梵網經菩薩戒略疏

II. THE FORTY-EIGHT MINOR PRECEPTS

1. General Introduction

The Buddha told the bodhisattvas: “I have finished explaining the ten major precepts; I shall now explain the forty-eight minor precepts.”

Explanation:

A minor defilement means that although this offense is lighter than the preceding ten major precepts, its power to defile the fundamental ground of mind is by no means slight. If one does not promptly seek repentance, it will obstruct the ground of mind and make it difficult to attain the true fruition. Before repenting, however, one must know whether the character of the offense is fundamental, derivative, or independently arisen.

With regard to the preceding ten major precepts, if one intended to commit an offense but did not carry it out, the grave offense has not yet been constituted. If one performed preliminary acts that constitute a minor defilement, this is called a derivative offense. If the transgression committed did not arise from any of the ten major precepts but arose independently, it is called an independently arisen minor defilement.

Among the fundamental minor defilements discussed here, there are also derivative offenses, and thus the various offenses may become confused. If one deliberately violates any of the forty-eight fundamental minor precepts, one must repent of the minor-defilement offense and perform the prescribed rite of repentance for a duskrta offense. In addition, committing preliminary transgressions constitutes improper deportment or an evil deed of bodily karma.

If one commits an offense unintentionally, one incurs only an offense of evil conduct and should inwardly reproach oneself. Therefore, the Pratimoksa Sutra states: “When this transgression arises from a defiled mind, one should repent of the evil deed. If one does not repent, it will obstruct the bodhisattva precepts.” When repenting, one must know and set forth the proper method of repentance; only then can the offense be extinguished.

Therefore, the Sutra on the Deportment of Bodhisattva Laymen states: “If one has committed a transgression, one should ask someone well versed in the method of repenting evil deeds according to the Lesser Vehicle or the Great Vehicle, and then repent in accordance with the Dharma.” Just as a bhiksu who commits a duskrta offense—a term translated into Chinese as “evil deed”—must clearly understand for himself the method of repentance, so too here; it will not be discussed at length.

2. Individual Explanation

Precept 1

FAILING TO RESPECT TEACHERS AND COMPANIONS

If a disciple of the Buddha is about to assume the throne of a king, the position of a wheel-turning monarch, or an official post, that person should first receive the bodhisattva precepts. Then all spirits will protect the bodies of the king and officials, and all Buddhas will rejoice. After obtaining the precepts, a disciple of the Buddha should possess a mind of filial obedience and reverence.

If an elder, an acarya, a venerable one of great virtue, a fellow student, a fellow practitioner, or one who shares the same understanding comes to one’s residence, one must rise to welcome that person, bow in homage, inquire after their well-being, and make offerings in every respect according to the Dharma—even selling one’s own body, one’s realm and cities, one’s children, the seven precious things, and a hundred kinds of possessions to provide for that person.

If a disciple of the Buddha gives rise to arrogance, anger, or delusion and refuses to welcome and bow to such a person, or even refuses to make offerings in accordance with the Dharma, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor-defilement offense.

Explanation:

Teachers and elders are models for gods and humans and exemplary good physicians for the world. The birth of our precept-body and the nurturing and growth of our wisdom both depend upon the power of our teachers’ path. We must therefore know to revere and obey them, without turning away or abandoning them. If we give rise to arrogance, we shall incur an offense as vast as the ocean.

Companions are those capable of helping us cultivate virtue and advance in practice. Through them, wholesome qualities are accomplished, and through them, the myriad practices progress. It is like a person who wishes to cross the ocean and must rely upon a sailing vessel; if the sail is discarded, the vessel will drift away or sink. Therefore, the Tathagata taught that teachers and companions should be revered as Buddhas.

This passage says that these persons should first receive the bodhisattva precepts and only afterward accept their positions. Its purpose is to help them first establish virtue so that they may inspire the gods and nagas and receive the protection of spirits. Then rulers and ministers will be secure, and the country will be peaceful. The blessings of the ruler and ministers are precisely the blessings of the people of the entire nation.

In the section exhorting people to receive the ten precepts, the king was placed first at the beginning, and the king was again placed first in the concluding summary.

Now, in this section on the minor precepts, the king is likewise mentioned first, because when the ruler is upright, all under heaven is upright; when the ruler is good, officials and common people are good. Thus, the ruler must possess the power to teach and transform others and must have a mind that encourages goodness. If a ruler does not receive these precepts, that ruler forfeits the benefits of protection and rescue, regards himself as noble and exalted, and may even destroy the Buddhadharma and forbid the Buddha’s disciples from leaving the household life to cultivate the path.

Even after receiving these precepts, there remains concern that such a ruler’s arrogant mind has not yet ceased and that the ruler will fail to respect virtuous people. Therefore, the Tathagata especially exhorted rulers to receive them. The five assemblies of monastics all follow the Vinaya in their practice and know for themselves to be reverent and obedient; hence they are mentioned here only briefly.

Because rulers, ministers, and officials revere the Three Jewels and receive the precepts, they obtain the protection of spirits. Their bodies remain healthy and strong, the country is secure, calamities gradually disappear, winds and rains come in harmonious season, and the people receive benefit. Therefore, the Sutra on Contemplating the Ground of Mind states: “If a human king perfects right view and governs the world in accordance with the Dharma, he is called a Lord of the Gods, for he transforms the world through the wholesome Dharma of the heavens.

The benevolent spirits of the heavens and the Four Heavenly Kings constantly come to aid and protect him and safeguard the royal palace. Although dwelling among humans, he cultivates wholesome karma, and his mind is impartial and discerning in granting rewards and imposing punishments. Such a sage-king is called a King of the True Dharma.”

The Great Golden Light Sutra contains the following verse:

Because the devas protect and sustain him,

He is also called a Son of Heaven.

The lord of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three

Shares his power to aid the human king.

A thousand stars follow their courses around their stations;

The sun and moon do not depart from their seasons.

Favorable winds come at the proper times,

And beneficent rains fall in due season.

All the hosts of devas

Fill every part of the royal palace.

Therefore, you human kings

Should forget yourselves and transmit the True Dharma.

Teach sentient beings by means of the Dharma,

Causing them to dwell in peace,

And cause all the common people

To practice the ten wholesome deeds.

The country will always be peaceful and joyful,

And its borders will remain secure.

All Buddhas rejoice because these precepts of the ground of mind have been transmitted by a thousand Buddhas, whose original hope was that the Buddhadharma would continue to be transmitted and received without interruption. Now that rulers, ministers, and common people reverently follow and uphold them, and everyone practices goodness, how could each and every disciple of the Buddha fail to rejoice?

There are two kinds of elders:

1. An elder within the Sangha is a person who is senior, with no one ranked above them, and thus occupies a position above that of one’s upadhyaya and acarya.

2. One who received the precepts before oneself—even by an hour, a moment, or the span of a sun-shadow—is an elder. King Bimbisara called a disciple of the Buddha a “supreme person,” meaning that such a supreme person is greater than rulers, ministers, and common people.

In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Buddha said: “A bodhisattva who single-mindedly practices the path to unsurpassed bodhi, whose mind is not distracted, is called a supreme person.”

Acarya is translated into Chinese as “exemplary guide.” An exemplary guide is a teacher, a capable person who possesses standards and rules by which to instruct disciples among the five assemblies of monastics.

There are five kinds of acaryas:

1. The acarya who confers the ten precepts

2. The karma-acarya who confers full ordination

3. The instructing acarya

4. The acarya upon whom one depends

5. The acarya who teaches the sutras and doctrines.

“Greatly virtuous one” is an honorific for a practitioner endowed with pure virtue.

Fellow students are those who receive instruction in the Great Vehicle Dharma from the same teacher. Those of the same understanding are those whose minds share a correct comprehension of the Great Vehicle teachings. Fellow practitioners are those who personally cultivate the Great Vehicle practices together. Whenever any such person arrives, one must go forth to welcome and bow to them, being reverent and humble and observing proper measure in advancing and withdrawing.

Homage means bowing. According to worldly rites, there are two forms of bowing: two bows symbolize the Two Modes, while four bows symbolize the Four Images. The distinct practice of making three bows signifies the utmost reverence for the Three Vehicles, followed by taking refuge in the Three Jewels and becoming free from the three poisons.

“Inquiring after his well-being” means respectfully asking and addressing him. After bowing, one should have a joyful and delighted countenance, maintain right mindfulness, look directly at him, and inquire: “Do you have little illness and little affliction? Are your walking and daily activities peaceful and at ease?” As the Scripture on Upholding the Grounds states: “Are your movements unhurried, the four great elements harmonious and supple, and your waking and sleeping peaceful and secure?” Thus, one should inquire as appropriate to the occasion; there is no fixed formula. This demonstrates reverence for the precepts and the practice of the way of filial obedience.

Arrogance means allowing body and mind to behave unrestrainedly. Pride means relying upon oneself and looking down upon others. Delusion means being unable to distinguish superior from inferior or right from wrong. Anger means that, among the four afflictions mentioned above, if one harbors even one of these four states of mind, one simultaneously displays signs of disrespect and consequently does not rise to welcome, bow to, or make offerings to the person.

To diligently cultivate proper conduct is called “making offerings”; to maintain a mind of support and assistance is called “attending upon.” Furthermore, when an inferior respectfully presents something to a superior, this is called “making an offering”; when an inferior assists a venerable elder, this is called “attending upon.”

Selling one’s own body demonstrates utmost reverence, respect for the Dharma and for the one who teaches the Dharma, and wholehearted sincerity in making offerings. In ancient times, when Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita heard the Prajnaparamita Sutra, he resolved to sell his heart, liver, marrow, and brain in order to make offerings to the great being Dharmodgata. While cultivating on the causal ground, Shakyamuni Tathagata was once a poor man.

Upon hearing the Great Nirvana Sutra, he cut three taels of flesh from his body each day and sold it to a person afflicted with scabies so that the person might treat the illness. He continued in this way for an entire month and used the money to make offerings to the Buddha. Although people today may be poor, how could they possess not even the slightest material thing?

Yet no one is willing to sell either sons or daughters. Because they value wealth more highly than the true Dharma, they incur an offense.

The seven treasures are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, giant clamshell, crystal, agate, pearls, amber, and so forth. “A hundred kinds of things” signifies the great quantity of articles offered. If one fails to make reverent offerings as described above, one commits a minor defiling offense.

The Sutra on the Five Precepts and Deportment of Bodhisattva Upasakas states: “If, no matter how many words are spoken, one refuses to listen, or if, when asked anything, one does not answer truthfully, one commits a grave defiling offense. If one is not motivated by pride, anger, resentment, or delusion, but fails to remember solely because of laziness or a distracted mind, one commits a minor defiling offense. If one is ill while listening to or teaching the Dharma, if one was already speaking with someone else, or even if one intentionally supports many people in teaching the Dharma, one does not commit an offense.”

