法苑珠林 95.10

95.10

Now, the four great elements are difficult to harmonize, and the six entrails turn against each other. Because one has a retributive body, one suddenly falls victim to disease and distress. Some renounce worldly life and go forth into homelessness, traveling alone and sleeping in solitude; some are poor, sick, old, and weak, without anyone to attend to them. If they do not look after one another, where can their lives be entrusted? Therefore, in the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, the Buddha said: 'From this day forth, you must care for the sick and act as attendants to the sick. If you wish to make offerings to me, you should first make offerings to the sick.' Furthermore, when encountering sick monastic members of the five assemblies on the road, the Buddha instituted that all members of the seven assemblies must stay and nurse them. If they abandon them without caring for them, all incur an offense. Therefore, the mind of all Buddhas takes great compassion as its essence. Complying with my words is precisely the mind of the Buddha.