釋氏要覽 2.90

2.90

The Sūtra of the Incantation of the Mūla-maṇḍala says: 'In Sanskrit, it is called a pasamo; in Liang, it is called recitation beads.' This is an implement for guiding those of lesser faculties, spurring their lessons, and cultivating karma. ○ The Soapberry Seed Sūtra says: 'Formerly there was a king named Vaidūrya who addressed the Buddha, saying: "My country is small and peripheral; through successive years of raids, pestilence, and high grain prices, the populace has suffered, and I am perpetually ill at ease. The treasury of the Dharma is profound and vast, and I cannot practice it entirely. I only pray that you condescend to show me its essential teachings." The Buddha said: "Great King, if you wish to extinguish the afflictions, you should string one hundred and eight soapberry seeds and constantly keep them on your person. With dedicated mind recite: 'Namo Buddhāya, Namo Dharmāya, Namo Saṅghāya,' and then pass one seed. Gradually proceeding in this manner, up to ten million times—if you can complete two hundred thousand repetitions without disorder in body or mind, removing deceit and deviousness, upon relinquishing your life you will attain rebirth in the Yāma heaven. If you complete one million repetitions, you will eliminate the one hundred and eight fettering karmas and obtain the fruit of eternal joy." The king said: "I shall reverently practice it."' (Regarding the one hundred and eight fetters: in the Hīnayāna, when considering the afflictions abandoned through seeing the path and through cultivating the path together, there are one hundred and eight in total. First, to clarify the afflictions of seeing under the four noble truths in the three realms, there are eighty-eight in total. That is, under the truth of suffering all ten messengers are present: greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, doubt, view of individuality, extreme view, wrong view, view of holding views, and view of holding precepts and vows. Under the truths of origination and cessation, the three views are excluded, meaning that under each of the two truths of origination and cessation, the three views of individuality, extreme view, and wrong view are eliminated. Under the truth of the path, two views are excluded, meaning that under the truth of the path, the two views of individuality and extreme view are eliminated. In the higher realms anger does not operate, meaning that under the four noble truths of the higher realms, the one affliction of anger is removed in each. The above total for the three realms under the four noble truths is eighty-eight. The delusions abandoned through cultivating the path in the desire realm are four: greed, anger, delusion, and arrogance; in each of the upper two realms anger is excluded, yielding six; adding these together makes ten, which totals ninety-eight. Adding the ten entanglements—shamelessness, remorselessness, torpor, regret, vexation, jealousy, restlessness, sleep, wrath, and concealment—along with the previous ones yields one hundred and eight in total.) ○ The Sūtra on Measuring the Virtues of Recitation Beads Spoken by Mañjuśrī says in brief: 'The substances of recitation beads are of various kinds and yield different measures [of merit]: fingering soapberry seeds once yields a thousandfold merit; lotus seeds yield ten-thousandfold merit; crystal yields a hundred-billionfold merit; and bodhi seeds, whether fingered or held in hand, yield immeasurable merit.' (That sūtra explains this extensively; its text is voluminous and is not recorded in full).