【The Attitude of A Person of Small Capacity】- The most solid foundation - the monk’s vows (2)

【Others say that if the purpose of vows of individual liberation is to become an arhat, why become a monk and lead a life which is difficult and of little purpose?】

Here is a higher purpose. He said, “No, no, it is for the purpose of liberation. To be liberated is to become an Arhat.” It is remarkable to become an Arhat. He wouldbecome the merit field for the deities and the humans! But just take a look here. He said,

【Rather, we should value a life as a lay practitioner, for you can also become an arhat in such a life, and, besides, you cannot become a monk until you reach

the age of twenty. 】

To be a monk, there are many prerequisites. You cannot even be ordained before you are twenty years old. "Lay practitioners” are householders. I am not so certain on this point. According to my understanding, to become an Arhat, one would need to adopt the eight vows. In other words, it would mean that sexual activities must be stopped. I do not know if this is a mistake in the words here or that I am inadequate in my understanding. Anyhow, whether it is the five vows or the eight vows, one indeed can become an Arhat. Therefore, likewise, why should you adopt such difficult monk’s vows? The monk’s vows are so much more difficult and the monk has to uphold more than 200 precepts for the rest of his life; a nun has even more precepts. And this [other] something only has eight vows in addition to not having food after 12 noon, which you just have to maintain for one day and night, and then you can obtain it [i.e the same result]. So why do you bother becoming a monk? This is absolutely true.

SOURCE 来源 :

66A 11’10” Vol 9 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P42 L7
English Lamrim Vol 1 P263

日常师父法语📡66A 11’10” 手抄稿第9册P42 L7

业果 : 最稳固的基础-比丘学处-2

【又余众云，若别解脱所有要义，是为获得阿罗汉故。】

喏，他现在就比较高明了，说：“不是、不是，要获得求解脱，解脱果是求阿罗汉。”阿罗汉是了不起，喔，那是真正我们人天的福田喔！嘿嘿，但是你看，他说：

【然苾刍者，未满二十，则不堪受，近住（编者按：藏文版原文为“近事”，暂保留，待考）之身，亦有能得阿罗汉者，应赞其身。难行少义，苾刍何为。】

这个比丘啊，要晓得他很多条件啊，乃至于年不到二十是不能受。“近事”就是居士之身。这一点我就不敢肯定了，据我所了解的话，就是说获得阿罗汉还要八关斋戒；换句 话说他那个，这个淫一定要断。不晓得这个是文字上的误，还是我自己的了解不足。不管怎么样啦，不管是五戒也好，八关斋戒也好，的的确确是可以证得阿罗汉果的。那你同样地，何必要这么难行的比丘呢？啊！这个比丘是比起这个八关斋戒不晓得难多少，比丘是终生奉行，一行要二百多条，比丘尼是更多！然后呢，它这个东西只要八条，加上一个过午不食，然后呢奉行只要一天一夜，就能得到了，你何必多此一举呢！这是千真万确的。