法苑珠林 54.54

54.54

The reason people fail to attain the Way is that the mind is bewildered and muddled. The reason the mind is bewildered and muddled is that external things perturb it. The things that perturb it are many, but summarily there are three: first, influence, gain, glory, and fame; second, seductive charms and alluring elegance; third, sweet fats and rich delicacies. Although glory and fame daily occupy the mind, fundamentally they are not an encumbrance of every moment. Seductive charms and alluring elegance are deeper by comparison. Sweet fats and rich delicacies form the most urgent burden. The myriad affairs in their clamour are merely the branches and leaves of these three. The sages knew that without cutting off these three things, seeking the Way would be impossible to obtain. Like water and fire: if you dam and concentrate them, their utility is made entirely complete; if you breach and scatter them, their efficacy becomes all the more negligible. Therefore a treatise says: 'When the substance is minute, the force is weighty; when the substance is weighty, the force is minute.' Hence, when we ponder and examine this: it is truly through diligent exertion that one awakens to the Way, and through indolence and arrogance that one is hindered from sagehood by greed for sounds and sights. Thus Śākyamuni sounded the Dharma drum in the Deer Park, and the Master raised his virtuous voice in the district of Lu; yet what the ears and eyes still failed to heed—how could the mind and consciousness tally with it?