諸經要集 7.28

7.28

Furthermore, the Nirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'Dwelling at home is like a prison; wife and children are like shackles; wealth and property are like a heavy burden; relatives are like enemies. Yet if one can, for one day and one night, uphold the pure prohibitions, cultivate the path throughout the six periods of the day, additionally observe the three extended months throughout the year and the six fast days regularly each month, restrict oneself to simple vegetables and moderate tastes, restrain body, speech, and mind without letting them run astray, single-mindedly revere leaving the household, loftily aspire to the Buddha-Dharma, make no transgressions in bending down or looking up, make no lapses whether sitting or lying, attach to the sign of dawn by night, contemplate pure phenomena by day, deeply revere śramaṇas, and benefit the laity with a compassionate mind—if one can act like this, though dwelling at home one may cross beyond suffering.' Therefore the sūtra says: 'When the Buddha-Dharma is about to perish, laypeople will protect the Dharma; their cultivation of goodness and rebirth in heaven will be like snow falling from the sky. Bhikṣus who transgress the moral precepts will fall into the evil destinies like rain falling from the sky.' One should know that when one cultivates blessings amidst suffering, those blessings are the greatest; when one commits sins amidst blessings, those sins are not light. Therefore, going from suffering into pleasure is not yet the greatest pleasure among pleasures; going from pleasure into suffering is when one truly knows the bitterest suffering among sufferings. These words are verifiable; may they be carefully reflected upon. Furthermore, a verse from the Dharmapada states: