律戒本疏 1.64

1.64

Eleventh: Destroying various grasses and trees—Monks in the country of Alavī cleared the grasses and trees of their walking-meditation paths. Non-Buddhists claimed that grasses and trees have life, saying that the sons of the Śākya śramaṇa have no great compassion. Furthermore, the monk Mukhara felled a large tree with his own hands. The tree had a spirit; the spirit brought its two children and came to where the Buddha was, lamenting and pleading piteously: 'The tree is my home, my refuge. At the end of winter and the beginning of spring, there are eight nights of fierce cold winds; what shall I rely upon?' Because of these two incidents, encountering reproach and shared blame, and because many worldly tasks hinder and disrupt spiritual practice, for this reason it is not proper to cut and fell them. Living grasses, trees, and the like must not be cut; cutting them is a pāyattika. If they are withered and, taking them to be alive, one cuts them, it is a duṣkṛta. Furthermore, the three precepts protect the Buddha's Dharma. If a royal prince travels through the realm and sees someone cutting and felling, he seizes them and forces them to reap; if he sees someone digging the earth, he seizes them and forces them to cultivate; if he sees someone carrying a load on their shoulders, he seizes them and forces them to carry a palanquin. If a monk does these things, he cannot escape the three subsequent [consequences]. Pressed by the three subsequent [consequences], the practice of the Path is ruined and the keeping of the precepts is lost, while unconditioned loftiness is forever severed as a lamp to the world; the three actions become ever more [corrupted]. What was instituted, though seemingly shallow, serves as a safeguard that runs extremely deep. The five sounds, the five fruits, and so forth: when not yet fully ripe, they are purified by knife or purified by fingernail; when already ripe, they are purified by fire. When raw dough is desired raw as medicine, it is purified by fire. Walnuts are purified by fire. Honey is purified by water. Fruit left over from a bird's eating is called 'purified by bird'. With purified fruit, one may eat the skin/pulp, but must not eat the seed. Whenever one eats unpurified fruit, one incurs two offenses: eating the skin and flesh is a duṣkṛta; eating the seed is a pāyattika. If one instructs another to do so, it is also like this. If one says to a kappiyakāra: 'Purify this for me and take this,' or says: 'You know about this,' or says: 'This tree is not needed,' or says: 'This tree here is an obstruction,' and the kappiyakāra understands the intention, if he purifies it, takes it, or removes it, there is no offense.