' The Buddha told the Brahmā King: 'If someone disturbs, scolds, insults, beats, or binds one who for my sake shaved his hair and wore a kāṣāya without receiving the prohibitive precepts, or having received them broke them, the sin incurred is greater than shedding the blood of a trillion Buddhas. Why is this so? Because this person went forth for my sake, shaving his hair and wearing a kāṣāya, even though he did not receive the precepts or received and broke them, this person can still show the path to nirvāṇa to devas and humans. This person has already given rise to respect and faith in the Three Jewels within his mind, surpassing all ninety-five paths. That person will certainly be able to enter nirvāṇa swiftly, surpassing all householders and worldly people. Therefore, devas and humans should make offerings to them. If a king sees an ordained person committing a major sinful deed, he is only permitted to banish him in accordance with the Dharma, expelling him from the realm and keeping him outside the monastery; he must not whip, beat, or insult him. None should act according to the sin of his body. If one intentionally beats and insults him, this person has already fallen away from liberation and departed from all the good paths of humans and devas, and will certainly go to the Avīci Hell. How much more so whipping and beating those who went forth for the Buddha and fully uphold the precepts!' The verse says: