The Calamity of Fetters: What the Scripture Says When You Feel Trapped
Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.
A Deyuan Academy project, taught by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. The original text is taken from this site's scripture materials; the explanation was compiled by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from this site's scriptures and collections.
Original text
杻械、枷鎖檢繫其身《妙法蓮華經・觀世音菩薩普門品》 (Lotus Sutra, Universal Gate Chapter of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva)
Plain-language explanation
The Universal Gate Chapter (〈普門品〉) has this line: 「杻械、枷鎖檢繫其身」. 杻械 and 枷鎖 are instruments of restraint from ancient times, and 「檢繫」 means to guard and confine a person. This line speaks of a condition in which the body is bound and cannot move freely.
What does the scripture say? The line just before it in the same passage is 「若有罪、若無罪」. That is, whether the person is guilty or not guilty, if they are caught in restraint and call the name of Guanyin Bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara), the scripture says 「皆悉斷壞，即得解脫」. The scripture speaks of a person in suffering calling with one mind, and Guanyin hearing. This is an expression of faith; this site does not guarantee any outcome on the Bodhisattva's behalf.
How have past masters read it? In the Song dynasty, Siming Zhili (四明知禮) of the Tiantai school, explaining the “evil karma” level of the calamity of fetters in his Guanyin Yishu Ji (《觀音義疏記》), wrote: 「廷尉檢繫可有散時，妻子錢財繫無脫日」. This means that a prison term has a day of release, but the ties to family and possessions have no day of freedom. Right after this, however, he says that family is not necessarily an obstacle; if in past lives they did good deeds together, in this life they can instead become supporting conditions for the path. The same tie can be a lock, or a supporting condition for walking toward goodness together. This site quotes the passage and does not use it to judge anyone's family.
This site's modern reading: the Map of Compassion matches the calamity of fetters to “being trapped, restrained, or in legal difficulty.” On the map, the hands that correspond to this calamity are the White Whisk Hand (白拂手), matching “If one wishes to remove the calamity of evil obstacles on the body”, and the Axe Hand (斧鉞手), matching “If one wishes to be free of the calamity of officialdom at all times and places”. These are markers of correspondence. They belong to the level of interpretation and are not direct promises of the scripture.
Two things can be kept in mind from this lesson: the scripture acknowledges that people have moments of being trapped; and the scripture also places its attention on the steadiness that comes from 「一心稱名」. As for real legal problems, the scriptures are not the solution; the answer lies with professionals and the legal system itself.
Key terms
- 杻械、枷鎖
- Instruments of restraint used on the body in ancient times. The scripture uses them to stand for a condition of the body being bound and unable to move freely.
- 檢繫其身
- To guard and confine a person. These four characters describe a state of detention and loss of freedom.
- 若有罪、若無罪
- The premise of the scripture: whether the person is guilty or not guilty, they are included in this calamity. It speaks of the shared condition of people in suffering.
One line to remember
杻械、枷鎖檢繫其身
Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.