Thus has the son of the Victors firmly taken up the thought of Bodhi: henceforth, without faltering, he strives not to transgress the rules of the bodhisattvas.
An action undertaken in haste and without due examination—even if a promise has been made—must be considered, to see whether it should be done or not.
But this rule of the bodhisattvas, examined by the Buddhas, by their sons of great wisdom, Maitreyanâtha and the other Bodhisattvas—and finally by myself, to the measure of my strength—why should I delay in submitting to it?
I have made a vow, and what a vow! If I do not fulfil it, I deceive all the beings who rely upon me: what destiny am I preparing for myself?
For it is said: “To give in thought even the smallest thing, and not to give it in fact: one becomes a preta (and, if a promise was made, one is damned).”
What shall be said of him who promises in his heart and aloud the supreme happiness to beings? Whom does he not deceive? What will be his destiny?
7) He sees “He Who Knows All,” this incomprehensible course of action: He brings even those men who abandon the thought of Bodhi to deliverance.
8) And therefore every failure of the bodhisattva is very grave: through his failure, the salvation of every creature is imperilled.
An action undertaken in haste and without due examination—even if a promise has been made—must be considered, to see whether it should be done or not.
But this rule of the bodhisattvas, examined by the Buddhas, by their sons of great wisdom, Maitreyanâtha and the other Bodhisattvas—and finally by myself, to the measure of my strength—why should I delay in submitting to it?
I have made a vow, and what a vow! If I do not fulfil it, I deceive all the beings who rely upon me: what destiny am I preparing for myself?
For it is said: “To give in thought even the smallest thing, and not to give it in fact: one becomes a preta (and, if a promise was made, one is damned).”
What shall be said of him who promises in his heart and aloud the supreme happiness to beings? Whom does he not deceive? What will be his destiny?
7) He sees “He Who Knows All,” this incomprehensible course of action: He brings even those men who abandon the thought of Bodhi to deliverance.
8) And therefore every failure of the bodhisattva is very grave: through his failure, the salvation of every creature is imperilled.
9) And as for others, those who, even for a moment, obstruct the merit of the bodhisattva, there is no end to their evil destinies, for they destroy the salvation of creatures.
10) One is lost when one compromises the salvation of a single creature: what then of the evil done to all living beings who dwell in the immensity of the expanse?
11) And thus, tossed about in existences, [drawn back] by the weight of faults, [drawn forward by the force of the thought of Bodhi that he has conceived], [the bodhisattva] lingers in the quest for holiness.
12) Therefore I must scrupulously do what I have promised to do. This very day I must labour; otherwise, I shall fall ever lower.
13) [This very day:] countless Buddhas have passed by, seeking every creature [to heal it]; through my own fault, their remedies have remained inapplicable to me.
14) And if, even today, I conduct myself as I have done too often: I shall [certainly] go to evil destinies, to illness, death, mutilations, and lacerations.
15-16 a) And when shall I obtain that which is so difficult to obtain, the meeting with a Tathâgata, faith, the state of man, the capacity to practise good [through the integrity of the organs], and a day, [a period] of health, with what is needed to live and free from misery?
10) One is lost when one compromises the salvation of a single creature: what then of the evil done to all living beings who dwell in the immensity of the expanse?
11) And thus, tossed about in existences, [drawn back] by the weight of faults, [drawn forward by the force of the thought of Bodhi that he has conceived], [the bodhisattva] lingers in the quest for holiness.
12) Therefore I must scrupulously do what I have promised to do. This very day I must labour; otherwise, I shall fall ever lower.
13) [This very day:] countless Buddhas have passed by, seeking every creature [to heal it]; through my own fault, their remedies have remained inapplicable to me.
14) And if, even today, I conduct myself as I have done too often: I shall [certainly] go to evil destinies, to illness, death, mutilations, and lacerations.
15-16 a) And when shall I obtain that which is so difficult to obtain, the meeting with a Tathâgata, faith, the state of man, the capacity to practise good [through the integrity of the organs], and a day, [a period] of health, with what is needed to live and free from misery?
16 b) Life is short and disappointing; the body is lent to us [for an instant].
17) Surely, if I conduct myself as I do, I shall not be reborn among humankind: outside humankind, sin awaits me, never good.
18) How is it that, able today to do good, I do no good! How shall I do it, wandering astray or blinded amid the torments of hell or in the state of beasts!
19) I do no good and heap up evil: for millions of millennia, even the name of “good destiny” has perished for me.
20) Therefore Bhagavat proclaimed human birth exceedingly difficult to obtain; — just as it is difficult for a blind turtle to encounter a yoke [tossed by the winds] amid the Great Ocean, and to pass its neck through its opening.
21) [The reason is plain:] the guilty one remains for an entire cosmic age in Avīci, [the most terrible of hells], for a sin that lasts but an instant. If sins have been accumulated since the beginning of time, to speak of “good destiny” is a jest.
22) If only one were delivered [from sin and its consequences]…
17) Surely, if I conduct myself as I do, I shall not be reborn among humankind: outside humankind, sin awaits me, never good.
18) How is it that, able today to do good, I do no good! How shall I do it, wandering astray or blinded amid the torments of hell or in the state of beasts!
19) I do no good and heap up evil: for millions of millennia, even the name of “good destiny” has perished for me.
20) Therefore Bhagavat proclaimed human birth exceedingly difficult to obtain; — just as it is difficult for a blind turtle to encounter a yoke [tossed by the winds] amid the Great Ocean, and to pass its neck through its opening.
21) [The reason is plain:] the guilty one remains for an entire cosmic age in Avīci, [the most terrible of hells], for a sin that lasts but an instant. If sins have been accumulated since the beginning of time, to speak of “good destiny” is a jest.
22) If only one were delivered [from sin and its consequences]…