Kōgen Mizuno’s “Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission” has some fascinating details about what scholars know about the origins and distribution of the various Buddhist sutras, but it had little that I felt needed to be set aside for future use. Besides yesterday’s quote about four interpretations of the word “buddha” offered by Chih-i, the only other item I set aside was this piece of advice I found on page 47:

In order to introduce Buddhism to the Chinese, basic Buddhist teachings were excerpted from various sutras and compiled as the forty-two entries in [the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters], which imparts easily assimilated knowledge of Buddhism and its moral teachings. …

“The Buddha said, ‘If the evil man would criticize the wise man, that is as a man who spits looking up at heaven. His spit does not defile heaven, but his own body instead. That is [also] as a man who throws rubbish at the windward man. The rubbish does not defile him, but the thrower himself instead. You should not criticize the wise man. Your own faults are certainly enough to ruin yourself.’ “

Yes, indeed, my own faults are certainly enough to ruin me.