Why Is Slandering the Three Jewels the Greatest Offense?

The Buddhist sutras are all the true words of the Buddha; the Buddha does not deceive sentient beings. Many people feel that any casual remark they make commenting on the Three Jewels is nothing, no big deal, yet the weight of such a remark may be considerable, and one is often unaware of it. A single wholesome thought is the cause of ascending to the heavens to enjoy pleasures; a single unwholesome thought is the cause of falling into hell. Words and deeds directed at the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are especially weighty, not the same as words and deeds within worldly dharmas. If a single word damages or slanders the Three Jewels, whether truthfully or untruthfully, it is a cause for hell.

A single disharmonious utterance is called divisive speech (two-tongued speech); sowing discord in the harmony of the saṅgha community, sowing discord among monastics, among lay practitioners, or between monastics and lay practitioners—all are causes for hell. The mouth creates the most karma. To avoid suffering evil retribution, one should well guard one's verbal karma and guard against disaster issuing from the mouth. When there is nothing to say, do not speak; when there is something to say, speak little and speak good words; avoid stirring up trouble and creating disputes out of nothing. In this way one remains pure, leaving no faults behind—this is what a wise and intelligent person does; the opposite is what a foolish person burdened with deep afflictions does.

Slander is divided into groundless slander and grounded slander; "ground" means evidence and fact. Saying something exists when it does not, saying something does not exist when it does, or inverting the facts—this is groundless slander. When the matter is real and what is said is factual, it is called grounded slander. With respect to the Three Jewels, both cases count as slander, and the offense is very grave. Speaking of a monastic's faults and misdeeds is a great offense; even if the matter is true, speaking of it to others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is an offense, and maliciously publicizing it is an even greater offense.

Why is creating karma with respect to the Three Jewels the gravest of offenses? Because the Three Jewels bestow the greatest kindness upon sentient beings in the world, possess the greatest merit, can bring sentient beings to liberation, enable them to leave suffering and attain happiness, and are sentient beings' supreme field of merit. Committing evil deeds within one's own field of merit is naturally the gravest offense and has the greatest impact. If, because of one's slander, sentient beings lose faith in the Three Jewels, it is tantamount to cutting off sentient beings' path to liberation, and this offense is surely heavier than any other. In the world, doing evil to someone who has been kind to oneself is despised and rejected by people; how much more so doing evil to the Three Jewels, which can bring one the merit of liberation over countless kalpas within the Buddha's Dharma—how could such an offense be small?

Whoever commits evil deeds does so because of afflictions, because of the presence of "self" in the mind. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt: because there is greed in the mind, one commits evil deeds when greed cannot be satisfied, when one cannot obtain what one wants; because there is hatred in the mind, one becomes hateful when things do not go as one wishes; because the mind is often deluded, not knowing what is wholesome or unwholesome, true or false, good or bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha), one commits evil deeds out of ignorance; because the "self" in the mind blazes fiercely and cannot be contained, it erupts, crushing others, and one commits evil deeds; because there is doubt in the mind, unable to be certain about the causality of good and evil, one commits evil deeds.

All evil deeds are committed because of the self; all afflictions arise because of the self. The self is the chief culprit, causing the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) to remain unsevered, the three evil paths to be unavoidable, and suffering and distress to be endless. Therefore every Dharma learner should make a great resolve: one must subdue that chief culprit and destroy that chief culprit; only then can one leave suffering and attain happiness, only then can one's own mind be at peace, and only then can the world be at peace. Thus eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) can bring blessings to the whole world and bless all sentient beings, yet the greatest beneficiary is still oneself. Although there is no longer a self, having no self is what is truly good.