法苑珠林 81.8

81.8

As the Upāsakaśīla Sūtra states: "Giving to an animal yields a hundredfold retribution; giving to one who has broken the precepts yields a thousandfold retribution; giving to one who maintains the precepts yields a hundred-thousandfold retribution; giving to an outsider who has abandoned desire yields a millionfold retribution; giving to one who is directed toward the path yields a hundred-billionfold retribution; giving to a srotaāpanna yields immeasurable retribution; giving to one directed toward sakṛdāgāmin yields immeasurable retribution; up to becoming a Buddha, it also yields immeasurable retribution. I now distinguish the various fields of merit for your sake, and therefore make this statement: If one can, with a sincere mind, give rise to great compassion and give to an animal, and with single-minded reverence give to the Buddhas, the merits are precisely equal without any distinction. What is called obtaining a hundredfold means: just as one gives lifespan, physical form, strength, ease, and eloquence to the other, the donor later obtains lifespan, physical form, strength, ease, and eloquence, each a hundredfold; and so forth up to immeasurable, it is also like this. Therefore, I said in a sūtra: 'I gave to Śāriputra, and Śāriputra also gave to me, yet I obtained much merit, while Śāriputra did not obtain much merit.' Some people say: 'If the recipient commits evil, the sin extends to the donor.' This meaning is not so. Why? When the donor gives, it is to relieve the other's suffering, not to commit sin. Therefore, the donor will certainly obtain good fruit. If the recipient commits evil, the sin concentrates on himself and does not reach the donor." Question: If giving to sages yields much merit, why do scriptures say that a wise person practices giving without selecting the field of merit? Answer: There are many aspects to interpreting this meaning now. Clarifying the person capable of giving, there is the distinction between foolish and wise; regarding the realm to which one gives, there is the difference between compassion and reverence. Compassion is directed toward the poor and suffering; reverence is directed toward the Three Jewels. Compassion involves an inferior field but a superior mind; reverence involves a superior field but an inferior mind. If one takes the superior mind of giving to a Buddha, it is not as good as giving to the poor. Thus, the Sūtra on the Resolution of Doubts Concerning the Semblance Dharma states: "There are sentient beings who see others gathering to perform various meritorious deeds, yet they only seek fame and renown, emptying their family wealth to practice giving; but when they see the poor and solitary, they scold them and drive them out, not aiding them by a single hair. Such sentient beings are called those who perform goodness upside down, with deluded and wild notions of misfortune and fortune; this is called improperly producing merit. Such people are deeply pitiable: they expend a great deal of wealth but obtain very little merit. Good sons, at one time I told the great assembly: 'If a person over asampkheya lifetimes makes offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions, along with the bodhisattvas and śrāvaka assemblies, it does not equal someone giving a single mouthful of food or drink to an animal: the latter's merit surpasses the former by hundreds of thousands of myriad times, immeasurably and boundlessly, up to giving to a hungry dog or an ant. The field of compassion is supreme.'"