The Second Precept

DRINKING ALCOHOL

A disciple of the Buddha must not intentionally drink alcohol, for alcohol gives rise to immeasurable offenses. One who personally hands a cup of alcohol to another will receive the retribution of being without hands for five hundred lifetimes; how much more so if one drinks it oneself? Nor may one tell any person or sentient being to drink alcohol; how much less may one drink it oneself?

A disciple of the Buddha must neither drink any kind of alcohol nor tell another to drink it. If one drinks alcohol or instructs another to drink it, the disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

Alcohol gives rise to offenses and evils that are not limited merely to thirty-six transgressions; hence they are said to be immeasurable. If one receives the retribution of being without hands for five hundred lifetimes merely for carrying a vessel of alcohol and handing it to another to drink, how could one drink it oneself and not undergo even heavier retribution?

Those who drink alcohol become deluded and confused. After death, they must fall into the animal realm and become foolish flies suffering from hunger, or even worms, leeches, mackerel, and other creatures without hands.

The Sutra of Maudgalyayana’s Questions from Ghosts states: “A ghost once asked: ‘I do not know what offense I committed in a former life that has caused me to undergo the retribution of stupidity.’ Venerable Maudgalyayana replied: ‘When you were a human being, you served alcohol to others and also urged and pressured them to drink, causing them to become confused and disordered. You must now undergo calamitous retribution and karmic recompense in hell.’”

The Sutra of Mindfulness of the True Dharma states: “If one gives alcohol to the Sangha, to those who have received the precepts, to practitioners of serene stillness, or to those whose minds have become quiescent and who have attained meditative concentration, thereby disturbing their minds, one must fall into the Wailing Hell.”

Question: When a bodhisattva practices dana-paramita, if someone comes asking for alcohol, the bodhisattva gives it to that person. How should this be understood?

Answer: A great being cultivating the six paramitas and myriad practices gives universally. Whenever someone comes seeking something, the bodhisattva does not oppose that person’s wishes, but enables them to be fulfilled, giving in accordance with the supreme dana-paramita.

The Sutra of Questions states: “When a bodhisattva practices the perfection of giving, if someone comes seeking a needed article, the bodhisattva should say: ‘Do as I instruct, and I shall provide it for you.’ If someone is fond of alcohol, the bodhisattva immediately gives rise to right mindfulness and drinks together with that person. Afterward, the bodhisattva must exhort that person to abandon alcohol forever. In this way, the pure bodhisattva employs skillful means to gather in sentient beings.

If the person inwardly remains attached to alcohol and does not wish to relinquish it, the bodhisattva then speaks reproachfully and explains the calamities caused by alcohol, which is as dangerous as a keen-edged blade. The person must resolutely abandon it, without allowing lingering attachment to continue. Giving in this manner is faultless.

This is an action performed by a bodhisattva after discerning the capacities of beings and is entirely different from the conduct of shravakas.”

The Sutra on the Deportment of the Five Precepts states: “When bodhisattvas act for the sake of others, they may beg from unrelated laypeople for robes and for hundreds of thousands of other kinds of articles. As they beg for robes, so too may they beg for bowls. For the sake of others, they may request thread, instruct weavers to weave robes, store kausheya robes, accept gold and silver, and do hundreds of thousands of similar things, all of which differ from the conduct of shravakas.” Therefore, the Sutra on the Definitive Vinaya states: “To uphold the shravaka precepts is to violate the bodhisattva precepts, while to uphold the bodhisattva precepts is to violate the shravaka precepts.”

Some people, however, acting from selfish motives, imitate the bodhisattva practice of giving while remaining miserly and unwilling to give. They also wish to imitate the practice of perfect generosity by never opposing the wishes of those who ask, but in reality they act recklessly. They are no different from apes wearing jeweled necklaces: they clearly invite failure upon themselves. How then could they escape the painful retribution of stupidity in the Wailing Hell?

“All people” refers to men and women, old and young, householders and monastics, and people from other regions and other countries. “Sentient beings” refers to nonhuman beings and creatures of different kinds, such as ghosts, spirits, animals, and so forth. Instructing a human or nonhuman being to drink, or drinking oneself—each of these three constitutes a minor defiling offense.

“All kinds of alcohol” are as explained under the major precept. The sutras and Vinaya state: “If consuming alcohol lees or mash can cause intoxication, one incurs an offense with each mouthful swallowed. If one has a grave illness that cannot be cured by other medicines, the Tathagata permits its use for the sake of treating the illness, as clearly explained in the Bhikshu Vinaya and the Sutra of Shariputra’s Questions.”

Question: Since alcohol gives rise to immeasurable faults, why does the Commentary on the Meaning state: “If it does not cause calamity, all such requests may be granted”?

Answer: If this fault can be avoided, the request may be granted. In ancient times, Queen Mallika, the consort of King Prasenajit, received the precepts from the Buddha. When the king was about to execute his cook, she served alcohol to the king.

The king and queen rejoiced and delighted together, and in his happiness the king forgot about executing the official, so that the sentence came to nothing. Queen Mallika later went before the Buddha and sought repentance. The Buddha taught: “Because drinking alcohol in this manner brought great benefit, it did not violate the precept.” Suppose someone who has only just heard this statement does not understand Queen Mallika’s skillful application of the bodhisattva’s provisional practices and attempts to imitate her; that person will hardly escape the consequences.

Moreover, during the Qi dynasty, there was a monk named Tanxian who, while intoxicated, debated the Buddha-Dharma with the Yellow-Crowned Daoists, causing immeasurable numbers of Daoist priests to take refuge in the Buddha and enabling the Buddha-Dharma to flourish greatly. Unless one is a bodhisattva appearing through provisional means, one must not feign such wild conduct, for the calamity thereby incurred will not be slight.

The Third Precept

EATING MEAT

As a disciple of the Buddha, one must not eat the flesh of any sentient being. Those who eat meat lose their compassion and sever the seed of Buddha-nature; all sentient beings who see them keep their distance, and meat-eaters incur immeasurable offenses. Therefore, disciples of the Buddha must not eat the flesh of any sentient being. If they deliberately eat it, they commit a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

All flesh is obtained by taking the lives of sentient beings. Bodhisattvas take compassion as their foundation and the benefit of sentient beings as their fundamental aspiration. Through compassion, they relieve suffering and bestow happiness; by benefiting and liberating beings, they widely practice altruistic conduct for the welfare of all. If they eat meat, they act contrary to both of these practices. How, then, could they be called great beings who liberate sentient beings?

“Deliberately eat” means eating intentionally rather than by mistake. The flesh of all sentient beings includes that of every kind of creature—birds and beasts, aquatic and terrestrial animals, and creatures without feet, such as oysters, clams, mussels, snails, lizards, and so forth. One must not eat the flesh of any living creature.

Compassion is the mind of unsurpassed bodhi. To sever this mind is precisely to sever the seed of Buddha-nature. Once that seed has been severed, how could the root of bodhi ever mature?

Sentient beings who see a meat-eater all keep their distance because that person’s habitual tendencies toward killing have not yet ceased. For example, when a pigeon flew down and perched upon Venerable Sariputra’s shoulder, it trembled violently because his habitual tendencies toward killing had not yet been completely exhausted. How much more fearful, then, would beings be of one who eats their flesh?

Only when both the outward signs and habitual tendencies have been completely extinguished can beings see or hear such a person without fear or avoidance. Therefore, the Surangama Sutra states: “Hunters and butchers spread nets to catch birds and fish. Even dogs become frightened when they see these evil people, barking at and biting them, while wild animals flee at their sight.

They regard such a person, even as he draws his last breath, as though he were a rakshasa demon, thinking, ‘He will surely come here and kill me.’ To preserve their lives, they all flee. Thus it is said that all who see them keep their distance.”

“All bodhisattvas” refers to all who have first aroused the aspiration and received the precepts. Although they have not yet reached the bodhisattva bhumis, they have already entered the position of bodhisattvas. Knowing that they must uphold the precepts, they understand that eating meat is a violation.

The Surangama Sutra states: “The Buddha told Ananda: ‘Even if the minds of those who eat meat should become awakened, as though in samadhi, they are all great rakshasas. Ultimately, their karmic retribution will certainly cause them to fall into the sea of suffering of birth and death. How could they escape the three realms?’”

The Lankavatara Sutra states: “The Buddha told Mahamati: ‘Since beginningless time, all sentient beings have repeatedly been one another’s close relatives. After relinquishing one retributive body, they take on the bodies of birds and beasts. Bodhisattvas regard all sentient beings as their own kin, give rise to loving-kindness toward them, and regard them as their own children. The flesh of every sentient being is formed from impure semen and blood. How could those who seek purity bear to eat it? Those who cultivate compassion, uphold mantras and ritual methods, seek liberation, and advance toward the Mahayana will, if they eat meat, be shunned by all humans, devas, and even sentient beings.’”

If disciples of the Buddha eat meat, they will find no peace even in their dreams. Evil ghosts and rakshasas will rob them of their vital essence, their illnesses will increase day by day, and various offenses will arise. All their merit and virtue will deteriorate and vanish in accordance with their evil karma.

The Sutra contains this verse:

They cannot escape birth and death,

Because they slaughter sentient beings.

Those who purchase every kind of meat with money—

Both parties create evil karma.

After death they fall into the Screaming Hell

And must endure immeasurable suffering.

A ghost once asked Venerable Maudgalyayana: “From the time I was born until now, I have had many children. All of them were handsome, beautiful, and lovable, yet they died young. Whenever I think of those separations, my anguish is beyond description. Venerable sir, may I ask what offense I committed that now causes me to undergo this painful retribution?” Venerable Maudgalyayana replied: “When you were a human being, your mind delighted in eating meat. When you saw children killing living beings, you rejoiced in their actions and even helped them deliberately take those beings’ lives. Because you delighted in killing, you must undergo painful retribution. You now suffer this calamitous recompense, and in the future you must also undergo retribution in hell.”

From this it is sufficiently clear that even those who see others killing and rejoice in it incur such retribution. How much more so those who kill with their own hands—how could they escape painful retribution?

Precept 4

EATING THE FIVE PUNGENT PLANTS

As a disciple of the Buddha, one must not eat the five pungent plants: scallions, Chinese chives, garlic, shallots, and asafoetida. These five pungent plants must not be eaten when added to any kind of food. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately eats them, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

The five pungent plants are named differently in the sutras and Vinaya texts. Most commonly, they are identified as scallions, Chinese chives, garlic, shallots, and asafoetida. In the present sutra, scallions are divided into five kinds, also because each country uses different names for them.

Garlic (great garlic) is also called hu scallion, because Zhang Qian brought it back from his diplomatic mission to the kingdom of Dayuan. The plant commonly eaten today is in fact the scallion of the Hu lands, brought back from that region. The Basic Compendium records: “The scallion of the Hu lands has fine leaves and a small bulb shaped like a lampwick. It resembles a large garlic plant but is smaller in form.” Another variety is called mountain scallion. It grows in pools of water in the mountains and has slender stalks and broad leaves; it is also called Luoshan scallion. In the Western Regions, the five pungent plants comprise many varieties with numerous forms, qualities, and flavors. They cannot all be enumerated here, so only a few varieties are mentioned.

