佛說阿難分別經

Ananda addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One, there are people who worship the Buddha and obtain wealth, nobility, benefit, and good fortune, yet there are others who suffer decline and meet with no good luck. Why are people not alike? We beseech the Deva among Devas to explain this to us.

The Buddha said to Ananda:

– There is a person who worships the Buddha, who follows an illustrious master to receive the precepts, who is wholehearted in faith and does not transgress the precepts, who is diligent in obeying and practicing the teaching, who does not forget what has been learned, who keeps the Buddha images clean, who pays homage morning and evening, who reverently lights lamps, who keeps the mind pure so as to attain peace and joy, who does not go against the precepts and prohibitions, who never wearies of the fasting precepts, whose heart is always glad. Such a person is constantly supported by the devas and the good spirits, attains whatever is wished for, develops in a hundred undertakings, and is honored by the devas, dragons, ghosts, spirits, and all people; and later will surely become a Buddha. This good man or good woman is a true child of the Buddha.

There is another person who worships the Buddha but does not meet a good teacher, does not see the sutras and the teaching, and merely receives the precepts. Though bearing the name of one who holds the precepts, he is deluded and lacking in faith, transgressing the precepts and disciplines; at times he believes and at times he does not, his mind hesitating. He neither serves the sutras nor the images, and does not light incense or pay homage day by day.

His heart is often angry and resentful, his speech harsh and abusive; moreover he does not keep the six fasting days, delights in killing living beings, and does not revere the Buddha's sutras. He keeps the sutra in a chest and covers it with clothing, or places it on the bed of his wife and children, or hangs it on the wall, with no mind to offer a seat (to enshrine the sutra), regarding it as no different from the ordinary books of the world.

If he falls ill, he doubts and does not trust the Buddha's sutras, but at once seeks out mediums, divination, and incantations, making offerings to heretical spirits, thus causing the devas and the spirits to keep their distance. He is not supported by the good spirits; the evil and heretical influences increase day by day, and malevolent ghosts fill his gateway, causing this person to suffer decline so that what is wished for is not accomplished.

In this life he is a sinner, not a disciple of the Buddha; and after death he will fall into the hells, to be interrogated, tortured, and beaten. Because of such transgressions, in this life this person suffers decline, and in the life to come he undergoes suffering; and after death his consciousness suffers torment beyond description.

The foolish, blind, and sightless do not reflect upon the causes and conditions of former lives, which are the very root of where the consciousness goes, but instead claim that worshiping the Buddha leads to such decline. They feel no shame that their deeds in former lives held no merit, but rather resent the Buddhas and blame Heaven. These are deluded people of the world who do not penetrate the truth of things.

One who does not penetrate it doubts and is bewildered, his faith unsteady, his mind ever wavering; in coming and going he goes against reason and is ungrateful to the Buddha's kindness. If he does not know to turn back, he will be bound by the three evil destinies, fashioning his own calamity and fortune. Once the conditions of transgression are sown into a root, one cannot but follow after them.

The ten evils are one's enemy; the ten virtues are one's good friend. To rest the mind and realize the Way both arise from virtue. Virtue is fine armor that fears no blade or weapon; it has the power to preserve one's faith, to bring peace, ease, and harmony within the household; fortune comes of itself, bestowed by no spirit.

Now if a person still does not believe, then the life to come will be one of great suffering.

The Buddha said:

– Ananda! Good and evil pursue a person as the shadow follows the form; they cannot be parted. The matters of transgression and merit are all likewise. Do not doubt and thereby fall of yourself into the evil destinies! Believe firmly and be not deluded, and your dwelling place will always be peaceful. The Buddha's words are utterly sincere and never deceive people.

The Buddha further said to Ananda:

– The Buddha does not speak two words; the sutras and the Dharma are hard to hear. You of old possessed merit, and so now you are able to attend upon the Buddha. You should therefore remember to repay this kindness by proclaiming the teaching of the Dharma, revealing it to the people, becoming for them a field of merit, so that those who have faith may encounter it, and so that in the lives to come they need not fear suffering.

Ananda, hearing the Buddha's instruction, vowed to obey and carry it out.

Ananda again addressed the Buddha:

– If a person does not kill with his own hand but orders another to kill, is there then no transgression?

