Mind, why do you protect this body, appropriating it as your own? It is
really separate from you, what good is it to you? Oh fool, if you do not consider
as your own a pure wooden statue, why are you guarding this foul machine composed
of impurities? First, with your own intellect, peel off this sheath of skin,
and with the knife of wisdom loosen the flesh from the skeleton. Breaking the
bones, look inside at the marrow and examine for yourself, "where is the
essence here?" If searching carefully in this way, you do not see an essence
here, then say why you are still protecting the body today. If you would not
eat it, as impure as it is, and if you would not drink the blood not suck out
the entrails, then what will you do with the body? However, it is proper to
guard it for the sake of feeding the vultures and the jackets. This wretched
body of humans is an instrument for action. Even though you protect it so, merciless
death will snatch the body away and give it to the vultures. What will you do
then?
You do not give clothing and such to a servant if you think he will not stay.
The body will eat and pass away. Then why do you waste yourself? Therefore,
mind, upon giving the body its wages, now serve your own needs, because not
everything earned by a laborer should be given to him. Consider the body as
a ship because it is the basis of coming and going. Set the body in motion at
your will in order to accomplish the welfare of sentient beings. One who has
become self-controlled in that way should always have a smiling face. One should
give up frowning and grimacing, be the first to greet, and be a friend to the
world. One should not inconsiderately and noisily throw around chairs and the
like. One should not pound on the door, and one should always delight in silence.
The crane, the cat, or the thief, moving silently and covertly, achieves its
desired goal. A sage should always move in such a way.
One must respectfully accept the advice of those skilled in directing others
and providing unsolicited aide. One should always be a pupil of everyone. One
should express one's appreciation for all good words. Having seen someone engaging
in virtue, one should cheer him on with praises. One should speak of other's
good qualities in their absence and relate them again with satisfaction; and
when one's own virtue is discussed, one should consider it as appreciation for
good qualities. All endeavors are for the sake of satisfaction, which is difficult
to obtain, even by means of wealth. So I will enjoy the pleasure of satisfaction
in good qualities diligently accomplished by others. There will be no loss for
me in this life, and there will be great happiness in the hereafter. But due
to animosities, there is the suffering of aversion and great misery in the hereafter.
In a soft and gentle voice one should speak sincere, coherent words that have
clear meaning and are agreeable, pleasant to the ear, and rooted in compassion.
One should always look straight at sentient beings as if drinking them in with
the eyes, thinking, "relying on them alone, I shall attain Buddhahood."
Great blessing arises from continuous yearning for the fields of virtues and
kindness, and from an antidote with regard to those who are suffering. Skillful
and vigorous, one should always do the work oneself. With respect to all works,
one should not leave the opportunity to someone else. The perfections of generosity
and so forth are progressively more and more lofty. One should not forsake
a better one for the sake of a lesser, unless it is with accordance with the
bridge of the Bodhisattva way of life. Realizing this, one should always strive
for the benefit of others. Even that which is prohibited has been permitted
for the compassionate one who foresees benefit. Sharing with those who have
fallen into miserable states of existence, with those who have no protector,
and with mendicants, one should eat moderately small proportions. Except for
the three robes, one should give away everything.
For the sake of an insignificant benefit one should not harm the body that practices
the sublime Dharma, for only in this way can one quickly fulfill the hopes of
sentient beings.
Therefore, when the thought of compassion is impure, one should not sacrifice
one's life, but it should be sacrificed when one's thought is unbiased. Thus,
life must not be wasted.
One should not teach the profound and vast Dharma to the disrespectful,
to a healthy person wearing a headdress, to a person with an umbrella, a stick,
or a weapon, to one whose head is veiled, to those who are inadequate (whose
minds are unprepared), nor to women in the absence of a man. One should pay
equal respect to inferior and superior Dharmas. One should not expose a vessel
of the vast Dharma to an inferior Dharma. Putting aside the Bodhisattva way
of life one should not seduce them with Sutras and Mantras.
Flagrantly discarding a tooth-stick or spitting is undesirable and urinating
or so forth in water or on land that is useable is contemptible. One should
not eat with a full mouth, noisily, or with the mouth wide open. One should
not sit with ones legs outstretched, and one should not rub one's hands together.
One should not travel, lie, or sit alone with some one else's spouse. After
observing and inquiring, one should forsake everything that does not please
people. One should not point out anything with one's finger but should respectfully
show the way with one's whole right hand. One should not call out to someone
and wave one's arms when there is little urgency, instead should snap one's
fingers or the like. Otherwise, one could lose composure.