In summary, one must not eat any plant that has a pungent, acrid taste. If practitioners eat the substances mentioned above, their minds will be agitated and unwholesome thoughts will arise. This constitutes a major obstacle to mindfulness and meditative practice. If one’s cultivation lacks right mindfulness, how can the path to liberation be attained?

As the Record of the Western Regions states: “Among practitioners of the Way in the Western Regions, anyone who consumes the five pungent plants must dwell separately. If someone is gravely ill, these plants may be used temporarily on a physician’s instructions. The Vinaya permits this only if that person remains apart from the assembly in a separate private room. After seven days have passed, the person must bathe thoroughly and change clothes before being allowed to dwell again with the Sangha.”

The Surangama Sutra states: “Eating the five pungent plants, which possess an acrid and pungent flavor, entails five faults:

1. When cooked, they arouse lust; when eaten raw, they arouse anger.

2. Even if one can expound the twelve divisions of the scriptures, devas and immortals throughout the ten directions will revile the foul odor and therefore all keep their distance.

3. Hungry ghosts will lick one’s lips, and one will constantly dwell in the company of evil ghosts.

4. One’s merit and virtue will diminish day by day, bringing no benefit whatsoever to one’s life.

5. Bodhisattvas and benevolent spirits throughout the ten directions will not come to offer protection. Taking advantage of this opportunity, powerful ghost-kings will appear in the form of Buddhas and teach the Dharma before such people.

Instead of censuring those who violate the Buddha’s prohibitive precepts, these ghost-kings will praise and extol the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion. After those who eat the five pungent plants die, they will invariably become members of the ghost-kings’ retinues. When their retribution as demons has ended, they will fall into the Avici Hell.

Because these plants increase lust and give rise to anger, they defile the “precepts of the mind-ground.” All noble and worthy beings consequently keep their distance, and thus the offense is classified as a minor defiling offense. Ultimately, the offender falls into the Avici Hell.

Precept 5

FAILING TO INSTRUCT OFFENDERS TO REPENT

As a disciple of the Buddha, when one sees someone committing offenses such as violating the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, or the Ten Precepts; breaking the precepts; or committing the Seven Heinous Offenses, the Eight Adversities, and so forth, one must exhort that person to repent. If a disciple of the Buddha does not exhort the offender to repent, but instead dwells and lives together with that person, participates in the same uposatha, and joins in the same recitation of the precepts without disclosing the person’s offense or reminding that person to repent, this disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

All sentient beings—devas, dragons, the eight classes of beings, humans, nonhumans, and so forth—who have received the Buddha’s Mahayana or Hinayana precepts: if, however, someone who has not received the precepts commits evil, engages in unlawful conduct, or encourages others to do evil, one must immediately employ skillful means to rebuke and remonstrate with that person, causing them to abandon their evil thoughts and conduct and repent of their faults.

The eight precepts are the eight fasting precepts and the eight grave precepts. In the Bodhisattvabhumi Sutra, they are called killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, disparagement, harassment, anger, and slander. The five precepts are the five precepts of male and female lay followers. The ten precepts are the ten wholesome precepts pertaining to the three karmic activities of body, speech, and mind, as well as the ten precepts of a novice monk.

To violate the prohibitory precepts means that a person transgresses and breaks the Buddha’s prohibitory precepts that they have received. “Prohibitory” means restraining and forbidding. The Tathagata established the precepts to restrain the minds of sentient beings from heedlessly pursuing sense objects and to admonish and discipline the karmic activities of body, speech, and mind. Thus, prohibitions are themselves precepts. Although there are many categories of precepts, they do not go beyond the Mahayana and Hinayana—the Sravaka precepts and the bodhisattva precepts. In the Mahayana, there are the three groups of pure precepts. In the Hinayana, there are the precepts conferred through the jñapti-caturtha-karman. The seven heinous offenses will be explained below.

The eight difficulties are:

1. The hells

2. The animal realm

3. The realm of hungry ghosts

4. The heaven of long-lived devas

5. Uttarakuru

6. Being blind, deaf, mute, or unable to speak clearly

7. Possessing worldly intelligence and eloquence

8. Being born before or after a Buddha.

These eight difficulties all obstruct the path of liberation. Because those undergoing them cannot encounter a Buddha and hear the Dharma, they are called difficulties. Yet all eight arise because practitioners violated the precepts in previous lives; the Buddha therefore instructed them to repent so that they might avoid such retribution in the future.

If one violates the precepts and commits offenses in this life, one will certainly undergo painful retribution in the next. Those subject to these eight difficulties should be instructed to repent. Those who create karma through killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and so forth will inevitably undergo painful retribution in the three evil destinies—the hells, the realm of hungry ghosts, and the animal realm.

Those who cultivate the non-Buddhist concentration of nonperception will undergo retribution for five hundred lifetimes in the heaven of long-lived devas, knowing nothing of the Three Jewels. Those who create worldly merit will experience its fortunate retribution in Uttarakuru. Those whose minds give rise to wrong views and who take no pleasure in hearing the Buddhadharma will undergo the retribution of being unable to speak clearly.

Those who disbelieve the Three Jewels and disparage Dharma teachers will undergo the retribution of being mute, blind, and deaf. Those who disbelieve supramundane Dharma and cling to the flavor of worldly teachings will undergo the retribution of worldly intelligence and eloquence, disbelieving the true teaching and the law of cause and effect concerning transgression and merit. Those whose karma is heavy and merit slight will not encounter a Buddha and will thus be born before or after a Buddha.

The sutra states: “Those who malign the Three Jewels, slight and disparage the noble path, discuss the merits and faults or virtues and defects of others, seek out the shortcomings of others, oppress and falsely accuse the virtuous, and envy the worthy will undergo the retribution of being mute, unable to speak clearly, blind, and deaf.”

The Sutra of Questions Concerning the Hells states: “Those who do not answer when called by their parents or teachers will fall among the deaf hungry ghosts in hell. Brushes will constantly scrape against the tongues of these offenders for two hundred years, after which they will be reborn as mute and deaf human beings.” Therefore, they must be instructed to feel remorse and repent so that they may avoid painful retribution in the future.

Regarding all offenses committed, whether light or grave, whether naturally wrongful acts or acts prohibited by precept, they must be taught to possess a sense of shame and moral dread and to repent in accordance with the Dharma. Otherwise, their evil offenses will increase day by day, and in the next life they will fall into the three evil destinies because they maligned the Dharma gate, contrary to the Great Being’s vast vow to protect the Dharma and benefit sentient beings.

“Dwelling together” means practicing together within the same great boundary. “Sharing material offerings” means belonging to the same Sangha community and together receiving the material support and offerings of donors.

The full form of posadha is posathadha. “Posatha” means to foster and nourish, while “dha” means to eliminate. This means that when the assembly gathers every half-month to recite the precepts, wholesome qualities can thereby be nurtured and increased, one’s own mind can be purified, and unwholesome thoughts and defilements can be eliminated.

“One assembly reciting the precepts” means that, within the same boundary, the entire Sangha jointly conducts the posadha and recites the precepts every half-month. Alternatively, within one great boundary there may be two dwelling places that share a single precept recitation but receive material offerings separately. Since that situation does not apply here, the text speaks of sharing material offerings and forming one assembly for the recitation of the precepts.

Without formally accusing them of an offense, as soon as one has any of the three bases—seeing, hearing, or suspicion—one must point out where they have transgressed, admonish and remind them, and cause them to repent. If one neither raises the offense nor reminds or instructs them, but instead shares the Sangha’s material offerings with them and improperly accepts the gifts of the faithful—even allowing them to incur ever more offenses—one acts contrary to the bodhisattva’s loving-kindness, compassion, and protective concern and thus personally incurs an offense.

The Nirvana Sutra states: “When a precept-observing bhiksu sees someone violating the true precepts, he immediately expels, rebukes, and mildly disciplines that person. Know that this bhiksu gains immeasurable merit beyond calculation. If he neither rebukes nor expels the offender, nor raises the offense, know that he is an enemy within the Buddhadharma. One who can rebuke and expel such a person is My disciple.”

The Sutra on the Five Precepts and Deportment of Lay Followers states: “A bodhisattva serves as a model for many people. When the bodhisattva sees members of the community acting improperly, the Dharma teacher should rebuke and expel them. If the bodhisattva encounters an angry and malicious person but neither rebukes nor disciplines that person, the bodhisattva commits a minor defiling offense.”

The Upasaka Sutra states: “It would be better to receive evil precepts for a single day and sever the life faculties of immeasurable sentient beings than ever to foster an evil disciple. A vile and evil disciple cannot be tamed. Why is this?

Because this is evil discipline, a calamity one brings upon oneself. Being unable to teach and admonish an erring disciple causes immeasurable sentient beings to commit offenses or malign the true Dharma.” Furthermore, the Sutra of Wholesome Precepts states: “Although candalas, butchers, and others of their kind commit evil karma, they do not destroy the Tathagata’s true Dharma and therefore will not necessarily fall into the three evil destinies.

But a teacher who does not admonish a disciple for faults and wrongdoing destroys the Buddhadharma and will certainly fall into hell.” Therefore, when raising an offense against someone, one must not act hastily or precipitously. One should raise the offense before virtuous precept-holders in that person’s presence.

In the Bhiksu Vinaya, the Buddha taught: “One who wishes to raise an offense against another must first approach that person and request permission. A Great Being must act with loving-kindness, speak gentle and gracious words, and softly admonish the offender, causing that person to give rise to shame and moral dread and willingly submit. If one instead speaks of the matter to others, one is no different from the aforementioned people.”

The Mahasanghika Vinaya states: “When raising an offense, one must not raise it before other people but must do so before a virtuous bhiksu. If the offending bhiksu is violent by nature or relies upon the power of kings and officials, that person’s violent power may become a condition giving rise to the intention to take another’s life.” Concerned that one’s own pure conduct may be harmed, one should give rise to this reflection: karmic offenses will certainly bring their own retributive results, and the offender must come to understand this personally. It is like a fire breaking out: one can only rescue oneself, so how could one attend to anything else? At that time, one need only preserve the fundamental character of one’s blameless mind.

The Bodhisattvabhūmi Sūtra states: “If a Buddha’s disciple or bodhisattva sees beings creating evil karma in this life or a future life, yet, because of resentment or hatred, does not speak to them in accordance with the true Dharma, this constitutes a violation. If one lacks wisdom and understanding, or lacks the ability, or asks a person of influence and ability to speak to them, or uses skillful means to bring them under discipline, then there is no violation.

If, when I sincerely point out their offenses, they resent and blame me, bear a grudge against me, utter harsh words and say that I have received the Dharma in an inverted manner, or harbor no affection or respect; or if by nature they are forgetful and irresolute, then there is no violation. If one sees a person commit an offense for which that person should be reproved, disciplined, or expelled, yet neither reproves, expels, nor disciplines that person, one commits a minor defiling offense.

