英語訳
【Page 16, Upper Section】
are not the proper recipients for this teaching. Those who engage in chaotic conduct and impurity have also lost hope. Therefore, the high priests of Enryaku-ji, Mii-dera, Ono, and Hirosawa who follow esoteric Buddhism are all people of purity. If someone approaches evil conditions and becomes fallen, they immediately cease the practice of this teaching. If one were to practice this recklessly with a body given to indulgence and impurity, there would be great danger. One must be deeply cautious. Because the dharma is supremely excellent, those of inferior faculties cannot reach it. Particularly, the great patriarch of the esoteric school, Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva, as recorded above in twelve volumes, composed the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā Treatise, making nenbutsu (Buddha-recitation) the essential practice for self-cultivation and teaching others, and making rebirth [in the Pure Land] the refuge for ordinary beings' liberation. Those who cannot endure the practice of esoteric Buddhism should quickly cultivate the easy practice of nenbutsu.
First, the Vinaya school refers to the Vinaya Piṭaka among the three collections and the precept section among the three studies. By maintaining various precepts, one protects the three karmas, restrains all evil, and does not violate proper deportment. This is clarified in the Daśādhyāya Vinaya, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya, and others. There are many types of precept observance:
【Page 16, Lower Section】
namely, the complete precepts, ten precepts, eight precepts, five precepts, etc. The complete precepts refer to the precepts for bhikṣus. Bhikṣu refers to monks. There is a distinction between male and female: bhikṣus have 250 precepts, bhikṣuṇīs have 500 precepts. Because women have heavier obstacles, their precepts are doubled. Each of these precepts is clarified in the vinaya texts. The ten precepts are the precepts for novices (śrāmaṇera): 1) not killing, 2) not stealing, 3) not engaging in sexual conduct, 4) not lying, 5) not selling liquor, 6) not sitting on high, wide, large beds, 7) not applying cosmetics, 8) not singing, dancing, making music, or going to watch and listen, 9) not eating after midday, 10) not handling gold, silver, or images. The eight precepts are the precepts for lay practitioners who stay [at the temple]. These exclude the last two of the ten precepts. The five precepts are the precepts for lay practitioners. These exclude the last three of the eight precepts. By maintaining these precepts without breaking even one part, one protects the Buddha's deportment. The main intent of this school is to take preventing evil and maintaining good as fundamental, and eliminating sins and generating good as the essence. Therefore, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Treatise says, "Dwelling in the Buddha's family, take precepts as fundamental," clarifying that obtaining the name of monk depends on maintaining precepts. In Tiantai's commentary, it says, "The
【Page 17, Upper Section】
rise and fall of various paths is due to maintaining or destroying precepts," judging that receiving good or evil rebirths depends on maintaining or breaking the precepts. If one wishes to become a Buddha's disciple and borrow the form of a monk, one should fundamentally maintain the precepts and specialize in moral discipline. However, in the final age and among those of inferior faculties, precept observance is difficult to maintain. In Daochuo's Anrakushū, he judges that people who can maintain precepts will be rare. In Dengyō Daishi's Mappō Tōmyōki, he says that if there were people maintaining precepts in the final age, it would be like having tigers in the marketplace. Therefore, even monks who break precepts are still refuges for sentient beings. How much more should those who truly maintain them be especially revered. Among lay people without shame, this is even more difficult to maintain. What is now called the Vinaya school is Hīnayāna. Besides this, there are Mahāyāna precepts. These are the "One Precept Luminous Vajra Jewel Precepts" explained in the Brahmajāla Sutra. Regarding these, there are ten major prohibitions and forty-eight minor precepts. Tiantai Daishi composed a commentary to explain the meaning, and Taehyeon of Silla created an ancient commentary to explain the text. In reality, regarding precepts, there is no distinction between great and small, but depending on the recipient's mind,
【Page 17, Lower Section】
they are called either Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna precepts. For people like us who are beings of the ten evils, we cannot bear either great or small precept observance. We cannot even obtain the rewards of human and heavenly rebirths, much less liberation—we are of the type whose hopes are cut off. However, nenbutsu practitioners, whether maintaining or breaking precepts, are born equally, and Amida's Original Vow embraces good and evil people equally. It is said: "It does not discriminate against those of much learning who maintain pure precepts; it does not discriminate against those who break precepts and have deep roots of sin." Even when our precept observance is incomplete, we should simply rely on the strong conditions of Buddha-wisdom.
First, the Abhidharma school is Hīnayāna. The root treatise was composed by Vasubandhu Bodhisattva and has thirty fascicles. Among the commentaries on this are those by Masters Guang and Bao, and also by Master Yuanhui—this is the Verse Commentary. This treatise clarifies the characteristics of eliminating delusions and cultivating the path in the three vehicles. Namely, śrāvakas contemplate the Four Noble Truths and through cultivation over three lifetimes and sixty kalpas, obtain the positions of the four approaches and four fruits. Pratyekabuddhas contemplate the twelve-link dependent origination and through cultivation over four lifetimes and one hundred kalpas, obtain the fruit of their own vehicle. Bodhisattvas practice the six pāramitās and through cultivation over three incalculable kalpas and one hundred kalpas, achieve buddhahood through the eight phases. Among these, regarding the two vehicles' cultivation of the path,