Dunhuang Scroll

The Thirty-First Section: On the Diversity and Different Categories of All Sentient Beings

Regarding the number of offenses shown in this section: as the Sutras original: xiu-duo-luo 修多羅, from the Sanskrit sūtra, meaning the recorded teachings of the Buddha. say, all sentient beings Living things capable of feeling and consciousness. have, in the cycle of rebirth, served as my parents, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. By implication, my own body has likewise stood in these relations to all other beings.

Within the void of space and throughout the entire Dharma-realm original: jin xu-kong bian fa-jie 盡虚空遍法界; a term describing the totality of the universe in both its physical and spiritual dimensions., beings are as numerous as motes of dust original: wei-chen shu 微塵數; a standard Buddhist metaphor for an uncountable or infinite quantity.. These include both internal and external categories. Looking at the "internal door," one’s own body has ten levels of kinship with others, extending to every single being. This means that when we account for both self and others, there are twenty levels of relationship.

Even if we do not discuss every category but simply take one to its ultimate limit, we see that all distinct types of beings are included within these karmic categories. When the individual acts as the primary agent—for example, treating one being as a parent—one is linked to all beings. Because compassion original: ci 慈, the desire for others to be happy. ought to arise from this connection, any act of hitting, killing, cheating, or deceiving is a profound evil.

When one treats a single person as a parent, one must realize that the resulting karma The moral law of cause and effect. fills the entire void and the Dharma-realm, as numerous as atoms of dust. If a single relationship carries this much weight of potential evil, how much more so for the nineteen other levels of kinship? One cannot even conceive of the scale of being a relative to the infinite categories of beings throughout the universe. Therefore, we know that a single "cause" of sin is as heavy as the dust of the cosmos; within a single offense, there is an unspeakable multitude of evils.

The Thirty-Second Section: On the Infinite Thoughts Arising Within a Single Body

Within a single body, there are thoughts arising that are as numerous as the dust motes filling the void and the Dharma-realm. When a single evil thought arises, it resonates with the infinite evil of the entire universe. How much more so [is the weight of karma] when these thoughts...