If that person is not disciplined, one should not speak with them, admonish or remind them, or give rise to resentment, blame, anger, or hatred. If one refrains because one fears provoking disputes, mutual litigation, or disruption of the Sangha, or because the matter must first be investigated, then there is no violation.”

Precept 6

FAILING TO PROVIDE SUPPORT AND REQUEST THE DHARMA

If a Buddha’s disciple sees a Mahayana Dharma master, or fellow practitioners who share the same Mahayana learning, views, and practice, coming from a hundred or a thousand miles away to a Sangha dwelling, house, city, or village, the disciple must rise to welcome them and make obeisance. Three times each day, the disciple must provide offerings of all necessities, such as food and drink, beds and seats, medicines, and everything else required; even if these provisions cost three taels of gold, they must still be supplied to the Dharma master.

Every morning, noon, and evening, the disciple should regularly request the Dharma master to expound the Dharma and should bow in homage, never harboring anger, sorrow, or distress. The disciple must continually request the Dharma without weariness and forget the self for the sake of the Dharma. If a Buddha’s disciple fails to do so, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

The text first mentions a Mahayana Dharma master and then fellow practitioners who share the same Mahayana learning, views, and practice. These are three classes of spiritual companions who serve as Mahayana teachers and friends. A Dharma master is one who thoroughly comprehends the nature and characteristics taught in the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya, and who is even able to teach and transform sentient beings, enabling them to enter the ground of Buddhahood.

“A hundred or a thousand miles” indicates distant places while encompassing nearby ones. If one must invite and receive them even when they come from afar, how much more so when they are nearby?

“Providing offerings three times” means from the time the sun first rises until the end of the dragon hour; the beginning of the serpent hour is precisely noon.

“Three taels of gold” and “a hundred flavors” express the utmost reverence, free from stinginess, indolence, or arrogance. Those who receive offerings must give rise to a sense of shame and moral conscience; only then can they rightly consume the gifts of the faithful.

The Record of the Mirror of the Teaching states: “If one studies the Mahayana Buddha-Dharma, the food received from donors is as weighty as Mount Sumeru, and the garments received from donors could cover the entire earth. If one does not study and has not yet entered the ranks of the Sangha, there will be nowhere throughout the ten directions for one even to spit.”

Master Yongjia said: “If one has attained the inconceivable power of liberation and possesses wondrous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, then one may receive the four requisites and consume ten thousand taels of pure gold. Even if one’s body were shattered and one’s bones reduced to dust, it would still be insufficient to repay such offerings; yet merely penetrating a single sentence enables one to transcend tens of billions.” Even so, one must know to accept and use only what is sufficient in order to avoid fault.

Those who provide support first voluntarily resolve to make offerings, still fearing that these may be insufficient. Now, in accordance with the needs of teachers and spiritual friends, one should not go against their wishes but must provide for them wholeheartedly. This describes diligent and attentive offerings.

“Regularly request” makes clear that this is not done for only one day or for merely a limited period.

The three periods are before noon, after noon, and evening. Making obeisance during all three periods expresses a spirit that delights in the Dharma and is free from indolence. One should not become angry upon seeing some minor fault in the Dharma master. One should not become weary or anxious, nor feel distressed over expending one’s wealth. Even the body must eventually be relinquished and perish; how, then, could one become disheartened by the labor of supporting a Dharma master and consequently give rise to a mind of retreat?

While cultivating on the causal ground, the Tathagata gave away his entire body to seek half a verse, pierced a thousand holes in his body and lit them as lamps to request a Dharma master to expound the Dharma, and offered his wife and children as food to yakshas because he wished to hear the essential Dharma. Therefore, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra told the youth Sudhana: “In my Dharma assembly, there is not a single sentence that I did not obtain by relinquishing the position of a wheel-turning king and all my possessions in pursuit of this Dharma; how much more readily, then, should one relinquish external possessions?” If one cherishes one’s body and possessions, one is not practicing the vows of a Great Being who forgets the self for the sake of the Dharma.

Moreover, one goes against the original resolve to honor and revere the teaching with filial devotion; therefore, one commits an offense.

The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment states: “Sentient beings in the final age who wish to cultivate must wholeheartedly revere and make offerings to good spiritual friends throughout their lives. When a Buddha’s disciple wishes to approach and draw near to such a good spiritual friend, the disciple must eliminate arrogance. If the good spiritual friend departs, the disciple must eliminate anger. Contemplate favorable and adverse circumstances alike as empty space, clearly knowing that one’s own mind is ultimately equal and that one shares the same essence with all sentient beings, without difference. Only by cultivating in this way can one enter the realm of Perfect Enlightenment.”

The Commentary states: “Good spiritual friends guide beings by various skillful means. Only when the minds of teacher and disciple accord with one another do they transmit the robe and Dharma.” Thus, in responding to capacities and engaging with beings, a Great Being extends compassion and constantly draws near to sentient beings. The foolish do not understand this and frequently give rise to arrogance.

When arrogance obscures the mind, one cannot enter the Way; therefore, it is said that arrogance must be eliminated. If other conditions arise and teacher and disciple must separate, one may immediately become angry and begin distinguishing between intimate and distant, self and other, love and hate. Once a single thought of anger arises, hundreds of thousands of myriad obstacles arise as well.

Even without discussing one’s deviation from the Way, one will fall into the three evil destinies; therefore, it is said that anger must be eliminated. According to the Sutra of Parables and other sutras, in a past life the Venerable Ananda was once a child who sold incense. He saw a novice monk going on alms round while reciting sutra verses and accordingly questioned him.

The novice replied: “My master dwells in the mountains, studying and cultivating the Way. He instructs me each day to obtain one sheng of rice and recite one verse, so that is what I do.” The child asked: “If you did not have to obtain rice, how many verses could you recite each day?” The novice answered: “I could recite ten verses.” The child said: “From now on, do not go on alms round. I shall beg in your place.” The novice was delighted because he could quietly practice meditation and study the Way.

When the child had obtained nine dou of rice, he tested the novice on the sutra verses and found that the novice had memorized them all fluently. Through this merit, in a later life the child encountered the Buddha, became the foremost disciple in learning, fully attained the three knowledges and six superknowledges, and received the Buddha’s transmission of the mind-seal. One should know that merely supporting a novice monk who upholds the sutras can bring such a supreme reward.

How much more excellent, then, must be the karmic reward from making offerings to venerable teachers and Mahayana spiritual friends! Who could conceive of or describe the merit obtained by one who enables the Dharma to be expounded?

Precept 7

INDOLENCE IN FAILING TO HEAR THE DHARMA

If a Buddha’s disciple is a newly initiated bodhisattva, then wherever sutras or Vinaya are being taught, that disciple must bring the sutras and Vinaya to the Dharma master’s place to listen to the teaching and ask questions. Whether the Dharma is taught in mountains and forests, groves and gardens, temples, houses, or elsewhere, the disciple must go to every place where the Dharma is expounded to listen, study, and inquire. If a Buddha’s disciple does not go there to hear the Dharma and ask questions, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

The preceding precept states that when a Dharma teacher comes to us, we should respectfully request instruction and thereby gain benefit. In this precept, when a Dharma teacher is elsewhere, we should go there to listen to the teaching and study. “Expounding the Dharma” is a general expression meaning to teach the Dharma and discuss its principles.

“Discipline” is called Vinaya in Sanskrit and is translated into Chinese as “Extinction,” meaning the extinguishing of the three evil karmas of body, speech, and mind. It is also called “Skillful Governance,” meaning the ability skillfully to govern one’s own lust, anger, and delusion, as well as to correct the evil karma of sentient beings. These names are all derived from its functions and are not direct translations.

The direct translation is “discipline.” Discipline is Dharma; this designation is based on the Teaching and refers to adjudicating what is light or grave, permitted or prohibited, upheld or violated, contrary to the Dharma, or indeterminate.

“Vi” is translated into Chinese as “removing,” and “naya” as “true,” meaning to remove what is contrary to the Dharma, erroneous, and false, leaving only the truth. The truth is precisely the original source of the mind-ground. Both sutra and discipline are called Vinaya, because the sutra here is the Brahma’s Net Precept Sutra, while the discipline is the Dharma and discipline of the mind-ground and the various bodhisattva collections of precepts. Furthermore, since all Mahayana scriptures have the meaning of extinguishing evil and giving rise to goodness, they too are collectively called Vinaya.

“Newly studying” refers to Mahasattvas who have newly received the mind-ground precepts but have not yet completed their training. Not knowing how to cherish the Dharma, they themselves give rise to arrogance, indolence, and laziness, thereby losing great benefit. Day after day they fail to advance in cultivation and bury the mind-ground; therefore, they are especially exhorted to exert themselves. Otherwise, they commit a minor defiled offense each day.

According to the Bodhisattva-bhumi Sutra, no distinction need be made as to whether the distance is great or small. The Sutra on the Upasaka Precepts, however, says: “If the distance is approximately one yojana, no offense is committed.” This is because laypeople are physically constrained by many responsibilities and cannot travel far to hear the Dharma. Monastics are free from such entanglements and make the wholehearted cultivation of the Buddhadharma their vocation.

If they fear the distance and do not go, this is precisely because of their own indolence, arrogance, and lack of reverence for the Dharma; therefore, they commit an offense. Those who have received the Dharma of the precepts should diligently go to hear teachings and ask questions. To hear is to listen attentively and receive through the auditory consciousness.

To receive is to accept with the mind; these are precisely the wisdom of hearing and the wisdom of reflection. To ask means respectfully to inquire: after hearing, one reflects deeply; if, upon reflection, one does not understand, one asks again. Once one’s doubts have been explained, one relies upon that explanation to advance in cultivation and enter the Mahayana Dharma gate of the mind-ground.

Earlier, “all places” referred generally to places inhabited by monastics and laypeople. Next, “great residences” referred to royal palaces, official residences, lay households, and the homes of donors where Dharma teachers were invited to expound the sutras. Here, “all places where the Dharma is expounded” means places where monastics dwell, such as mountains, beneath trees, secluded and tranquil aranyas, Sangharamas, and so forth. If a disciple of the Buddha does not go to such places to listen to teachings and receive instruction, not because of contempt for the person or the Dharma but simply because of indolence, that disciple incurs an offense.

The Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra states: “If one is ill or lacks physical strength; if one knows that the person teaches falsely, incoherently, and confusedly; if one knows that what the person teaches is something one has regularly heard; if one has already heard it many times and remembers it; or if one is cultivating meditative concentration and does not wish to waste time—then, if one does not attend, no offense is committed.

Precept 8

TURNING AWAY FROM THE MAHAYANA AND TOWARD THE HINAYANA

If a disciple of the Buddha entertains the view of turning away from and abandoning the eternally abiding Mahayana sutras and discipline, claiming that they were not spoken by the Buddha, and instead accepts and upholds scriptures of wrong views, all the prohibitory precepts of the two vehicles of the shravakas, and the evil views of non-Buddhist paths, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiled offense.