The Buddha said:

– Now, Ananda! To order another to kill is a graver transgression than to kill with one's own hand. Why is this? Because the one who kills with his own hand may be an ignorant, lowly servant who does not know the law of transgressions, or one compelled and commanded by the magistrate, acting not of his own intent; therefore, though both incur transgression, the deed and the intent are not the same, and the degrees of gravity also differ. But the one who orders another to kill, though he knows the transgression, deliberately commits it nonetheless; his mind and intent are perverse, foolish, and evil, delighting in causing harm, without any heart of compassion, deceiving the Three Jewels, and so he naturally commits the transgressions of the five heinous acts. Of killing living beings and harming life, no transgression is greater! Enmity is repaid back and forth; life after life one undergoes suffering, repaying one another in turn without end. In this life there is no peace, but constant disasters and evil affairs; at death one enters the hells, and upon leaving the human form one falls into the realm of animals, to be slaughtered and butchered by people, dwelling within the three evil destinies and the eight calamities for countless myriad kalpas, supplying flesh to people without any time of ceasing. The body is wretched and miserable, eating grass and drinking from springs. The animals and beasts of the present age are all those who in former lives were granted human form and yet were cruel, lawless, and without the Way, killing and harming living beings, not believing in cause and effect, until they came to their present state, having to repay enmity life after life. Their consciousness is the same, but their bodies are different—so grave is such transgression.

Ananda again addressed the Buddha:

– For people of the world and disciples of the Buddha who harbor malice toward their teacher and toward those of virtue, what is the transgression?

The Buddha said to Ananda:

– Whoever is a person should love and delight in the goodness of others, befriend those who are good, and must not hate the good. One who harbors malice toward a person of virtue and a good teacher is no different from one who harbors malice toward the Buddha. Such a person would do better to take up ten thousand stone-crossbows and shoot himself. Does shooting oneself hurt or not?

Ananda replied:

– It hurts very much, very much, World-Honored One!

The Buddha said:

– One who harbors malice toward a person of virtue and toward his own teacher suffers anguish as terrible as having his own body shot by crossbows. As a disciple, one must not look down upon one's own teacher, nor harbor malice toward those of virtue; one should regard them as the Buddha, and must not hate the good conduct of these persons. A person of moral discipline and virtue moves the devas, and so the heavenly dragons, the ghosts, and the spirits all hold him in reverence. Rather plunge one's head into fire and let a sharp blade cut one's flesh than envy the goodness of another, for that transgression is not small. Be careful! Be careful!

Ananda asked:

– May one who acts as a teacher become irritated and reproach his disciples? If he turns a disciple's small fault into a great transgression, can the teacher then be without transgression?

The Buddha replied:

– It must not be so! For if it is so, the transgression is very deep and grave, very deep and grave! The bond of teacher and disciple arises naturally. The teacher should attentively inquire after and care for the disciple, regarding the disciple as himself; what he does not wish for himself he should not do to another; he should always honor propriety, ritual, and rule, giving rise to no enmity or litigation. The disciple should be the same. Teacher and disciple should both uphold their bond toward one another with sincerity—the teacher acting as a teacher, the disciple acting as a disciple—neither criticizing one another nor being malicious toward one another, lest a small flame of anger become a great enmity that burns oneself up. I behold that in the age of the Dharma's decline, those evil sorts of people and the evil demon-monks remember only the faults of others while not restraining their own faults, hating the worthy and envying the good, giving no thought to the practice of the Way. Having no talent or ability whatsoever, they yet ruin others, severing the aspiration for the Way and rendering people unable to cultivate. Out of greed they take up the trades of worldly people in order to amass wealth for their own spending, and at death they fall into the evil destinies: the great hells and so forth. Truly it must not be so! A monk living in the world—what should he seek? He should remember to repay the Buddha's kindness, to use the Way to guide people; he cannot but study the Way to help the mind depart from suffering and pass beyond birth and death. Seeing the worthy, do not look down upon them; seeing the good, do not strike at them; do not dig out a person's small fault and turn it into a great transgression. To go against the Dharma and err against reason in such a way will incur a transgression than which none is greater. Transgression and merit both have their proof—how then can one not be careful?

