法苑珠林 96.13

96.13

Question: Does a bodhisattva who relinquishes his body incur the sin of suicide? Answer: According to the Vinaya, prior to casting off life, one incurs the minor preparatory offense of sthūlātyaya; once life has been cast off, there is no one to whom the sin can adhere. Therefore, one does not incur the major offense of killing a human being. According to the Mahāyāna, when a bodhisattva renounces saṃsāra in disgust to make offerings to the Buddha and gives rise to great compassion for the sake of all sentient beings, he has no intention of harming others and conversely invites great blessings. How could he possibly incur a sin? Thus, the Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā-sūtra says: 'The Buddha said: If one kills one's own body, there is no retribution of sin. Why is this? Just as when a bodhisattva kills his body, he obtains only merit, because my body is mastered by me. If mastering one's own body brought about retribution for sin, then trimming nails and wounding fingers would immediately entail sin. Why is this? Because one has harmed one's own body. A bodhisattva's relinquishment of the body is not morally neutral (avyākṛta): he obtains only meritorious blessings. Because defilements are extinguished, the body is extinguished, and therefore he obtains a pure body. It is like a soiled garment washed with lye: the dirt is extinguished, but the garment remains.' (Other sūtras also make clear that a bodhisattva's relinquishment of the body is by no means an isolated occurrence: such as Candraprabha offering his head; Śibi carving off his flesh; or taking the form of a lion or king of elephants to give up tusks and hide; or taking the form of a deer or king of birds to rescue a woodsman in distress; or taking the form of a great tortoise or turtle to save people from perils of water; or taking the form of a great fish or mountain of flesh to give food to the hungry and deliver them from suffering. Complete enumerations like these are manifold; they are distributed across separate sections, and out of concern for excessive length they cannot be repeated here.)