Explanation:

To entertain the view of turning away from and abandoning the eternally abiding Mahayana sutras and discipline means considering the Mahayana teaching not to be supreme and therefore turning away from and abandoning it—abandoning the Great Vehicle for the Lesser Vehicle—while regarding the teachings of the Hinayana and non-Buddhist paths as more excellent and practical and therefore turning toward them—abandoning the Great Vehicle for non-Buddhist paths.

The Mahayana sutras and discipline flow forth from the mind-ground of Vairocana. Their nature is originally eternally abiding, neither arising nor ceasing and never changing. They are precisely the teaching of the One Reality proclaimed by the Tathagata, not provisional and skillful teachings established according to circumstances.

Ordinary beings who have newly begun the bodhisattva training do not clearly understand the Mahayana and Hinayana or what is right and wrong; therefore, they doubt that the Mahayana sutras and discipline were spoken by the Buddha.

“Entertains the view” refers to the mind: although the mind wishes to turn away and abandon, the intention is not yet resolved; although the mouth is about to speak, the words have not yet been uttered, and doubt still remains within. Thus, one commits a minor defiled offense.

If the intention to turn away and abandon has become firmly established, one immediately loses the precepts. Or if words of slander have already been uttered and have harmed others, one commits a minor defiled offense.

The two vehicles are those of the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas. Shravakas attain the fruit of the unborn by hearing the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths and are therefore said to attain the fruit of a shravaka. Pratyekabuddhas contemplate the Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination—observing flowers fall and leaves drop—and awaken by themselves without a teacher; therefore, they are called pratyekabuddhas, in Sanskrit, Pratyeka Buddhas.

Question: Since they heard the teaching from the Tathagata and realized the Way, why are their views called evil?

Answer: The Tathagata observed and knew that their faculties were inferior, their wisdom shallow, and that they were not yet capable of receiving the Great Dharma. Therefore, as a skillful expedient, he temporarily revealed the lesser teaching. Upon hearing the lesser teaching, they gave rise to revulsion toward samsara, severed the causes of suffering, delighted in the quiescent fruit of the two vehicles, and cultivated the thirty-seven factors conducive to awakening in pursuit of personal realization.

If they do not understand the eternally abiding Mahayana Dharma, abandon these great precepts of the mind-ground, and instead accept and uphold the path, teachings, and prohibitory precepts of the shravakas, they will not achieve complete and perfect fulfillment. Thus, the Nirvana Sutra states: “Arhats do not know that the Three Jewels are eternally abiding and immutable. Although they observe prohibitory precepts, these precepts are not complete and perfect, and they cannot attain the shravaka path.” Thus, this contradicts the practitioner’s aspiration and intention, and both the Hinayana and Mahayana are lost.

The Great Treatise states: “It would be better to give rise to the thought of becoming a mangy jackal than to give rise to a thought inclined toward the two vehicles.”

Even if one’s mind were fierce and evil and one’s body diseased and covered with sores, one should still not give rise to a thought inclined toward the two vehicles. As the sutra states: “It would be better to fall into an evil destiny and hear the name of the Buddha than to seek eternal life and immortality in the heavenly realms.”

“All prohibitory precepts” means the various precepts upheld by non-Buddhist practitioners, such as the precepts of emulating or worshiping cows, dogs, horses, chickens, and so forth. Because of their fixed views, non-Buddhist practitioners believe that if they practice austerities, then after relinquishing their retributive bodies they will be born in a heavenly realm and enjoy blessed happiness and peace. Thus, they imitate plants such as trees and grasses, willingly eat filthy excrement, worship the gods of fire and wind, and so forth; or they subsist on air, stand on one leg, pierce and burn five holes in their bodies, immolate themselves, smear their bodies with ashes and dust, or lie naked, and so forth.

They believe that through stillness and such practices they will end suffering and attain happiness. Even in the Dharma-ending age, some drink only plain water and observe a pure vegetarian fast, believing that they have cleansed away the five turbidities; or they fast for seven days, believing this to be empty quiescence; or when the four great elements encounter the cold of winter and the heat of summer, they believe that cold and heat can no longer harm their bodies.

They personally undertake such prohibitory precepts based on wrong views. If they are not foolish themselves, then they use them to delude others. They further give rise to various false attachments and compose various writings; these are scriptures and disciplines of wrong views.

The Buddha established this precept to prohibit such conduct and to admonish the Mahasattvas that, if they turn away from the true cause of the mind-ground, they will lose the ultimate fruit of Buddhahood. If they study the teachings of the two vehicles, sever the delusions of views and thought in pursuit of nirvana, and extinguish the body and wisdom, they will forever be unable to exercise the great function of benefiting others.

Therefore, the Buddha rebuked such views as evil views and evil causes; this does not mean that the shravaka precepts cannot be accepted and upheld.

As far as the mind is concerned, the distinction between the Mahayana and Hinayana must be made clearly and explicitly. Therefore, it is said: “If one gives rise to even a single thought inclined toward the teaching of the two vehicles, one commits a minor defiled offense.”

Regarding the precepts, both the Mahayana and the Hinayana observe and uphold them. Thus the Nirvana Sutra states: “The principles of the five divisions and seven groups are all disciplinary regulations for monastic bodhisattvas.”

The Supplementary Commentary on the Procedures and Conduct states: “Monastic bodhisattvas share with the shravakas the six principles of harmony and the ten benefits, whereas the six paramitas and the Four Great Vows differ from the practices of the Hinayana.”

For lay bodhisattvas, even the Three Refuges and Five Precepts are all directed toward the aspiration for bodhi. How much more so when the Brahma’s Net Sutra teaches the 84,000 forms of dignified conduct, upon which all seven assemblies of the Buddha’s disciples rely and from which beings in the five destinies all benefit? How, then, could it harbor those who break the precepts and still call itself the Buddha Vehicle?

The Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra states: “If one gives rise to such a statement—that bodhisattvas should neither listen to the shravaka teachings nor receive and study them”—then a bodhisattva who does not employ the shravaka teachings as skillful means commits an offense. Why? Because bodhisattvas even study the heterodox treatises of non-Buddhists; how much more should they study the shravaka teachings, which were taught by the Buddha? If a bodhisattva is concentrating on studying the Bodhisattva Canon but has not yet completed it, there is no offense.

The Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha states: “The Buddha said: One should study all the teachings of the Three Vehicles. One should not give rise to arrogance, falsely call oneself a follower of the Mahayana, and slander the teachings of the Shravaka and Pratyekabuddha Vehicles. I formerly spoke in this way for those of great capacity, fit vessels for the Great Dharma, whose minds were steadfast in cultivation. As for the teaching that one may attain the ultimate merely by cultivating the Mahayana Dharma, this is because the teachings of the past and present do not contradict one another.”

As a sutra states: “In order to exhort them to cultivate steadfastly, after they have practiced the Hinayana teachings, one should lead them toward the Mahayana teachings. One should not reproach them for abandoning the Great and turning toward the Lesser, but neither should one say that the shravaka teachings are commonplace and ought to be discarded.” If people possess a sense of shame, they will fear only that they cannot keep pace with the practice; how much less would they disparage it?

Therefore, monastics in the five regions of India first studied the Hinayana and only afterward the Mahayana. This enabled them to understand the causes and effects of offenses and merits and thereby avoid faults; to relinquish existence without clinging to nonexistence; and to understand clearly the origins and sequence of the scriptures, so that they would neither cultivate mistakenly nor falsely claim realization. The concern here is that beginners newly studying the Way, whose understanding is still shallow and narrow and who have not yet penetrated the Tathagata’s hidden intent, may hear the Buddha say that all dharmas are illusory and unreal and immediately give rise to revulsion, seeking realization of nirvana.

When the mind of grasping and rejecting arises, it runs contrary to the course of cultivation taught by the Buddha. Falsely believing themselves to accord with the intent of the scriptures, they bind themselves for many kalpas. Those who disparage the shravaka precepts and refuse to receive them should not shave their heads, wear dyed robes, or assume the appearance of shramanas.

Instead, they should keep their beards and long hair, live as laypeople, and practice the bodhisattva path. If they covet that appearance while abandoning the precepts and discipline, fraudulently entering the Dharma gate and joining the Sangha in communal acts of karman and uposatha, they are called “thieves dwelling within the Dharma.” (This offense is equal to the five heinous offenses. Thereafter, they may not receive the full ordination, for the harm they do to the Buddhadharma is by no means slight.

This must therefore be carefully considered.)

Mahakasyapa, the foremost among the Buddha’s shravaka disciples, received and upheld the 250 major precepts and practiced the twelve dhutanga austerities, vowing never to relinquish them throughout his life. Why, when the Tathagata was about to enter nirvana, did he entrust the treasury of the eye of the true Dharma to Mahakasyapa rather than to the bodhisattvas Maitreya and Manjusri? It was because bodhisattvas, aspiring to transform and deliver beings according to their kinds, manifest in no fixed form, whereas the shravakas preserve and maintain the Three Jewels in the world. Through them, the Buddha Jewel and Dharma Jewel are propagated, providing a refuge for devas and humans.

Therefore, one should know that the virtue of the precepts and the grave responsibility of bearing this burden are extraordinary. If one regards the shravaka precepts lightly and does not observe them, the position of the Sangha Jewel is lost. When the Sangha Jewel is lost, the Buddha Jewel and Dharma Jewel are also lost. (This is why the sutra says that it is people who can propagate the Way.) Moreover, the precepts have the power to end evil and give rise to goodness.

Upholding one precept prevents one evil karma and gives rise to immeasurable wholesome dharmas; thus, twenty-five thousand rivers of merit continually flow into it. Furthermore, one must understand that when the mind is vast, the precepts are great; when the mind is narrow, the precepts are small. Therefore, when discussing the divisions and groups of precepts, the Nirvana Sutra and the Ten Vibhasa Treatise state: “When bodhisattva-mahasattvas uphold the prohibitory precepts, one should understand that the precepts are neither great nor small; everything depends upon the aspiration of the person who receives and upholds them.” Apart from the erroneous views of non-Buddhists in the world, there is not a single dharma that is not Buddhadharma.

It is like saying that every tree, flower, and leaf throughout the great earth is medicinal; how much more so are the scriptures, Dharma, precepts, and discipline spoken from the golden mouth of the Tathagata himself?

The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment states: “All sentient beings may realize Perfect Enlightenment if they encounter a good spiritual friend. They should rely upon that person to establish the causal ground and practices of the Dharma. When they cultivate in this way, there will be either sudden or gradual realization. If they encounter the Tathagata’s unsurpassed bodhi and the correct path of cultivation, their capacities, whether great or small, will all bring them to the fruit of Buddhahood.” As the sutra states, all doubts are thereby dispelled. The rest is explained clearly under the twenty-fourth precept.

