梵網經述記卷第一 1.49

1.49

Sūtra: "Yet if one gives free rein to oneself..." down to: "pārājika." / Commentary: Fourth, concluding with the name of the offense. Question: How much merit does a bodhisattva's single moment of impure precept have? Answer: A bodhisattva who has initially aroused the bodhicitta, in a single moment of pure precept, surpasses all pure precepts of the two vehicles, to say nothing of the others. As stated in the 586th fascicle of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra: 'Furthermore, Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, suppose all sentient beings in the world were to accomplish the ten virtuous courses of action; their precepts would not equal a hundredth part, down to an aupaniṣada portion, of a single bodhisattva precept at the time of initial aspiration among the host of bodhisattvas who arouse the mind of unexcelled, perfect enlightenment', and so on in full detail, down to: 'Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra asked Śāriputra, "Why does a bodhisattva's impure pure precept [surpass them]? [The two vehicles] seek only self-benefit and dedicate it to nirvāṇa; the bodhisattva's pure precept universally delivers immeasurable sentient beings and dedicates it to unexcelled, perfect bodhi. Therefore, all the pure precepts of a bodhisattva surpass the pure, undefiled precepts of the two vehicles."' Here, one diligently guards the precept of not killing. As the fifteenth fascicle of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: for the sake of maintaining the precepts, one does not spare body or life in order to protect the pure precepts, like a certain srotāpanna. A person was born into a slaughterer's household; when he approached adulthood, he was expected to carry on his family's trade, but he refused to kill. His parents gave him a knife and a sheep, locked him in a room, and told him, 'If you do not kill the sheep, we will not let you out to see the light of the sun and moon.' The son thought to himself, 'If I kill this one sheep, I will be bound to this trade for life. How could I commit this great transgression for the sake of the body?' He then killed himself with the knife. When the parents opened the door, they saw the sheep standing on one side and their son already dead. At the very moment he killed himself, he was immediately reborn in the heavens.