法苑珠林 89.6

89.6

The sacred path is distant and difficult to attain, while the pure mind is close at hand yet easily deluded. Building a mountain begins with a single basket of earth; becoming a Buddha commences with the very first thought. Therefore, a journey of ten thousand leagues cannot be mounted without taking the initial step; the work of three asaṃkhyeya [kalpas] cannot be accomplished without the initial mind. Thus one knows that practitioners setting out must constantly tread with this mind; when instructing beginners, one must venerate the ten virtues (daśakuśala). Now, with the turbidities of the five corruptions intermingled and chaotic, transgressions are increasingly conspicuous. If one does not act, that is all; but once one acts, it is extremely grave. Weighing this in one's mind, how could one treat it lightly or with contempt? As the sūtras state, for a person who has committed grave sins, sixteen thousand years here in Jambudvīpa equals only a single day and night in the lifespan of the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven. With such long days, a lifespan of sixteen thousand years there equals nine hundred twenty-one billion and sixty thousand years according to the days and months of Jambudvīpa spent in Avīci Hell. If one is furthermore stubborn and does not believe in the Buddha's sūtras, then according to the Guanfo sanmei jing, this exceeds the sin of killing eighty-four thousand fathers and mothers: it is profoundly grave, difficult to calculate, and cannot be eradicated. Recently, one sees monastics and laypeople on fast days receiving only the five precepts, the eight precepts, the three clusters of precepts, and so forth, but regarding the ten virtues, none receive them at all. This is truly because monks and others conceal the sacred teachings, causing them not to be propagated and forfeiting this part of the path. Thus the Weicengyou jing says: "Lower-grade ten virtues mean for the duration of a single thought. Middling-grade ten virtues mean for the duration of a single meal. Upper-grade ten virtues mean from dawn to noon, where during this time one's mind contemplates the ten virtues and refrains from the ten non-virtues." Thus, a jackal whose mind contemplated the ten virtues for seven days without eating was able to be reborn in Tuṣita Heaven. Furthermore, the Shangsheng jing says: "After my nirvāṇa, if the four assemblies and eight classes of beings wish to be reborn in the fourth heaven, they should, from the first day to the seventh day, fix their mindfulness on that heaven, uphold the Buddha's prohibitive precepts, contemplate the ten virtues, and practice the path of the ten virtues. Dedicating this merit, they should vow to be reborn before Maitreya Buddha, and in accordance with their mindfulness they will attain rebirth." To speak of seven days is merely to discuss the short term, yet it still resonates with that heaven; how much more so for a whole lifetime—how could one fail to achieve it? A question asks: "The superior retribution in heaven is inconceivable; how could just seven days evoke such great fortune?" The answer says: "Though a wholesome cause may be minute, the fruit obtained is exceedingly vast. Just as a tiny flame can burn a great mountain, a single good can destroy great evil. It is also like a small lamp being able to dispel much darkness, a mild sun being able to melt heavy dew, and a small seed being able to produce a great tree. Even worldly matters are like this; how much more so the power of good!"