法苑珠林 98.46

98.46

As the Padmamukha-sūtra states: The Buddha told Ānanda, “I shall now explain that in future times, there will be precept-breaking bhikṣus who wear kāṣāyas on their bodies and wander through cities and towns, going back and forth among villages, dwelling in the houses of relatives. They will be neither bhikṣus nor laypeople, keeping wives and concubines, giving birth to and raising sons and daughters. Furthermore, there will be bhikṣus who frequent the houses of prostitutes, commit sexual misconduct with bhikṣuṇīs, hoard gold and silver, and engage in business enterprises to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who run couriers and relay stations to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who exclusively practice medicine to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who play weiqi and liubo to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who perform divination and fortune-telling for others to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who chant incantations for others and dispatch ghosts and spirits, taking much wealth to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who exclusively take life to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who privately misappropriate the property of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha to make a living. Furthermore, there will be those who inwardly violate the precepts while outwardly appearing to uphold them, accepting the offerings of faithful donors. Furthermore, there will be those who secretively begrudge the Saṃgha’s property, not giving it to visiting monks. Furthermore, there will be those who begrudge the Saṃgha’s rooms, beds, and seats, not giving them to visiting monks. Furthermore, there will be bhikṣus who are not truly arhats but falsely claim to be arhats, wishing to make themselves known to receive abundant offerings, merely for the sake of making a living and not for cultivating the Way. Furthermore, there will be those who engage in profitable commerce to support themselves. Furthermore, there will be those who exclusively steal to support themselves. Furthermore, there will be those who breed various livestock and even buy and sell them to support themselves. Furthermore, there will be those who traffic in male and female slaves to support themselves. Furthermore, there will be those who slaughter cattle and sheep to support themselves. Furthermore, there will be those who enlist in the army to go to war, battle, and subdue others, killing many people in pursuit of military honors and rewards. Furthermore, there will be those who exclusively engage in plunder, raiding cities and villages to make a living. Such countless causes and conditions lead to hell; after their lives end, they will all fall into hell. Just as with the flesh of a lion's body, all living beings dare not eat it, yet worms naturally born from the lion's own body turn back and devour the lion's flesh; the Buddha told Ānanda, ‘My Buddha-Dharma cannot be destroyed by others. It is the wicked bhikṣus within my Dharma, like poisonous thorns, who destroy the Buddha-Dharma that I accumulated through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas of arduous practice and toil.’ At that time, when Ānanda witnessed this matter, his heart was filled with great fear, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He then said to the Buddha: ‘Let the Tathāgata quickly enter nirvāṇa; now is the right time. Why should You behold such evil matters in the future world?’ The Buddha said: ‘Ānanda, in the future world, there will be many lay householders who will be born into the heavens, and there will be many who have gone forth who will fall into the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals. Good and evil karma never perishes. In the past, when I was once a merchant who entered the great sea, I killed one person with my own hand in order to save the lives of many people. Because of the karmic conditions of this act, even upon attaining Buddhahood, I still personally suffered the retribution of being pierced by a golden spear.’”