大通方廣懺悔滅罪莊嚴成佛經 2.7

2.7

The Bodhisattva *Śraddhāpratibhāna spoke again to the Buddha, saying: "What is called contemplating impermanence?" The Buddha said: "One who wishes to contemplate impermanence and eliminate their afflictions should practice right mindfulness, with kindness and compassion as the foremost, expounding the Dharma to deliver people without grasping realization. This is called a bodhisattva not abandoning sentient beings in order to seek the Mahāyāna. Good son, it is like a city, one yojana in length and breadth, with many gates, the road being perilous, dark, and extremely terrifying. There is one who enters this city and experiences happiness. There is another person who has only one son, whom he loves dearly. Hearing from afar that in that city one experiences endless joy, he abandons his son and wishes to enter that city. Using skillful means, this person manages to cross the perilous path and arrives at the city gate. One foot has already entered, and before lifting the other foot, he immediately thinks of his son. He then reflects: 'I have only one son; why, when coming, did I not bring him along after all? Who will nurture and protect him, causing him to be free from all suffering?' He immediately abandons the city of joy and returns to where his son is. Good son, the bodhisattva's kindness and compassion are also like this: for the sake of pity, he cultivates the five supernormal knowledges; having cultivated them, he is on the verge of exhausting the outflows, yet he does not grasp realization. Why is that? Out of pity for sentient beings, he relinquishes the exhaustion of outflows and the five supernormal knowledges, and goes so far as to practice among the stages of ordinary persons. Good son, the city is a metaphor for the joy of great liberation. The many gates are a metaphor for the eighty-four thousand samādhis. The perilous road is a metaphor for the paths of the māras. Reaching the city gate is a metaphor for the five supernormal knowledges. Having one foot enter is a metaphor for wisdom. Having one foot not yet entered is a metaphor for the great bodhisattvas not yet realizing liberation. The words 'one son' are a metaphor for all sentient beings in the five destinies. Caring for the son is a metaphor for the mind of great compassion. Returning to the son's place is a metaphor for taming sentient beings. Truly attaining liberation yet not grasping realization is skillful means. Good son, therefore, the great kindness and great compassion of the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva, saving and gathering in without abandonment, is inconceivable. Furthermore, good son, a bodhisattva, a great being, from the initial resolve of the mind until definitely reaching bodhi, always undertakes the ten wholesome dharmas for the sake of sentient beings. What are the ten? First, not killing living beings; second, not stealing; third, not engaging in sexual misconduct; fourth, not speaking falsely; fifth, not using divisive speech; sixth, not using harsh speech; seventh, not speaking meaningless words; eighth, not being greedy or jealous; ninth, not having anger and irritation; tenth, not having wrong views. When a bodhisattva is thus complete in kindness and compassion: kindness can teach goodness, seeing what brings joy to the world; compassion can relieve suffering, delivering them from hell. Seeing that sentient beings seek the gate to nirvāṇa but cannot know its location, the bodhisattva ought to cultivate a compassionate mind toward these sentient beings. By the causes and conditions of compassion, he opens the gate of great nirvāṇa for all sentient beings and shows them the place of peace, enabling them to attain the fruit of the Mahāyāna. This is called the practice of a Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva."