盂蘭盆經讚述 1.19

1.19

[The sūtra says:] "The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the Saṅgha of the ten directions performs pravāraṇā,'" / The commentary says: Sixth, pointing to the true [assembly] to encourage practice. The text has two passages: first, teaching how to make offerings to the supreme field; second, teaching the protocol for receiving offerings. Within the former there are five clauses: first, indicating the time; second, the intention of practice; third, demonstrating the method; fourth, praising the field; fifth, showing the benefit. Here it indicates the time. "Ten directions" shows the vastness of the realm; "the Saṅgha" excludes heterodox cohorts; "the fifteenth day" sets the auspicious time; "pravāraṇā" designates the practice of relinquishing. Thus, attaining the fruit during the three periods necessarily relies on an auspicious morning; and using human circumstances as conditions likewise depends on the pure assembly. Therefore, it is at the end of the virtuous companions' quiet sitting, at the time of confessing at the year's end; abandoning fetters, they go against the flow of the river of attachment, and saving those drifting in the flow, they cause them to quickly emerge.