The Ninth Precept

NOT CARING FOR THE SICK

As a disciple of the Buddha, upon seeing someone afflicted by illness, one must wholeheartedly make offerings to and care for that person just as one would make offerings to the Buddha. Among the eight fields of merit, caring for the sick is the foremost field of merit. If one’s father, mother, teachers, Sangha teachers, or disciples suffer from illness, disability, or any of the hundred kinds of painful maladies, one must care for them until they recover. If a disciple of the Buddha, out of anger, fails to nurture and care for them, or even sees a sick person in a Sangha dwelling, town, mountain forest, open countryside, or along the road and fails to provide relief, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Commentary:

Because one has become deluded and lost the bodhisattva’s compassionate resolve to benefit and aid others, one does not care for the sick. Because one has lost the practice of reverence and filial obedience, one does not provide support and offerings.

All who are afflicted by illness include, above, the worthy and noble ones of the Three Vehicles, Sangha teachers, and parents; in the middle, siblings, friends, and relatives; and below, one’s disciples and lay followers, the old and young, noble and lowly, travelers from distant regions and people of other countries, and so forth—even lowly birds, beasts, and other animals. All must be provided with medicine and treatment, no differently from how one would attend upon the Buddha.

The Tathagata’s original intent is to save all beings from birth, aging, sickness, and death; therefore, the Buddha appeared in the world. Now, to make offerings to the sick and enable them to find peace and security is precisely the Buddha’s original intent. Moreover, all sentient beings share the same source of mind and will attain perfect enlightenment; hence it is said that they are no different from the Buddha.

In the past, the Tathagata personally cared for a sick bhiksu. First he washed away the filth, and afterward he taught him the essential Dharma. The bhiksu immediately realized the fruit of the path. Because of this, every monastery painted an image in its infirmary depicting the Tathagata personally examining and caring for the sick. For one who has received the bodhisattva precepts to neither make offerings to nor care for the sick truly contradicts the bodhisattva’s compassionate concern for sentient beings.

Among the eight fields of merit, caring for the sick is foremost. The eight fields of merit are:

1. The field of merit of all Buddhas

2. The field of merit of noble ones (the noble ones of the Three Vehicles)

3. The field of merit of the Sangha

4. The field of merit of the upadhyaya

5. The field of merit of the acarya

6. The field of merit of one’s father

7. The field of merit of one’s mother

8. The field of merit of the sick

The Buddhas, sages, and members of the Sangha—these three classes are called fields of reverence. The preceptor, the acharya, one’s father, and one’s mother—these four are called fields of gratitude. Making offerings to the sick is called the field of compassion. When one makes offerings and gives alms to these eight kinds of fields of merit, wholesome blessings arise, just as seeds sown in a field sprout and flourish, ensuring a harvest. Therefore, they are called fields.

Among the eight fields of merit, the Buddha-field is supreme. Making offerings to the Buddha yields supramundane wholesome fruits and eradicates immeasurable evil karma and defilements. Yet here, caring for the sick is regarded as foremost.

This is because a bodhisattva takes benefiting beings as the essential task, and relieving their suffering and bestowing happiness upon them as indispensable. Thus, without discriminating between close and distant, noble and lowly, a bodhisattva acts solely with a mind intent on rescue and aid. Hence it is said: “Until the hells are empty, I vow not to attain Buddhahood.” This means that as long as any beings remain in hell, the bodhisattva will not attain Buddhahood.

It is also said that if even one sentient being has not attained Buddhahood, the bodhisattva will resolutely refrain from entering nirvana. Therefore, although bodhisattvas attend upon the Buddhas in order to study and cultivate all Dharma gates, they do so entirely for the benefit of all sentient beings. Thus, bodhisattvas regard the field of compassion as foremost.

Having an infirmity means that the six faculties are incomplete. If even one of the six faculties is missing, that being suffers immeasurably; how much more so when the four great elements are in conflict and the sufferings of a hundred illnesses oppress the body.

The “hundred illnesses” refers to the 440 kinds of illness found in the body composed of the four great elements. Here, “a hundred illnesses” is merely an abbreviated reference to those belonging to one of the four great elements. Because the suffering of such illnesses disturbs the mind and allows it not even a moment’s peace, it is called affliction and suffering.

Making offerings so that the sick may recover means that the caregiver should, according to their ability, provide the patient with food, clothing, medicine, a bed, and so forth. If one’s own means are insufficient, one should solicit aid and ask others to help.

The Four-Part Vinaya records: “One gains merit from caring for the sick when:

1. One knows which foods the patient should eat and which they should not eat, giving them what is suitable and withholding what is unsuitable.

2. One is not disgusted by the patient’s saliva, feces, or urine.

3. One has a loving and compassionate heart and does not care for the sick merely for food and clothing.

4. One is able to prepare medicines for the patient until the patient recovers or passes away.

5. One is able to joyfully expound the Dharma to the patient, helping the wholesome Dharma within them to increase.

A mind of anger may arise because one previously harbored resentment toward the patient, or because the patient complained that the care provided was unsatisfactory. From this, anger and displeasure arise, and one refuses to visit the patient. This is contrary to the bodhisattva’s impartial mind, which makes no distinction between enemy and loved one and never entertains a thought of abandoning sentient beings. If a Buddhist disciple turns away and abandons others with such a mind, that disciple commits an offense. This applies not only in relation to one’s parents, teachers, members of the Sangha, and relatives; even when encountering a sick person in a town or while traveling, one commits an offense if one fails to attend to and care for that person.

If one is oneself ill, or lacks the strength to help the patient overcome the suffering of illness, one must give rise to a mind of loving-kindness and compassion and offer prayers that the patient may attain peace and happiness. One may also ask or encourage others to care for the patient. If the patient already has relatives caring for them, then no offense is committed.

The Sutras clearly state: “Those who suffer many illnesses and die prematurely do so because they committed acts of killing in previous lives. The conditions for the ripening of retribution may not yet have arrived, or other conditions may attract illness. Among the Buddha’s disciples was the Venerable Sariputra, who could not escape the suffering of frequent illness. The Buddha told him: ‘Because throughout many lifetimes you treated your teachers and elders, father and mother with contempt and arrogance, and did not know to honor and make offerings to them, you must now undergo this retribution.’”

The Vinaya Matrika Treatise records: “If one’s parents are poor and destitute, one should encourage them to undertake the Three Refuges, the Five Precepts, and the ten wholesome deeds, and only afterward provide them with material goods. If they are not poor, then even if they have undertaken the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts, it is not in accordance with the Dharma to provide them with material goods. When giving to the sick, the imprisoned, pregnant women, or children, one must give appropriately with a loving heart; if one gives improperly, one will fall into a lower realm.” This means that all the possessions of monastics are joyful offerings made by faithful donors to the Sangha.

Those who are not fields of merit are unfit to receive them. Lay bodhisattvas, however, may give as they wish.

The Vibhasa Treatise records: “A filial person who can inspire their parents to develop faith and reverence for the Three Jewels, undertake the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts, and practice meditative concentration so as to give rise to wisdom is said to repay the kindness of their parents in the truest way.”

Precept 10

STORING INSTRUMENTS OF KILLING

A Buddhist disciple must not take revenge even if another person kills their parents; how much less may they kill any sentient being. A Buddhist disciple must not store instruments used for killing, such as knives, clubs, bows and arrows, axes, and spears, or implements of slaughter such as fishing nets, snares, cages, traps, and so forth. If a Buddhist disciple deliberately stores them, they commit a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

Killing living beings harms the heart of compassion, violates the essential nature of the mind-ground precepts, and contradicts the bodhisattva’s practices and vows to benefit beings.

A spear may have a three-cornered point; a long spear is two zhang in length; a yi spear is two zhang and four chi in length. Staff-blades and so forth are all weapons and are therefore called implements of warfare. Nets are made from lead wire or hempen cord and are used to catch fish or ensnare birds and beasts; they are therefore called instruments of killing. Implements of warfare harm people, while instruments of killing harm other creatures. None of them should be stored. Hence it is said that they “must not be stored.”

Vowing never to live under the same sky as the person who killed one’s parents contradicts the impartial compassion practiced by a monastic mahasattva, who regards all sentient beings as their own parents. One should not harbor thoughts of revenge.

Storing instruments of killing allows the karma of killing to permeate one’s mind and contradicts the bodhisattva’s mind of filial obedience. Fishing nets, snares, cages, and traps all injure living creatures, birds, and beasts. The Buddha prohibited both monastic and lay disciples from possessing them. Knives, clubs, bows and arrows, axes, and spears are weapons used to defend the nation. In ancient times, kings, princes, generals, and soldiers were permitted unrestricted use of them. Those without responsibility for defending the nation, however, were not permitted to store them freely. If they did so, they committed an offense.

Precept 11

SERVING AS AN ENVOY

A Buddhist disciple must not, for personal benefit or with malicious intent, serve as an envoy between two nations, arranging alliances or military campaigns and deploying troops to wage war, thereby causing immeasurable sentient beings to be killed. A Buddhist disciple must not even enter, leave, or travel through military formations; how much less may they act as an intermediary for war. If a Buddhist disciple deliberately does so, they commit a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

A mahasattva must serve as an envoy of the Tathagata, aspiring to bring peace and happiness to all beings everywhere. One should not serve as an envoy for an enemy nation, spying upon its strengths and weaknesses and what is advantageous or disadvantageous in order to devise schemes, make demands, or provoke warfare. Killing sentient beings contradicts the bodhisattva’s wholesome mind, compassionate mind, and mind intent on comforting sentient beings.

A bodhisattva forgets the self for the benefit of others and remains mindful of all sentient beings. One must not, for the sake of material gain, give rise to malicious intent and serve as an envoy between two nations, obeying the commands of two kings and thereby killing no small number of sentient beings. If one instead persuades the two nations to cease hostilities, brings peace and happiness to their lands, and aids their people, this is truly a bodhisattva’s skillful expedient and gives rise to immeasurable merit.

Those who bring calamity upon the people and cause harm to the nation are called “enemies.” In military affairs, people discuss only methods of conquest and the killing of adversaries. How could bodhisattvas bear to listen to such clamorous and defiling words concerning the trampling and slaughter of sentient beings! Even when shravakas seek their own benefit, the Buddha does not permit it; how much less could it be permitted for bodhisattvas, whose compassionate minds seek to benefit beings?

If one instructs others to wage war or wishes them to fight one another, this constitutes a grave offense. The offense is determined according to how many or how few beings are killed.

Precept 12

IMPROPER TRADE

A disciple of the Buddha must not trade in free persons, male slaves, female servants, the six kinds of domestic animals, coffins, wooden planks for coffins, or vessels for containing corpses. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately engages in such trade or instructs others to trade in these things, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

To covet wealth and harm living beings is to lose a bodhisattva’s original compassionate mind, impair the Dharma teachings, and act contrary to the bodhisattva practice of benefiting others. The Buddha forbade disciples of the Buddha from buying and selling free persons, male slaves, female servants, the six kinds of domestic animals, and even receptacles for corpses, caskets, and coffins. These forms of trade are driven by a covetous desire for profit and therefore conflict with the bodhisattva’s compassionate practice of benefiting others.

