大通方廣懺悔滅罪莊嚴成佛經 2.37

2.37

The Buddha said: "Good man, if someone gave away three thousand great thousand worlds filled with precious jewels in charity, it would not compare to hearing the name of this sūtra; the latter's merit surpasses the former. Setting this matter aside, if someone gave away ten thousand worlds filled with precious jewels in charity, it would not compare to someone who embraces and upholds this sūtra; the latter's merit is greater than the former. Setting this matter aside, if someone gave away worlds of the ten directions filled with precious jewels in charity, it would not compare to someone who copies this Great Universal Vaipulya Mahāyāna scripture, even a single character, a single phrase, or a single verse; the latter's merit is greater than the former. Setting this matter aside, although one gives away the precious jewels of immeasurable lands, it does not compare to reading and reciting a single verse with sincere mind. Setting this matter aside, although one gives away the lives of sentient beings filling ten thousand worlds, it does not compare to understanding the meaning of a single phrase with sincere mind, or explaining the meaning of a single verse to others; the latter's merit surpasses the former. Why is this? The giving of wealth and food is worldly charity; it nurtures physical life, but does not transcend the world. The Dharma gift of the Mahāyāna nurtures sentient beings' roots of the path to bodhi and can sustain the eternal life of wisdom in the three vehicles. Good man, though one who reads and upholds this sūtra was originally an evil person, now they are a good person; though originally a suffering person, now they are a happy person; though originally a bound person, now they are a liberated person; though originally uncrossed, now they are a crossed person; though originally without wisdom, now they are a master of discourse; though originally with outflows, now they are without outflows; though originally [practicing] ordinary practice, now they are [practicing] noble practice; though originally having strayed from the path, now they enter the noble path. Although their body is that of an ordinary person, by reading and upholding this sūtra, their wisdom is equal to noble wisdom; although they originally had defilements, by reading and upholding this sūtra, they share nirvāṇa together with all the Buddhas and Tathāgatas."