法苑珠林 71.39

71.39

It is stated: Regarding the faults of desire, they refer to the five desires as ruinous Māras and the six dust-objects as evil thieves. The Buddha judged them to be deviant delusions, confusing and obstructing the Buddha-nature. Therefore, the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra* says: 'Sentient beings' five consciousnesses, though not arising in a single thought-moment, are nevertheless defiled and perverse, increasing all defilements for all ordinary beings. They grasp and cling to visible form, and so on up to clinging to consciousness. Because of clinging to visible form, they give rise to a mind of greed; because of giving rise to a mind of greed, they are bound by form, and so on up to being bound by consciousness. Because of being bound, they cannot escape from birth, old age, sickness, death, worry, sorrow, great suffering, and all afflictions.' It also says: 'If there is a bodhisattva who claims his precepts are pure, yet although he does not join with a woman, speak or joke with her, or listen to her voice, when he sees a man pursuing a woman or a woman pursuing a man, he gives rise to covetous attachment—such a bodhisattva accomplishes the dharmas of desire, breaking the pure precepts, defiling the pure conduct, and polluting the precepts, and cannot be called endowed with pure precepts.' Furthermore, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra* says: 'The bodhisattva contemplates various impurities. Among all ruins, the ruin of women is the gravest. Swords, fire, thunderbolts, lightning, and bitter enemies, as well as poisonous snakes and the like, can still be approached temporarily; but a woman's stinginess, jealousy, anger, flattery, bewitching filth, quarreling, and covetous envy must not be approached. Why is this? A woman is petty-minded, shallow in heart and thin in wisdom, intimate only with desire, taking no regard of wealth, noble status, virtue of wisdom, or fame. She specializes in practicing lustful evil, destroying people's good roots. As for shackles, cangues, chains, and confinement in prison, though called difficult to undo, they are still easily opened; but the chain of woman that binds a person has defiled attachment rooted so deeply that nothing can free him from it—of all illnesses, it is the gravest.' As the Buddha's verse says: