藥師經疏 1.12

1.12

[Sūtra]: "Some observe the training rules... deep and profound meaning." / Second, not wishing for broad learning. "Guarding and maintaining the prohibitive precepts" means having no deficiency or leak in bodily, verbal, and mental actions. This is like what is said in the tenth roll of the Mahālaṃkāra-śāstra: There was a monk who, begging for food in order, came to the house of a pearl piercer and stood outside the gate. At that time, that pearl artisan was piercing a maṇi jewel for the king. The color of the monk's robe reflected onto the jewel, making its color crimson red. That pearl piercer then entered his house to fetch food for the monk. At that time, a goose saw the jewel; because of its red color, its shape resembled meat, and it immediately swallowed it. The pearl artisan brought the food to give as alms to the monk, and immediately looked for the jewel but did not know where it was. This jewel was priceless and belonged to the king. At that time, that pearl artisan, being poor and having lost the king's precious jewel, spoke anxiously to the monk, saying: "Give me back the jewel!" At that time, the monk thought: "Now this jewel was swallowed and eaten by the goose. If I tell that man, he will surely kill the goose to take the jewel. As my time of suffering has now arrived, what strategy should I devise to avoid this calamity?" He then spoke in verse: / "Now I protect another's life, and my body undergoes suffering and distress. / There is no other expedient means; I can only substitute my life for its. / I now abandon my bodily life for the sake of this goose's life. / Because I guard the precepts, through this cause I shall accomplish the path of liberation." / At that time, the pearl piercer, hearing this verse, spoke to the monk, saying: "Give me back the jewel! If you do not return it, you will suffer in vain; I will never let you go." The monk answered, saying: "Who took your jewel?" and stood in silence. The pearl artisan said to him: "There is no one else; who stole this jewel?" Relying on this, the pearl artisan then closed the doors and said to the monk: "Today you had better hold firm!" The monk immediately looked around in all four directions, but had nothing to rely on or trust in; like a deer entering an enclosure, not knowing where to turn, the monk without rescue was also like this. At that time, the monk then contracted his body and straightened his robes. That man again spoke to the monk, saying: "Do you now wish to fight with me?" The monk answered, saying: "I am not fighting with you; I am fighting against the thieves of the defilements. The reason for this is that I fear when being beaten my physical form will be exposed. Even when we monks are distressed and on the verge of death, we still cover and protect ourselves with our robes, not exposing our bodily form." At that time, the pearl artisan tied up the monk and beat him with a stick, asking the monk, saying: "Where is the jewel? Give me back the jewel!" The monk answered, saying: "I did not take the jewel." Then the pearl piercer wept, bowed his head to the monk, and addressed him, saying: "Grant me joy, and return the jewel to me!" The monk answered, saying: "I truly did not take it." Then that pearl artisan became even angrier and beat the monk. The monk thought: "All suffering in saṃsāra must be like this. I should remain firm and not violate the precepts. If I were to break the precepts and suffer the guilt of hell, it would surpass my present suffering." He then spoke in verse: / "In past lifetimes, for lust and theft I abandoned my bodily life; / as sheep, deer, and the six domestic beasts, my abandoned bodies are countless. / Abandoning bodily life for the precepts surpasses living while violating the prohibitions. / Even if one sought to preserve it, in the end it must perish. / It is better, for the sake of keeping precepts and protecting another's bodily life, / to cast aside this frail and brittle body to seek the life of liberation." / At that time, the pearl piercer wept in distress and spoke in verse: / "Although I beat and strike you, giving rise to immense suffering, / I fear the king will seek my jewel, so I wish to torment you. / Now, abandon this suffering, and also let me be free from evil. / You are a renunciant and should sever desire; / you ought to abandon your craving mind and return my jewel to me." / The monk smiled and replied in verse, saying: / "I wear robes of rags and make begging for food my livelihood; / I abide beneath trees—with this I am content. / Toward your maṇi jewel I truly have no mind of greed. / For what reason would I then become a thief?" / At that time, the pearl piercer spoke to the monk, saying: "What is the use of speaking so much?" He then bound him further and doubled the beating. Strangling his ears, eyes, mouth, and nose tightly with a rope, blood gushed forth from all of them. At that time, that goose came to drink the blood. In rage, the artisan struck the goose, and it died immediately. The monk asked, saying: "Is this goose dead or alive?" The artisan answered, saying: "Whether the goose is now dead or alive, why is it worth asking?" Then that monk went to the goose's place, and seeing that the goose was already dead, he wept unhappily and immediately spoke in verse: / "I endured all these distresses, hoping that this goose would live. / Now my life has not ended, yet the goose has died before me. / I hoped to protect your life and suffered this extreme, extraordinary pain; / why did you die first, leaving my retribution unfulfilled?" / At that time, the pearl piercer asked the monk, saying: "What relation does the goose have to you after all, that you are so grieved and distressed?" The monk answered, saying: "My vow was not fulfilled, which is why I am unhappy." He then spoke in verse: / "When the Bodhisattva in the past abandoned his body to ransom a dove, / I also had this intention, wishing to substitute my life for the dove's. / I attained the supreme mind, wishing to preserve this goose's life; / because you killed the goose, my heart's vow was not fulfilled." / The artisan asked, saying: "You speak like this, yet I still do not understand. You should explain the reason in full for me." At that time, the monk answered in verse, saying: / "I wore a red robe, which reflected on the jewel to look like the color of meat; / this goose thought it was meat and immediately swallowed and ate it. / I suffered this distress in order to protect that goose; / although pressed by extreme distress, I hoped that its life might be spared." / When that pearl artisan heard this verse, he immediately cut open the goose's belly and recovered the jewel. He then wept aloud and spoke to the monk, saying: "You protected the goose's life without sparing your own body, causing me to commit this unrighteous deed!" Then that pearl artisan clasped his hands with palms together, begged for forgiveness, and praised him in verse, saying: / "Homage to the pure conduct! Homage to firmly maintaining the precepts! / Encountering such extreme suffering and difficulty, you did not commit broken or deficient conduct. / If one does not encounter such evil, keeping precepts is not rare; / only when facing such suffering is one who can keep the precepts rare indeed!" / After that pearl artisan had repented, he escorted the monk back to his dwelling. / "Not seeking broad learning" means that regarding the profound meaning of the sūtras spoken by the Buddha, one is unable to comprehend it, and so abandons it without studying.