四分戒本疏卷第一．第二．第三 3.6

3.6

"If a bhikṣu speaks words of reviling by class, it is a prāyaścittika." This complete precept text has three clauses: first, the offender; second, reviling words; third, the determination of the offense. The first clause is self-evident. As for "words of reviling by class," there are two parts: first, citing the six bad dharmas; next, clarifying the matters of abuse. The six bad ones are the classes stated in the Vinaya: 1) low caste; 2) low lineage; 3) low occupation; 4) low appearance; 5) low through committing offenses; 6) low through defilements. "Low caste" means saying, "You were born into a low family." "Low lineage" means saying, "You are a person of low clan name." "Low occupation" means saying, "You are a performer or craftsman." "Low appearance" means saying, "You are a blind person," and so on. "Low through committing offenses" means saying, "You are a person who commits offenses." "Low through defilements" means saying, "You are a person with many defilements." Second, the matters of abuse are of three kinds: 1) face-to-face abuse; 2) metaphorical abuse; 3) abuse by self-comparison. "Face-to-face abuse" means saying, "You were born into a scavenger family," and so forth. "Metaphorical abuse" means saying, "You are like a scavenger class," and so forth. "Abuse by self-comparison" means saying, "I am not of a scavenger class," up to, "I am not a peddler, a slaughterer of cattle and sheep, a cripple," and so forth. Furthermore, abuse using wholesome dharmas also has three kinds. Face-to-face abuse means saying, "You are an araṇya dweller, a meditator," and so forth; the other two are understood analogously. The third clause, "it is a prāyaścittika," is the text determining the offense. In terms of light and heavy, there are two: 1) abusing a bhikṣu with the six kinds of bad dharmas all incurs a prāyaścittika offense; 2) abusing with the three kinds of wholesome dharmas all commits a duṣkṛta. Within abuse with bad dharmas: abusing a bhikṣu or one's parents incurs a prāyaścittika offense; abusing one's upādhyāya or ācārya incurs a sthūlātyaya; abusing kin, friends, fellow students, and the like incurs a duṣkṛta. The Vinaya states: In addition to metaphorical abuse, saying "Among these there is such a person" also constitutes an offense; that is, when a bhikṣu of a lower clan lives together with those of higher clans, saying "Among these there is a bhikṣu of a lower clan." Under non-offenses, the Vinaya states: if spoken for the sake of mutual benefit, for the sake of the Dharma, for the sake of the Vinaya, for the sake of instruction, for the sake of kin and friends, or in jest, or in the course of speaking, or by a slip of the tongue, or when provoked, or spoken by mistake—none constitute an offense.