諸經要集 9.54

9.54

As the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra says, it is precisely with such bitter and severe words that they can be made to enter the discipline. The Book says that to hear remonstrance like flowing water is an utterance worthy of recording. Obstinate and unfaithful, a vicious horse is hard to tame; beating the chest with much shame, one should constantly admonish oneself, hoping that those who hear the discourse will express their innermost feelings. Now if one wishes to seal one's speech and regulate one's body, it is not as good as first subduing one's mind and next breaking one's thoughts. Therefore the scripture says, 'Restrain it in one place, and there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.' For example, it is like the cave of a golden mountain, where foxes and hares dare not dwell, or a deep abyss and clear sea, where frogs and toads will not lodge. Thus we know that if one cleanses one's mind and purifies one's thoughts, the retributions of the three destinies will cease and the four virtues will be ever full. Guard your thoughts like a city, and guard your mouth like a jar. One may say that the testamentary bequest of the Golden River rests upon such a person, and that the broad teaching of the Jade Gate is truly verified herein. Once one has spurred on these three karmas, one can eliminate the four afflictions. What are the four afflictions? They are birth, old age, sickness, and death. Therefore the Sutra on Entering the Womb says: 'When sentient beings receive a womb, they undergo every hardship, dim and obscure like floating dust. When the ten months are nearly full, the mother's womb experiences pain. Urged on by the wind of karma, the head faces the birth gate; falling to the ground, the hard contact is like being on a mountain of blades; the wind stirs cold contact as if it were freezing ice. At that very moment, birth is truly suffering.'