諸經要集 14.14

14.14

Now, of those who take physical form in the six destinies, there is none that does not have greed and desire as its source. Taking bodily substance from the two poles [of heaven and earth], all alike have attachment to wealth as their root. Although humans and beasts are distinct, their stinginess and possessiveness are no different. Therefore, one who snatches at wealth whenever it is present cannot be called a wise man; one who forgets righteousness upon seeing profit will not become a gentleman. Furthermore, money, wealth, jade, and silk are external dependencies; banners, flowers, and the Saṃgha's property are internal offerings. In principle, one should reflect upon one's own poverty and rejoice in another's wealth; how could one, out of one's own poverty, greedily seize another's property? Thus Devadatta took flowers and thereupon fell away; Gavāmpati damaged millet and instead received an ox's body; Kāśyapa begged for cakes and was ridiculed by worldly folk; the bhikṣu smelled fragrance and was properly rebuked by the pool deity. From this we know that the transgression of stealing is by no means anything other than a grave offense. Thus one has no breakfast to rely on and no clothes for night's sleep; like birds nesting or deer lodging, one is naked and curled up; sleeping by the roadside, one stalks the alleys seeking food. Consequently, mothers follow the partridges southward, while sons follow barbarian horses northward; husbands flee westward like the shadow of the sun, and wives drift eastward like a flowing stream. There is none who does not feel heartbroken gazing toward their old hometown, or weep aloud remembering their birthplace. Tears mingle with blood, pouring down; hearts are aggrieved, with furrowed brows. Sufferings such as these all come from not practicing giving and committing robbery and theft in previous lives. Therefore, the sūtras say: "If you wish to know past causes, look at your present fruit; if you wish to know future fruit, observe your present cause." Therefore, all practitioners are exhorted to constantly admonish themselves never to give rise to thoughts of theft, even to the point of not coveting dropped items, let alone intentionally stealing the property of others! (Below this are five kinds of conditions of stealing.)