釋氏要覽 1.459

1.459

The Mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra says: "When the senior elder expounds the Dharma after eating, there are four benefits: first, to digest the offerings of faith; second, to repay kindness; third, by expounding the Dharma, to bring joy and cause pure wholesome roots to be accomplished; fourth, householders should practice the giving of wealth, and renunciants should practice the giving of Dharma." (The Dazhidulun says: "Expounding for people the wondrous, wholesome teachings of the words of all Buddhas is the giving of Dharma. It also says: 'Always using good words to bring benefit is called the giving of Dharma.' It also says: 'The giving of Dharma is not merely speech.' It also says: 'If one constantly teaches all beings with a pure mind and wholesome thoughts, this is called the giving of Dharma. Just as the giving of wealth without a wholesome mind is not called merit.'") The Ekottarika-āgama states that Ānanda said: "Within a single verse, the thirty-seven limbs [of awakening] and all dharmas are produced." Kāśyapa asked: "Which single verse?" Ānanda said: "'Commit no evil deeds, / Practice all good deeds, / Purify one's own mind: / This is the teaching of all Buddhas.' Why is this so? 'Commit no evil deeds' is the restraint of complete precepts and pure conduct. 'Practice all good deeds' is the purity of mind and thought. 'Purify one's own mind' is removing erroneous inversions. 'This is the teaching of all Buddhas' is casting away delusion and conception. Now, if the precepts are pure, how could the mind not be pure? If the mind is pure, then it is not inverted. Because it is not inverted, the thoughts of delusion and confusion are extinguished. The fruit of the thirty-seven limbs is then accomplished. Having accomplished the fruit of the path, are these not all dharmas?" (The ceremony of expounding the Dharma after a meal has long been lost. Nowadays, Zhejiang monks recite one roll of the Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra during the meal, which is also the expounding of Dharma and the giving of Dharma.)