Trading in human beings inevitably causes the suffering of separation among their families, consigning them to the lowly condition of servants, subjecting them to harm, forcing them into servitude, and exposing them to painful beatings and abuse. Trading in animals inevitably leads to death, boiling, roasting, scalding, burning, and wretched cries. Those who trade in coffins hope for greater profit; this is an evil mind that, indirectly, wishes for many living beings to die. The Buddha forbade both monastics and laypeople from engaging in such trade. If they deliberately do so, they commit an offense. The Buddha did not, however, forbid ordinary trade that does not harm living beings.

The Upasaka Sutra states: “If the wealth obtained through trade is divided into three portions for:

1. Making offerings to the Three Jewels

2. Supporting one’s parents

3. Providing for oneself, one’s spouse, children, and relatives,

then that is trade conducted in accordance with the Dharma.”

The Sarvastivada Treatise states: “It is preferable to be a butcher than to engage in trade.” Why is this so? Although a butcher kills sentient beings, he does not deceive them. Whether dealing with monastics or laypeople, the worthy or the foolish, those who uphold the precepts or those who violate them, he has no intention to deceive. Those who engage in trade, however, usually harbor deceitful intentions. For example, when trading in rice and grain, their minds constantly calculate how to gain the greatest profit, inevitably causing loss to others; this is an evil mind. Although the Buddha’s Vinaya does not establish this as a prohibition for lay disciples of the Buddha, disciples of the Buddha must not deceive others.

The Buddha taught that disciples of the Buddha must speak truthfully. If a disciple of the Buddha does not speak truthfully, gives short measure, or uses deficient weights, thereby deceiving and cheating others, that disciple commits the offense of false speech. Having obtained another’s goods through deceit and taken them for oneself, one also commits the offense of fraud, equivalent to the offense of stealing.

There are two ways of instructing others: instructing someone to act on one’s behalf, or instructing someone to act for themselves. Both constitute offenses.

If one trades in animals, causing them to be killed, or causes people to be tormented and oppressed to death, one commits a grave offense. If one trades in animals on another’s behalf and secretly withholds property worth five coins, one commits both the offense of killing and the offense of stealing. If one trades in coffins on another’s behalf, induces the buying and selling of slaves or servants, and secretly withholds five coins, one commits the offense of stealing. If one uses the proceeds from selling coffins or wooden planks for containing corpses to give alms to the poor and needy, one gains immeasurable merit. Because this is done out of compassion to provide assistance, without seeking profit, no offense is committed.

Precept 13

SLANDER

If, out of an evil mind, a disciple of the Buddha slanders good and virtuous persons, Dharma masters, monastic teachers, the king, or eminent persons when in fact they have done nothing wrong, that disciple commits an offense related to the seven heinous acts and the ten grave precepts. Toward one’s parents, siblings, and six classes of close relatives, one must maintain a compassionate and filial mind. If one gives rise to a rebellious mind, harms them, or causes calamity to befall them, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

To give rise to evil thoughts and disparage others is to lack a filial and compliant mind and to lose the practice of compassion. It is contrary to a bodhisattva’s original intent and great vow to benefit sentient beings and to protect and uphold the true Dharma. One clearly knows that an evil mind is not wholesome and that one should benefit others, yet, because of greed and anger, one seeks to destroy another’s merit, reputation, and interests.

“Having done nothing wrong” means that the person has in fact committed no fault, and that without any basis in what one has seen, heard, or suspected, one nevertheless falsely slanders and disparages that person.

A virtuous person is one who possesses worthy conduct, is pure and wholesome, and lovingly cares for all beings. A Dharma master is a teacher who proclaims the Tathagata’s sacred teachings of the Tripitaka. Monastic teachers include one’s upadhyaya and acharya, even one upon whom one has relied for a single night, or from whom one has learned a single mantra, a single verse, or heard a single teaching of the Dharma; all are called acharyas.

The Sangha is the monastic community. Eminent persons are the Three Dukes and the many officials. If the foregoing persons have already received the Buddha’s precepts, slandering those who have received the precept Dharma constitutes a minor defiling offense.

If one exposes the faults of and slanders those who have not received the higher precepts, whether or not the accusation has a basis, one commits a grave offense.

The sutra states: “Among all good and wise spiritual friends in the world, none equals one’s teachers and elders. Even if one practices the Way throughout one’s entire life, this merely benefits oneself and is still insufficient to repay the kindness of one’s teachers and elders. Although parents have the merit of giving birth to us, nurturing us, and instructing us, they cannot lead us out of the three evil destinies. It is one’s teachers and elders who instruct and guide one to advance in cultivation, helping one depart from the suffering of birth and death and attain the peace and bliss of nirvana.”

Those who receive instruction from their teachers and elders but refuse to believe and accept it, who even utter malicious words and slander them, and who provoke disputes that cause the Buddhadharma to decline—slandering, detesting, and envying their teachers and elders—are called great demons within the Buddhadharma and seeds of hell.

The Sutra on Wholesome Reverence states: “Those who give rise to a disrespectful mind toward a Dharma master and speak of the good or bad qualities of monastic teachers are foolish people and should be disciplined according to the Dharma. Even if a teacher truly has faults, one must not speak of them; how much less when the teacher has no fault. Those who remain beside their teacher without a respectful mind will fall into a hell called Crushing and Pounding.

Each has a body with four heads, and the entire body blazes like a fiercely burning great fire without ever ceasing. Moreover, hooks and venomous creatures pull upon the tongues of these offenders. After emerging from hell, they will be born among animals and will constantly consume feces and urine.

After relinquishing that body, although they may be reborn as humans, they will dwell in lowly border regions. Their skin will not resemble that of other people, and they will be despised, slandered, and humiliated by others and remain far removed from the Buddhadharma. If they become monastics, they will lack wisdom.

After relinquishing that body, they will again fall into hell and undergo boundless suffering.”

The Sutra of Miraculous Transformations states: “The Buddha said to Bodhisattva Manjushri: Suppose someone were to burn and destroy stupas and shrines of the Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. That offense would still not be as grave as giving rise to a single thought of anger toward a bodhisattva who has faith in and understands the Mahayana, and then beating, abusing, humiliating, or slandering that bodhisattva. Such a person must pass through immeasurable asamkhya kalpas in hell.”

The Bodhisattva Treatise states: “The Buddha taught: If a bodhisattva gives rise to the intention to oppress others, I say that this person will fall into hell for an immeasurable length of time. Why is this? If a bodhisattva gives rise to slander and disparagement toward a Dharma teacher, this is precisely to distance oneself from all Buddhas and to slander the true Dharma, the bhiksus, and the Sangha. Furthermore, if one looks down upon Dharma teachers who expound the Dharma and does not give rise to a mind of reverence, then toward all Buddha-Tathagatas one likewise does not give rise to a mind of reverence.”

Furthermore, the Sutra on Arousing Awareness and Purifying the Mind states: “There were sixty bodhisattvas who had newly aroused the aspiration. They came before the feet of the Blessed One, weeping bitterly, and addressed the Buddha: ‘Our karmic obstructions are deep and grave. We beseech the Blessed One, out of compassion, to explain them distinctly to us, so that we may clearly know the origin of our transgressions and no longer commit evil.’

“The Buddha taught: ‘In the past, during the Dharma assembly of Krakucchanda Buddha, you were renunciants studying the Way. You upheld the precepts, were widely learned and well-informed, and possessed the full merit of practicing the dhutanga austerities. Yet you allowed your minds to become heedless, and the merit of your cultivation gradually diminished.

At that time there were two bhiksu Dharma teachers whom you falsely accused of sexual misconduct in order to slander them. You even harmed and alienated the donors, friends, and associates of those Dharma teachers by divisive speech, humiliating and disparaging them, causing others to become doubtful and preventing them from giving rise to faith. Whenever people faithfully revered and followed the Dharma teachers, you caused them to sever their roots of goodness.

“‘Because of the karmic obstructions you created, for 62,000 years you fell into the Avici Hell; then for 40,000 years into the Reviving Hell; for 30,000 years into the Black-Rope Hell; and for 800,000 years into the Hot Hell. After obtaining human birth, for five hundred lifetimes you were born blind and unable to see the road, dull-witted and ignorant, having forgotten your original resolve and closed the gate to goodness. You were constantly despised, hated, humiliated, criticized, and disparaged by others, and were often born in impoverished and miserable border regions.

“‘From now, after you relinquish your lives, about one hundred years after the age of the true Dharma has completely ended, you will again be born as humans in a land filled with violence. The people there will be poor and lowly. You will be reviled by others and will forget your original resolve. Only after another five hundred years will all your karmic obstructions be exhausted.’

“When the sixty bodhisattvas heard these words spoken by the Buddha, they examined their own hearts and became so terrified that their hair stood on end. Facing the Buddha, they sought repentance and made a great vow that at no time and in no place would they ever again dare to give rise to such transgressions. The Blessed One then spoke this verse:

When among others, do not behold their faults;

Do not speak of whether others are right or wrong.

Do not cling to others’ affairs; attend to your own purity,

And immediately abandon all malicious words.

Abandon and keep far away from noisy places;

Do not associate closely with bhiksus who act contrary to the Dharma.

Practice the dhutanga austerities praised by the Buddha;

Through freedom from attachment to gain, nirvana is attained.

The six kinds of kin are of two types:

1. One’s biological parents and the six kinds of relatives among siblings, paternal uncles, and other family members.

2. Great beings constantly regard all sentient beings as their own six kinds of kin. Because of their filial and compliant mind, they do not oppose or slander them; because of their compassion, they do not fall into places of suffering and adversity.

A place of adversity means that, because one has exposed and proclaimed another’s faults, that person feels ashamed and is unhappy day and night, even to the point of harming himself. By burying and ruining that person’s reputation, one causes him continual grief through such displeasing circumstances; hence this is called falling into a place of adversity.

The preceding precept concerned praising oneself, humiliating others, and slandering the Three Jewels. Slandering others there also included the intention of praising oneself, and therefore constituted a grave offense. This precept concerns only slandering others and is classified as a minor defiling offense. The preceding precept broadly included slandering the Buddha and the Dharma. Here, merely slandering the Sangha already brings boundless painful retribution; how much more so does slandering a person to whom one owes a debt of kindness and virtue.

For example, in ancient times there was a seven-year-old girl who mocked a bhiksu, saying that his voice sounded like a bird. As a result, for five hundred lifetimes she was born as a blind bird. When the girl’s mother heard the Buddha explain this, she brought her daughter before the Buddha to seek repentance, yet the girl still could not escape the offense. Because a slanderous mind is an offense by its very nature, whether or not one has received the precepts, harboring such a mind will bring evil retribution. Therefore, the Sutra states: “Guard the mouth as one guards a sealed vessel; guard the mind as one guards a city.”

The Sutra on Requiting Kindness states: “For people living in the world, calamity arises from the mouth and is fiercer than a raging fire. Fire can burn only material possessions, whereas malicious words burn away the merit accumulated over many lifetimes. A raging worldly fire burns only money, valuables, and property, whereas harsh speech burns away the seven noble treasures. Therefore, all sentient beings must always be vigilant in guarding the mouth. The tongue within the mouth is like a sharp axe that cuts loose the calamity that destroys one’s own life.

