Why Is the Sin of Slandering the Three Jewels the Greatest?

All Buddhist scriptures are the true words of the Buddha; the Buddha does not deceive sentient beings. Many people feel that any casual remark they make is nothing, no big deal, yet the weight of a single sentence can be considerable, and one is often unaware of it. A single wholesome thought is the cause of ascending to heaven to enjoy pleasures; a single evil thought is the cause of the Avīci hell. Words and deeds directed toward the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are especially weighty, not the same as words and deeds in worldly affairs. If a single sentence damages or slanders the Three Jewels, whether truthfully or untruthfully, it is a cause for hell. A single discordant word is called divisive speech (two-tongued speech); stirring up discord within the Saṅgha, or provoking disharmony among monastics, among laypeople, or between monastics and laypeople—all are causes for hell. The mouth creates the most karma. To avoid evil retribution, one should guard well the karma of speech and beware of disaster issuing from the mouth. When there is nothing to say, do not speak; when there is something to say, speak little and speak well; avoid stirring up trouble and creating disputes out of nothing. In this way one remains pure, leaving no faults behind—this is the conduct of the wise and intelligent; the opposite is the conduct of foolish people burdened with deep afflictions.

Slander is divided into baseless slander and grounded slander; "ground" means evidence and fact. Saying something exists when it does not, or saying something does not exist when it does, inverting the facts—this is baseless 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 the faults and wrongs of monastics is a great sin; even if the matter is true, whether deliberately or unintentionally telling it to others is a sin, and maliciously publicizing it is an even greater sin.

Why is creating karma within the Three Jewels the gravest of sins? 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. To commit evil deeds within one's own field of merit is naturally the gravest of sins, and its impact is also the greatest. If, because of one's slander, sentient beings lose faith in the Three Jewels, it is tantamount to cutting off their path to liberation; this sin 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 within the Buddha's teaching, which can bring one the merit of liberation over countless kalpas—how could such a sin be small?

Everyone who commits evil deeds does so because of afflictions, because the mind holds only oneself and no others. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt: because there is greed in the mind, when greed cannot be satisfied and one cannot obtain what one wants, one commits evil deeds; because there is hatred in the mind, when things do not go one's way, one becomes hateful; because the mind is often deluded, not knowing wholesome from unwholesome, right from wrong, good from bad, one commits evil deeds out of ignorance; because the self in the mind blazes fiercely and cannot be contained, it bursts forth, crushing others, and one commits evil deeds; because there is doubt in the mind and one cannot be certain of 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. Without eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), one will transmigrate through the three lower destinies, unable to escape the three evil paths, with endless suffering. Therefore every Buddhist practitioner should make a great resolve: one must subdue that chief culprit and ultimately annihilate it; only then can one leave suffering and attain happiness, only then can one's own mind be peaceful and tranquil, and only then can the world be at peace. Thus eliminating self-view can bring blessings to the whole world and bestow blessings upon sentient beings, yet the greatest beneficiary is still oneself. Although there is no more "self," it is precisely without the self that things are truly good.