All Buddhist Sutras and books that propagate and reveal the Buddhadharma exist for the purpose of causing people to encounter auspiciousness and avoid harm, to change their falseness and move toward wholesomeness, to understand the cause and effect of the three periods of time, to recognize the original Buddha-nature we are all replete with, to transcend the suffering of being in the sea of birth and death, and to gain rebirth in the Lotus Country of Ultimate Bliss.
Therefore, anyone reading such texts should bring forth a mind of gratitude and reflect upon how hard it is to encounter them. One should wash one’s hands before handling these texts and wipe clean the surface upon which one places them. By being as reverent and sincere toward Buddhist texts as one would be when encountering the Buddhas or gods or as when one is beside one’s teacher, one can attain limitless benefits.
But if one is shamelessly negligent, sloppy and disrespectful, headstrong and prejudiced, and from such falseness gives rise to slander, then one’s offenses will fill up the skies and one will suffer endless retributions. So all people of the world, please heed this advice: Stay far away from creating offenses and seek al-ways for what is beneficial in order to leave suffering and obtain bliss.