“Thus, the ancients said that the lips are like a crossbow, the mind is like its string, and words are like arrows. Though they are continually shot into the darkness, how could they injure another? They merely smear one’s own body with ashes and dust. Thus, Devadatta’s living body sank into hell, all because the malicious words he uttered caused him to suffer calamitous retribution there. Everyone should understand that whether monastic or lay, one must quickly reflect upon oneself, carefully watch one’s mind, and guard one’s mouth well. Do not bring upon yourself calamities lasting for many kalpas, for then repentance and remorse will come too late.”

Precept 14

SETTING FIRES AND BURNING

If a disciple of the Buddha, with malicious intent, sets fire to mountains, forests, or open fields; or, from the fourth through the ninth month, starts a fire that spreads to cities, settlements, houses, Sangha dwellings, the people’s fields and gardens, the palaces of ghosts and spirits, or the property of officials: no place inhabited by living beings may be burned. If that disciple intentionally burns such places, the disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

The Surangama Sutra states: “Even when bhiksus and pure bodhisattvas walk along narrow paths, they do not tread upon fresh grass; how much less would they use fire to burn and destroy sentient and insentient beings? Such a transgression is by no means minor.”

Malicious intent means an unwholesome mind, a mind of anger toward others, extending even to the birds and beasts dwelling in the forest, which one seeks to burn by setting fire to it.

The period from the fourth through the ninth month, based on the regions of the north, is the breeding season for insects, birds, and animals. In the south, where the climate is warmer, the breeding season for insects begins in winter and spring and is restricted only during the twelfth month, when the weather is exceedingly cold.

“Mountains, forests, and open fields” is a general statement, while houses, cities, settlements, Sangha dwellings, and so forth are specific instances. This means that although one may not maliciously intend to burn houses, the calamity caused by burning mountains and forests may spread to the people’s homes. Fields and gardens are places of cultivation where rice and the various grains are produced.

The property of ghosts, spirits, and officials is inherently public property. Regarding public property, the property of the king should properly also be included; however, mentioning cities and settlements already encompasses the property of the king and officials. The Treatise states: “All grasses and trees are dwelling places of ghosts and spirits, for ghosts and spirits rely upon them as their palaces and homes.

Therefore, the Buddha prohibited bhiksus from damaging them.” This also includes shrines to ghosts and spirits in wildernesses, mountains, forests, and open fields, extending even to the trees. All offerings belong to the ghosts and spirits, such as palaces, ponds, shrines, bamboo, trees, and so forth. If one asks for them but, before they have been given, immediately cuts them down and destroys them, one’s boat will consequently sink.

All things such as walls, partitions, fences, earth, and rotten wood may harbor insects. If the purpose is to eliminate harm from tigers, wolves, and venomous snakes, the Buddha permits householders to do so. They must observe the proper time and weigh the matter carefully. If they do not burn anything or injure living beings, there is no offense.

This precept concerns burning mountains and forests. If one has no intention of harming living beings, one commits a minor defiling offense. If, however, one burns them out of anger or malice and thereby harms living beings, the offense is determined according to the number of beings killed. A ghost once asked Venerable Maudgalyayana: “Throughout my present existence, I have constantly suffered calamities, burning, hunger, and thirst. When I see the Ganges River, I wish to enter it to relieve the burning heat, hunger, and thirst; but as soon as I touch the water, my body disintegrates and my flesh separates from my bones. If I drink even a single drop, my five viscera disintegrate, causing indescribable pain. I do not know what offense produced this retribution.”

Venerable Maudgalyayana replied: “When you were a human being, you delighted in burning mountains, forests, rivers, and streams, cruelly harming living beings. Therefore, you must now undergo this calamitous retribution.”

In ancient times, there was a woodcutter who saw a fire burning through the mountains and forests and extinguished it completely. In his next life, as a blessed retribution, he became a Brahma heavenly king and lived for more than one kalpa. If extinguishing a fire can bring such an excellent reward, how could one who maliciously burns mountains and forests escape the resulting offense?

Precept 15

TEACHING DOCTRINES OTHER THAN THE MAHAYANA

As a disciple of the Buddha, when encountering disciples of the Buddha, any spiritual friends, adherents of non-Buddhist paths, or evil persons, one must exhort them to receive and uphold the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya. One should explain their meaning and principles so that they may give rise to bodhicitta, the Ten Minds of Initial Resolve, the Ten Minds of Nurturing Growth, and the Ten Vajra Minds. Within these thirty minds, one should explain to them, in due sequence, the function and application of each Dharma. If a disciple of the Buddha, with an evil or angry mind, teaches them the sutras and Vinaya of the shravakas and the Two Vehicles, or the treatises of non-Buddhist paths and wrong views, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

Teachings outside the Mahayana are either heterodox doctrines or the Two Vehicles. Non-Buddhist paths hold wrong views. If a bodhisattva studies the Mahayana Dharma gateway of the Mind Ground yet does not personally teach others the Dharma that he has received, but instead teaches them the heterodox doctrines of misguided non-Buddhists or the self-benefiting, partial views of the Two Vehicles, he causes them to fall onto a wrong path and abandons the practice of benefiting others.

This is not the compassionate, wholesome, Mahayana mind of a great being. Disciples of the Buddha belong to the inner assembly because they study the Buddha’s inner teaching. Adherents of non-Buddhist paths belong to the outer assembly because they study external teachings.

Relatives and acquaintances include members of both the inner and outer assemblies, for they may study either the inner or the external teachings.

Evil persons are adherents of non-Buddhist paths who practice unwholesome teachings and teach living beings doctrines that deny cause and effect, causing them to become confused and fall into the three evil destinies or become icchantikas, from which they may never escape.

A sutra states: “Living beings originally have no wrong views, but through the misfortune of encountering false teachers and evil friends, they develop wrong views and consequently fall mistakenly into the evil destinies.” A spiritual friend is a good companion possessed of clear and thorough understanding, not necessarily an exemplary master of a Dharma gateway.

Whether they follow the right path or a non-Buddhist path, one must teach them to understand the meaning and principles and then teach them to give rise to bodhicitta. If they do not receive and uphold the teachings, how can they know the wondrous principles and profound import of the Mahayana? If they do not comprehend the meaning and principles, their resolve will not accord with the true Dharma. If bodhicitta has not arisen, whatever understanding they possess is merely false and empty. Only when practitioners’ practice and understanding correspond can they hope to attain realization.

These thirty minds constitute the initial practices for entering the stages of the noble ones. Therefore, one must first instruct and reveal them. Then, from the initial resolve through the Vajra Mind, one should explain each stage to them so that they may understand how to advance in cultivation and apply their effort, thereby continuing the lineage of the fruition of the Three Jewels.

An evil mind means that one personally gives rise to an unwholesome thought and causes others to enter a wrong path.

An angry mind means that, because one has been vexed or offended, one gives rise to anger and instructs others in such a way that they enter a wrong and unrighteous path. That is, one fails to teach the Dharma that should be taught and instead teaches what should not be taught; when they wish to study the Mahayana teachings, one teaches them the Lesser Vehicle instead.

Out of anger, one gives rise to an evil mind and does not guide them by means of right principles, but instead teaches the doctrines of the Two Vehicles, such as the Four Agamas and the Five Sections and Seven Divisions, or the Sankhya treatise and other wrong views of non-Buddhist paths. (The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “In the Western Regions, the scriptures and disciplinary texts of non-Buddhist paths comprise eighteen kinds, including the Vyakarana, Sankhya, Vedas, and so forth.”)

The Treatise on the Vajra Bodhicitta states: “Practitioners know that all sentient beings abide within the nature of the Tathagata-garbha and are capable of dwelling in unsurpassed bodhi. Therefore, they do not liberate them by means of the Dharma of the Two Vehicles.” Shravakas cling to the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, while pratyekabuddhas cling to the Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination. Knowing that the four great elements and the five skandhas must ultimately decay and perish, they give rise to a mind of disenchantment.

To break living beings’ attachments, they diligently and earnestly cultivate these teachings, hoping to realize the unsurpassed fruition. Those of the Two Vehicles proceed toward the quiescence of nirvana and regard it as ultimate. Although they have realized the emptiness of both phenomena and persons, they still cling to the existence of a Dharma to cultivate and a realization to attain.

They merely still the discriminating consciousness and know nothing beyond it. After a long time, they accomplish their fruition, then burn the body, extinguish cognition, and proceed toward nirvana, like empty space—vacant, still, and eternally quiescent. Those of fixed nature remain there and find it difficult to give rise to a higher aspiration; they must wait until the prescribed number of kalpas has elapsed before they can produce the resolve to advance further.

Those of unfixed nature are not restricted by any fixed number of kalpas. Upon encountering the proper conditions, they turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle, leave the Conjured City, and transcend the three realms. Because they have deeply believed in the Buddhadharma for many lifetimes, Buddhas and bodhisattvas employ skillful means, through which they give rise to the great mind.

Beginning with the Ten Faiths, they pass successively through all the stages and, over countless kalpas, perform difficult and arduous practices before finally attaining Buddhahood. Knowing that the wisdom of shravakas and pratyekabuddhas remains shallow and narrow, practitioners should not delight in or crave it. Furthermore, adherents of non-Buddhist paths and others cherish their bodies and lives, perhaps relying on medicines, seeking to create the conditions for rebirth in heavenly palaces, abiding in meditative concentration, or taking rebirth in the heavens, which they regard as ultimate.

Practitioners should contemplate these matters. When the karmic force sustaining such states is exhausted, they have still not escaped the three realms; their afflictions remain, the calamities of many lifetimes have not ended, and evil thoughts arise again. They then sink into the ocean of suffering, from which it is difficult to escape.

One should know that the teachings of non-Buddhist paths are likewise no more real than illusions, dreams, or the glare of flames. Therefore, unless one harbors an evil mind, one should not teach others heterodox doctrines.

If, with a wholesome mind, one responds to their aspirations so that they may attain a good result, skillfully guiding them through the Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle and afterward causing them to proceed toward the Mahayana, or using external teachings to lead them into the inner teaching—this is called first guiding them by means of what they desire and afterward using wisdom to end their sufferings—and there is no offense. The Avatamsaka Sutra states: “Bodhisattvas of the fifth bhumi study the hundred crafts and arts in order to lead beings into the Buddha Way.” This is the great being’s skillful use of the four means of embracing to gather in living beings; it is not the teaching, out of malice and anger, of doctrines contrary to the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya.

The Garland Sutra states: “Through the skillful power of expedient means, bodhisattvas enter among adherents of non-Buddhist and heterodox teachings. They accord with their doctrines and comply with their practices of supplication and worship while observing their inclinations, with the aim of liberating them and enabling them to plant immeasurable merit and virtue. If bodhisattvas enter among them and give rise to a mind that delights in and clings to heterodox teachings, this belongs to the Lesser Precepts, contradicts the Mahayana, and inclines toward the Lesser Vehicle; it does not accord with the great being’s vows and practices of benefiting others.”