【中英对照】地藏菩萨本愿经 第七品

CHAPTER VII Benefiting the Living and the Dead

利益存亡品第七

At that time Earth Store Bodhisattva, Mahasattva said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, I see that every single movement or stirring of thought on the part of beings of Jambudvipa is an offense. Beings tend to use up the wholesome benefits they gain; many of them end up retreating from their initial resolve. If they encounter evil conditions, they augment them with every thought. They are like people trying to carry heavy rocks while walking through mud. Each step becomes more difficult and the rocks more cumbersome as their feet sink deeper. If they meet a mentor, he may be strong enough to lighten or even totally remove their burdens. Helping them thus, the mentor will urge them to step on solid ground, pointing out that once they reach a level place they should remain aware of that bad path and never traverse it again.
　尔时地藏菩萨摩诃萨白佛言：『世尊，我观是阎浮提众生，举心动念，无非是罪。脱获善利，多退出心。若遇恶缘，念念增益。是等辈人，如履泥涂，负於重石，渐困渐重，足步深邃。若得遇善知识，替与减负，或全与负。是知识有大力故，复相扶持，劝令牢脚。若达平地，须省恶路，无再经历。』

"World Honored One, the bad habits of beings range from minor to major. Since all beings have such habits, their parents or relatives should create blessings for them when they are on the verge of dying in order to assist them on the road ahead.

『世尊，习恶众生，从纤毫间，便至无量。是诸众生有如此习，临命终时，父母眷属，宜为设福，以资前路。　
That may be done by hanging banners and canopies; lighting oil lamps; reciting the sacred Sutras; making offerings before the images of Buddhas or sages. Another way to assist them is by reciting the names of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Pratyekabuddhas so that the recitation of each name passes by the ear of the dying one and is heard in his fundamental consciousness. "Suppose the evil karma created by beings were such that they should fall into the evil destinies. If their relatives cultivate wholesome causes on their behalf when they are close to death, then their manifold offenses can be dissolved.
　或悬翻盖及燃油灯。或转读尊经、或供样佛像及诸圣像，乃至念佛菩萨，及辟支佛名字，一名一号，历临终人耳根，或闻在本识。是诸众生所造恶业，计其感果，必堕恶趣，缘是眷属为临终人修此圣因，如是众罪，悉皆消灭。』

If relatives can further do many good deeds during the first forty-nine days after the death of such beings, then the deceased can leave the evil destinies forever, be born as humans and gods, and receive supremely wonderful bliss. The surviving relatives will also receive limitless benefits.
『若能更为身死之後，七七日内，广造众善。能使是诸众生永离恶趣，得生人天，受胜妙乐，现在眷属，利益无量。』

"Therefore, before the Buddhas, World Honored Ones, as well as before the gods, dragons, and the rest of the Eightfold Division, humans and non-humans, I now exhort beings of Jambudvipa to be careful to avoid harming, killing, and doing other unwholesome deeds; to refrain from worshipping ghosts and spirits or making sacrifices to them; and to never call on mountain sprites on the day of death.
『是故我今对佛世尊，及天龙八部人非人等，劝於阎浮提众生临终之日，慎勿杀害，及造恶缘，拜祭鬼神，求诸魍魉。』

Why is that?"Killing, harming, and making sacrifices are not the least bit helpful to the deceased. Such acts only bind up the conditions of offenses so that they grow ever more deep and heavy. The deceased might have been due to increase his potential for Sagehood or gain birth among humans or gods in his next life or in the future. But when his family commits offenses in his name, he will resent the disasters he inherits, and his good rebirth will be delayed. How much more would that be the case for people on the verge of death who during their lives had planted few good roots. Each offender has to undergo the bad destinies according to his own karma. How could anyone bear to have relatives add to that karma?
『何以故？尔所杀害乃至祭拜，无纤毫之力，利益亡人，但结罪缘，转增深重。假使来世或现在生，得获圣分，生人天中。缘是临终被诸眷属造是恶因，亦令是命终人殃累对辩，晚生善处。何况临命终人，在生未曾有少善根，各据本业，自受恶趣，何忍眷属更为增业。』

"That would be like having a neighbor add a few more things to a load of over a hundred pounds being carried by someone who had already traveled a long distance and who had not eaten for three days. By adding that extra weight, that person's burden would become even more unbearable.
　　『譬如有人从远处来，绝粮三日，所负担物，强过百今，忽遇邻人，更附少物，以是之故，转复困重。』
"World Honored One, I see that beings of Jambudvipa will themselves receive the benefit of any good deeds they are able to do within the Buddha's teaching. That holds true even when the deeds are as small as a strand of hair, a drop of water, a grain of sand, or a mote of dust."
『世尊，我观阎浮提众生，但能於诸佛教中，乃至善事，一毛一　，一沙一尘，如是利益，悉皆自得。』