Ananda again addressed the Buddha:

– In the age of the Dharma's decline, when the Buddha's disciples are busy with household affairs, how should the worship of the Buddha be carried out so as to be fitting?

The Buddha said:

– Receive the Buddha's precepts and prohibitions, believe in and practice according to them, harbor no deceitful thoughts, be filial, obedient, and careful, take refuge in and revere the Three Jewels, support one's parents wholeheartedly. One may engage in worldly affairs, but one must not carry out worldly intentions.

Ananda asked:

– What are worldly affairs and worldly intentions, World-Honored One?

The Buddha said:

– As a disciple of the Buddha, one may engage in the trade of buying and selling, weighing and measuring honestly without cheating the people, acting in accord with reason and not going against the natural. Burials, relocations, and marriages are all worldly affairs. As for worldly intentions, this means that as a disciple of the Buddha one must not practice divination, seek out heretical demons, use charms and incantations, cast curses, make sacrificial offerings, or report to ghosts and spirits; nor may one select auspicious days and hours. One who receives the five precepts of the Buddha is a person of merit and virtue; in all that he does he should make it known to the Three Jewels and resolutely uphold and protect the Dharma, causing the devas, the heavenly dragons, and the ghosts and spirits all to revere and submit. If one values the precepts and honors propriety and rule, then wherever one goes, it is good. How could there be any taboo or restriction that is not auspicious!

One who does not penetrate the truth creates his own obstructions. The matters of good and evil are done freely by the mind; from this, calamity and fortune follow the person as the shadow follows the form, as the echo answers the sound. The virtue of one who keeps the precepts and conduct naturally moves the devas to follow and protect him; his vows do not go against reason, and his virtue moves throughout the ten directions. Such virtue is equal to Heaven; the meritorious deeds of one of virtuous conduct are truly towering, praised by all the Sages, beyond all reckoning! One of wisdom penetrates his own destiny; even should he lose his life, he will not act crookedly. To keep good conduct exactly as the Buddha has taught—this can lead to the attainment of the Way that saves the world.

When the Buddha had finished speaking, Ananda straightened his kashaya, bowed his head to the ground, and said:

– Yes, World-Honored One! We are blessed to encounter the Tathagata, who opens a heart of great compassion, bestowing kindness far and wide, mercifully mindful of all living beings, becoming a field of merit so that they may be freed from suffering.

The Buddha said:

– The Buddha's words are utterly true, yet few people believe them; on the contrary, in this age there are many evil living beings who curse the Buddha's words. How sorrowful indeed! If there are people who believe the Buddha's words, there will be only one or two. How could the evil people of the world be so base! After the Buddha's parinirvana, the sutras and the Dharma will gradually decline and perish. Alas, how painful! Upon what will living beings rely?

Ananda shed tears, and thereupon spoke this verse:

The Buddha's grace is truly great,
Yet because of the transgressions of living beings,
Though the Buddha's drum shakes the Three Thousand Worlds,
Why is it not heard?

In the age of the Dharma's decline, the evil people,
Lacking faith, full of doubt,
Foolish and ignorant of the Way,
Their transgressions deep, reaching the darkest depths.

The blessed follow the direction he points,
Behold the truth, and accomplish the Dharma they study,
Taking refuge of themselves in the Great Field of Protection,[2]
Sowing seeds in the soil of the deathless.

The boat of wisdom reaching the other shore,
The joyful Dharma resounding through the Great Thousand Worlds.
Self and others are not two;
May I give rise to the supreme and true aspiration.

When Ananda had spoken thus, the whole assembly in the gathering came to believe and understand, gave rise to the great vow, the sound of sweet dew rang out, and a fragrance perfumed the whole Three Thousand Worlds; by virtue of that great vow they were delivered and were instructed in the Way as a means of cultivation. Hearing the words of the Buddha's teaching and the words of Ananda, the kings, officials, people, devas, dragons, ghosts, and spirits were all moved, with mingled sorrow and joy. They reverently bowed to the Buddha's feet and bowed to Ananda, received and accepted the teaching, and then withdrew.

Notes:

[1] The Avici Hell: One of the hells.

[2] That is, the Buddha.

[3] An epithet of the Buddha.