After that had been said, an Elder named Great Eloquence arose in the assembly. He had long since realized Non-production and was only appearing in the body of an Elder to teach and transform those in the Ten Directions. Placing his palms together respectfully, he asked Earth Store Bodhisattva, "Great Lord, after people in Jambudvipa die and their close and distant relatives generate merit by making meal offerings and doing other such good deeds, will the deceased obtain merit and virtue significant enough to bring about their liberation?
说是语时，会中有一长者，名曰大辩，是长者久证无生，化度十方，现长者身，合掌恭敬，问地藏菩萨言：『大士，是南阎浮提众生，命终之後，小大眷属，为修功德，乃至设斋，造众善因，是命终人，得大利益及解脱不？』

Earth Store replied, "Elder, based on the awesome power of the Buddhas, I will now proclaim this principle for the sake of beings of the present and future. Elder, if beings of the present and future when on the verge of dying hear the name of one Buddha, one Bodhisattva, or one Pratyekabuddha, they will attain liberation whether they have offenses or not. "When men or women laden with offenses who failed to plant good causes die, even they can receive one-seventh of any merit dedicated to them by relatives who do good deeds on their behalf. The other six-sevenths of the merit will return to the living relatives who did the good deeds. It follows that men and women of the present and future who cultivate while they are strong and healthy will receive every portion of the benefit derived."
地藏答言：『长者，我今为未来现在一切众生，承佛威力，略说是事。长者，未来现在诸众生等，临命终日，的闻一佛名、一菩萨名、一辟支佛名，不问有罪无罪，悉得解脱。若有男子女人，在生不修善因多造众罪。命终之後，眷属大小，为造福利一切圣事，七分之中而乃获一分，六分功德，生者自利。以是之故，未来现在善男女等，闻健自修，分分己获。

"The arrival of the Great Ghost of Impermanence is so unexpected that the deceased ones' consciousnesses first roam in darkness and obscurity, unaware of offenses and blessings. For forty-nine days they are as if deluded or deaf, or as if in courts where their karmic retributions are being decided. Once judgment is fixed, rebirths are undergone according to their karma. In the time before rebirths are determined, the deceased suffer thousands of myriads of concerns. How much more is that the case for those who are to fall into the bad destinies.

　　无常大鬼，不期而到，冥冥游神，未知罪福。七七日内，如痴如聋，或在诸司辩论业果。审定之後，据报受生。未测之间，千万愁苦，何况堕於诸恶趣等。』

"Throughout forty-nine days those whose lives have ended and who have not yet been reborn will be hoping every moment that their immediate relatives will earn blessings powerful enough to rescue them.

At the end of that time the deceased will undergo retribution according to their karma. If someone is an offender, he may pass through hundreds of thousands of years without even a day's liberation. If someone's offenses deserve Fivefold Relentless Retribution, he will fall into the great hells and undergo incessant suffering throughout hundreds of thousands of eons."
『是命终人，未得受生，在七七日内，念念之间，望诸骨肉眷属，与造福力救拔。过是日後，随业受报。若市罪人，动经千百岁中，无解脱日。若是五无间罪，堕大地狱，千劫万劫，永受众苦。』

"Moreover, Elder, when beings who have committed karmic offenses die, their relatives may prepare vegetarian offerings to aid them on their karmic paths. In the process of preparing the vegetarian meal and before it has been eaten, rice-washing water and vegetable leaves should not be thrown on the ground. Before the food is offered to the Buddhas and Sangha no one should eat it. If there is laxness or transgression in this matter, then the deceased will receive no strength from it. If purity is vigorously maintained in making the offering to the Buddhas and Sangha, the deceased will receive one-seventh of the merit. Therefore, Elder, by performing vegetarian offerings on behalf of deceased fathers, mothers, and other relatives while making earnest supplication on their behalf, beings of Jambudvipa benefit both the living and the dead."

复次长者：『如是罪业众生，命终之後，眷属骨肉，为修营斋，资助道业未斋食竟，及营齐之次，米泔菜叶，不弃於地，乃至诸食为献佛僧，勿得先食。如有违食，及不精勤，是命终人，了不得力。如精勤护净奉献佛僧，是命终人，七分获一。是故长者，阎浮众生，若能为其父母乃至眷属，命终之後，设斋供养，志心勤恳。如是之人，存亡获利。』
After that was said, hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of ghosts and spirits of Jambudvipa who were in the palace of the Trayastrimsha Heaven, made the unlimited resolve to attain Bodhi. The Elder Great Eloquence made obeisance and withdrew.
说是语时，忉利天宫，有千万亿那由他阎浮鬼神，悉发无量菩提之心，大辩长者作礼而退。